Found this today:
"During photosynthesis, wavelengths in the blue (440 nm) and red (660 nm) spectrum are the most important. For plant growth and development, red (660 nm) and far-red (735 nm) rays promote stem growth and flowering, while blue rays (435 nm) encourage leaf formation and dark green foliage. Plants must have all these wavelengths in the right amounts to grow properly.
Blue rays (440 nm) are primarily responsible for a phenomenon called phototropism, which refers to the movement of part of a plant in response to light. Just think of how a sunflower follows the sun and how indoor plants "reach" for light when they don’t get enough."
(Today when I put my cuttings under the FloraSun's and the Coral Sun's the first leaflet of every fan leaf was sticking straight up in the air after about 2 hours. All the leaves were "V" shaped reaching for the light. Never seen anything like it! I just moved a few cuttings under the Sylvania Gro-Lux bulbs to see if they keep reaching for the light, if not, I will be adding a Coral Sun or equivalent bulb to the sides of the T8 fixture to see if they are the ones responsible for the reach.
I have some UVL, KZ, ATI, and WavePoint bulbs on order. I should have them by next week. I'm going to see how they compare to the ZooMed and Sylvania Gro-Lux bulbs because in the long run it would be nice to not spend $20 and $30 per 2 ft bulb in the future. I'm pretty sure the ZooMed bulbs are between $12 and $15 each. I've also found some really nice 4 ft, 10 bulb T5, DIY fixtures for $348 each that I will be looking in to. They come with a 95% reflector. They are nice because the whole underside with bulbs folds down like a doorway so you can access the ballast components.
About the T8 Gro-Lux's, they have a bulb life of 30,000 hours! Thats pushing LED bulb life almost! If anyone knows where to get the Gro-Lux T5's in the USA, please do tell.
Another VERY IMPORTANT thing about the Gro-Lux bulbs is the MODEL #. There are a couple different versions of the Gro-Lux out there. One is called a "wide-spectrum" and is completely worthless. The one that isn't worthless is the "standard narrow spectrum." The model # of the ones I bought is: F017/GRO/AQ/ECO/2/24
The F017 stands for 17 watts. The GRO stands for gro-lux. The AQ stands for Aquarium. The ECO stands for Ecologic (not sure what that is.) LOL
IF THE MODEL NUMBER HAS THE LETTERS "WS" IN IT, THEN IT IS THE "WIDE SPECTRUM" BULB AND YOU DO NOT WANT THAT ONE.
Keep in mind these are T8 bulbs because I cannot find the T5 bulbs here in the USA. They are also NOT HIGH OUTPUT. I am using them for cuttings only to try and save a little space and energy. I will keep a cutting under these lights for a few weeks to grow it out and to see the quality and potential of them. I will also be starting some lettuce and chard under them to see if they have enough power.
I am 100% sure the reason plants are reaching up to the actinic's (Coral Wave and Coral Sun) lamps is because they are actinic bulbs and have that 435nm peak in them. To me, leaves that are reaching like that mean one thing, "HAPPINESS!" Any plants that I have seen reaching for the light have always grown faster, healthier, and greener than ones that are not reaching out. I know that the subject about including the 420's has been somewhat debated and questioned in this thread. I'm still not quite sure how harmful the UV rays are in the actinic bulbs, but I really can't imagine that bulb companies would manufacture anything that would be detrimental to plants, fish, or humans, and sell it to the general public for plant/aquarium use.
I would also like to say that I would guess the main reason that T5 HO fixtures come with 6500K and 3000K standard bulbs is because they "work" and are very inexpensive. It would be interesting to calculate exactly how much of the light is being wasted as "yellow, green, orange" (white) light in brands like Spectralux and Quantum in these standard daylight bulbs. Either way, I'm still having a hard time accepting the fact that "aquarium bulbs" work better only because they have never been marketed as "gardening bulbs" and yet have been around for such a long time. I just don't get it........anyone else?