Depth Of Water And Light Effectiveness

[mintykip]

Hey all,


I was reading that light waves travel faster through air than water, and it got me thinking how that relates to aquariums.
For example if i lowered my water level in my tank so the light had to travel through less water than normal and more air to reach the plants, would this be better than if the water level was normal and to the top of the tank.

As i have a 10g shrimp tank, and i was contemplating dropping the water level to about 3/4 of capacity (as there are no fish to worry about) so the light has more air and less water to travel through than normal. Would this mean the light reaches the substrate more effectively than if the tank was 100% full? (even slightly more effective?), or would it even have an adverse effect on the intensity of light reaching the bottom.

I hope this makes sense as I'm quite bad at explaining and wording things.

Regards,


Sean.

 

[SO19Firearms]

The light will be more intense if you drop the water level, but whether or not there's any point - you'd have to try it.
Overall aesthetically it won't look so good, unless you're going for a shrimp palidarium(?) and you'll increase the need to start adding CO2...but with less water to do it in....