Parents just bought me a new balast for my 50 gallon (36"x15"x20"). It is a Hagen Power Glo T5-HO 2x36" and they also bought me bulbs for it! The 6700K full spectrum, and 18000K super bright...is this too much energy goin in to a tank? It will be planted, and it will be a community, but kinda wondering what you think of the bulb combo...have never heard anything about the 18000K...
New Power Glo T5-HO balast (2x 36")
- Thread starter Joyler
- Start date
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mfdrookie516
Aquarium Free - 2+ Years
That isn't too much light. You'll be able to keep quite a few plants with that light. I'm not too sure how the 18,000k bulb will do. I've seen people say they work, but they typically don't have as much usable light for the plants. Usually, 6500k-10,000k bulbs are recommended for plants, though that doesn't mean that bulbs below or above that range won't work... they may just not be as effective.
neilanh
Sliced Bread
I think that's a good amount of light for a planted 50g tank. I would exchange the 18K bulb though for something a little lower. personally I like to mix 6700k and 10000K. The 18000K is probably too blue for the plants to use.
mfdrookie516
Aquarium Free - 2+ Years
I want to say Floyd R Turbo had an 18,000k bulb on one of his tanks but that's been a long time ago. Normally, 18,000k bulbs are used in reef tanks.
mfdrookie516
Aquarium Free - 2+ Years
That would be your best bet. Get a 10,000k... It, combined with your 6700k will give you a nice bright white light, as well as much more usable light for the plants.
