Wattage or Color Temp?

[bevoholic]

I'm looking to do a Nano planted tank, but the top of this tank will only use a low watt night light bulb. I have a 4W in there right now that is only about 2600K. I know I need a lot more for low light plants. I'm looking to do a custom LED strip in the top of the hood and I found one that has a color temp of 16500, 34.8 lumens. Would that be ok for low light plants or do I need something that has a high number of watts?

Thanks.

 

[blert]

What size tank are you dealing with here?
What are the dimensions?

Regarding plant growth... You should stay between 3000K and 10000K. The lower end being more yellow and the higher being more white/blue. 6500-6700 is "optimum" but that really doesn't matter all that much.

 

[bevoholic]

It's a 1g mini bow. I have another thread in general discussion if you want to to see what the tank looks like.

 

[blert]

Not sure I would go too crazy on the lighting, algae may get out of hand. T'was me, I would remove the hood and put a goose neck desk lamp over it with a low watt spiral CFL bulb, then you could raise and lower the light as needed.

 

[bevoholic]

I thought about doing that as well, but I don't want the shrimp or snails to be able to escape. That's why I was going to put the LED strip into the hood.

 

[aqua_chem]

Neither fish nor snails are going to go on walkabout on you unless there is something dramatically wrong in their tank.