Another light question

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ejaramillo01

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Which one of these 2 bulbs is better for a planted tank?
T5 HO with 10,000K or T5 HO with 6,700K?

My tank is a 100 G, I have 4 T5 HO bulbs, two 6700K, one 10000K, and the last one is blue... Since I added the 10,000 and the blue, I started to observe a big algae problem... That is the reason of my question....I dose excel every other day, but I don't have CO2..... maybe I need to add CO2 to control the algae?

Thanks
 
6700 k is ususally better because it's closest to natural sunlight. But 10 k works fine for plants too.
 
Which one of these 2 bulbs is better for a planted tank?
T5 HO with 10,000K or T5 HO with 6,700K?

My tank is a 100 G, I have 4 T5 HO bulbs, two 6700K, one 10000K, and the last one is blue... Since I added the 10,000 and the blue, I started to observe a big algae problem... That is the reason of my question....I dose excel every other day, but I don't have CO2..... maybe I need to add CO2 to control the algae?

Thanks

It would depend on the light spectrum they output. The kelvin temp isn't going to help in determining that.
 
A standard 100 gallon tank is only about 19 inches deep. Though the tank is large, four t5ho bulbs over it is quite high on the lighting (watts per gallon mean nothing with t5ho). Your algae problem is likely stemming from the light being too high and not injecting CO2. High light without CO2 usually means algae farm.
 
blert said:
A standard 100 gallon tank is only about 19 inches deep. Though the tank is large, four t5ho bulbs over it is quite high on the lighting (watts per gallon mean nothing with t5ho). Your algae problem is likely stemming from the light being too high and not injecting CO2. High light without CO2 usually means algae farm.

Do you recommend CO2 ? Or can I replace 1 bulb with blue? So I will finish with two white ( 10K and 6.7K) and two blues?
 
ejaramillo01 said:
Do you recommend CO2 ? Or can I replace 1 bulb with blue? So I will finish with two white ( 10K and 6.7K) and two blues?

CO2 would be a great thing to add. Your plants will love it. As far the bulbs go... IMO, if you keep the four bulb fixture, I would do one 6700k, one 10000k, one actinic and one ColorMax type bulb. That way you have two bulbs contributing to plant growth and two just for color enhancement. There are others with much more knowledge than me on this subject though so you may want to listen to some more options.
 
6700 k is ususally better because it's closest to natural sunlight. But 10 k works fine for plants too.

10000K does not fall under the full spectrum for plants to grow.
5000-7500 is the full spectrum.
for a marine setup 10K plus is a must.
 
Which one of these 2 bulbs is better for a planted tank?
T5 HO with 10,000K or T5 HO with 6,700K?

My tank is a 100 G, I have 4 T5 HO bulbs, two 6700K, one 10000K, and the last one is blue... Since I added the 10,000 and the blue, I started to observe a big algae problem... That is the reason of my question....I dose excel every other day, but I don't have CO2..... maybe I need to add CO2 to control the algae?

Thanks

Please go for a T5HO tubes with 6500K color temperature and a CRI rating of 90-95. The 6500K falls under the full spectrum range ( 5500K - 7500K).
Anything beyond this will affect plant growth drastically as they do not recognize the spectrum beyond that.

10000K + is used for marine tanks, as corals/reef grow in the 10000K plus spectrum.

100G x 3/4 watts will be the lighting formula depending on what plants you intend to grow.

Control the plant nutrients with CO2 injection to avoid algae.
if in case you have algae problems because of excess nutrients, increase the CO2 injection and reduce the lighting timings from 8 hours to 6 hours. Reduce the fish feeding. Do a little bit of water change.
Increase or decrease the distance of the lighting from the surface of your water.

In my opinion and experience its how you gamble with lighting/nutrients/CO2/water quality to get that perfect combination of everything to have an algae free tank and good plant growth.
 
Last edited:
It would depend on the light spectrum they output. The kelvin temp isn't going to help in determining that.

What else would determine the full spectrum range if not the color temperature (Kelvin)?
Try a 14000K light and grow hairgrass or HC cuba.
Anything beyond 10000K, plants do not identify the spectrum.
 
CO2 would be a great thing to add. Your plants will love it. As far the bulbs go... IMO, if you keep the four bulb fixture, I would do one 6700k, one 10000k, one actinic and one ColorMax type bulb. That way you have two bulbs contributing to plant growth and two just for color enhancement. There are others with much more knowledge than me on this subject though so you may want to listen to some more options.

What role would a 10000K tube play in a planted tank? whats the advantage?
 
CO2 would be a great thing to add. Your plants will love it. As far the bulbs go... IMO, if you keep the four bulb fixture, I would do one 6700k, one 10000k, one actinic and one ColorMax type bulb. That way you have two bulbs contributing to plant growth and two just for color enhancement. There are others with much more knowledge than me on this subject though so you may want to listen to some more options.

CO2 injection is again a subject in itself.
The diffusers you choose is very very important.
The filtration type you would want to use to avoid surface agitation.
The kind of filter outlet.

CO2/lighting/nutrients go hand in hand.
 
chirpingbluebird said:
10000K does not fall under the full spectrum for plants to grow.
5000-7500 is the full spectrum.
for a marine setup 10K plus is a must.

6500k-1000k will grow plants.
 
chirpingbluebird said:
What else would determine the full spectrum range if not the color temperature (Kelvin)?
Try a 14000K light and grow hairgrass or HC cuba.
Anything beyond 10000K, plants do not identify the spectrum.

Uhg, this is beginning to bore me. Please research what Kelvin temperature actually means. Being of a certain Kelvin temp does not exclude whether it emits full spectrum or not.
 
What else would determine the full spectrum range if not the color temperature (Kelvin)?
Try a 14000K light and grow hairgrass or HC cuba.
Anything beyond 10000K, plants do not identify the spectrum.

The color temp is nothing more then a visible comparison of the light as the human eye sees it. It has nothing to do with how good it will be for plants. The spectrum (spectral power distribution) is what is important. We know that plants use light in the 350 to 700nm range.

Most lights in the 5000K to 10000K range will work just fine for plants, but not solely based of their color temperature.

My statement was based on comparing two different bulbs in relative close color temperature. And the ONLY way to choose which is better is to know what the spectrum is for both bulbs and comparing the peaks that each bulb puts out. No one here can say bulb X is better then bulb Y just based on color temp.
 
Being of a certain Kelvin temp does not exclude whether it emits full spectrum or not.

rkilling1 said:
The color temp is nothing more then a visible comparison of the light as the human eye sees it. It has nothing to do with how good it will be for plants. The spectrum (spectral power distribution) is what is important. We know that plants use light in the 350 to 700nm range.

And the ONLY way to choose which is better is to know what the spectrum is for both bulbs and comparing the peaks that each bulb puts out. No one here can say bulb X is better then bulb Y just based on color temp.

Great posts guys. Full spectrum refers to a light having the correct peaks in all three color ranges that make up visible light: red, green and blue. Plants use more red light than blue and green for photosynthesis. High color temperature salt water lights have a strong blue color spike and often a reduced red spike making them visually more blue and less yellow (red and green). This is good for corals but less useful for freshwater plants.

Full spectrum 'plant' bulbs have all three color spikes with an emphasis on the red light wavelength which plants need. Most regular old full spectrum lights (often 5500-6500k) will still have all the spikes needed to replicate sunlight but without an emphasis on any one color, looking good to the eye and and still having the proper light needed for photosynthesis. This is why cfl daylights can grow plants.
 
That's not entirely accurate. The term 'full spectrum' is best contrasted against what is not considered full spectrum. On one end, we have actinic type bulbs that emit almost exclusively high wavelength blue light. At the other (and most notably) we have incandescent bulbs. They emit red orange-red light, but much of their light is in the infrared region where neither we nor plants can see it. 'Full Spectrum' describes any bulb that emits in the entire visible spectrum, which includes most fluorescent bulbs, including 6700K, 5000K, 4000K, but also 10000K, 12000K, 18000K, and colormax.

What's interesting is that plants CAN USE actinic light. They usually emit something like 40-60% of the PAR of traditional plant-friendly bulbs, but that's still usable light energy. What's more interesting is that when people stuck PAR meters under different temperature bulbs (IE, this is actual data and not speculation), they found that the difference between 10000K bulbs and 6700K bulbs was trivial between the same manufacturers. What's more, in another instance, someone found that the 10000K bulbs actually put out MORE PAR than 6700K.

What does this tell us about color temp? It means that it's only really important when you're trying to decide what color looks best to YOU. To say that 6700K bulbs are ideal for plants or that 4000K bulbs are most like the sun is mostly just hot air. The color temperature is only a measure of what we can see. Think about it like this: you're listening to an accomplished symphonic band playing Beethoven, and during a particular spot, violins have the melody. To say that any bulb is to be judged by it's color is to say that the symphony is made entirely of violins, when in fact the entire symphony playing is playing together. You may prefer a strong cello line, or a rousing trumpet part, but either way the entire orchestra is 95% the same, and is what matters.
 
Lets say i agree to most of you guys here on color temperature.
Why dint my hair grass/ glossostigma grow with a 12000K T5HO?
Why is it that it is growing well now with a 6500K t5H0??

i have used the same nutrients. same CO2 count. same water changes. same filter..
 
There was something else at work. Sorry, but kelvin temperature is exclusively a result of a human's perceived color. It's only representative of the strongest peak in an entire spectra. Sometimes plants take a long time to adjust.


Not to mention even IF there was an issue with your growth, it was because you were using a bulb with a bad spectrum and not a bad color. A lot of the 12000K bulbs you find are "actinic white", which should tip Hagen makes a 18000K bulb that grows plants fine, because it's got a good spectrum.
 
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