Hello everyone, new guy here getting introduced to the world of planted tanks.
I went ahead and tried to save myself some money by buying a 2 21W t5 shop light at home depot. This was a big price difference over the 115+ my LFS wanted.
I installed it, and it looks great. But, now I'm reading about Kelvin temperature and things that remind me of freshman year's organic chemistry class. I only want low light plants like java ferns/moss and anubias (sp?). The box says these are 3k bulbs and the ballast apparenty has a "normal power factor" which rules out installing HO bulbs? Oh, this is a 45G tank btw.
So, will my plants just die or will I need a new light? I only have a couple java ferns with intentions of buying the ones I listed. Thanks everybody.
I went ahead and tried to save myself some money by buying a 2 21W t5 shop light at home depot. This was a big price difference over the 115+ my LFS wanted.
I installed it, and it looks great. But, now I'm reading about Kelvin temperature and things that remind me of freshman year's organic chemistry class. I only want low light plants like java ferns/moss and anubias (sp?). The box says these are 3k bulbs and the ballast apparenty has a "normal power factor" which rules out installing HO bulbs? Oh, this is a 45G tank btw.
So, will my plants just die or will I need a new light? I only have a couple java ferns with intentions of buying the ones I listed. Thanks everybody.
