mandy2936
Aquarium Advice Addict
- Joined
- Jul 7, 2010
- Messages
- 1,909
Hello,
A little while back I started a thread about lighting for my 20g. I wanted to upgrade my standard lighting that came with the tank to lighting that is strong enough for plants.
On here I was informed about K ratings, so I headed out the pet store to pick out some lighting. I guess the store employee was wrong. (No surprise there... I should have known better.)
I asked him which lighting would be better, as one said it was suitable for plants and brings out the fish's color, (We'll call it light A) the other said just for plants. (Light B) He told me that either would be fine, but light A would be much stronger than light B.
So, I went with light A, thinking that it would be good because it bring's out the fish's colors. Light A was 18000K, and light B was 10,000. I thought that what he said about light A being stronger made sense, because 18,000 is more than 10,000, right?
Well, when I got home, I found out that the k rating system works backwards... meaning that 6500k is stronger than 10,000k, right? Well, that's what confused me, because on here I was advised to look for lighting that was at least 6,500k , so I had thought that 18,000k would be even better.
So basically, the lighting really does bring out the fish's color fantastically, but I still want to be able to have live plants.
So, could you help a plant newbie out here, and tell me what exactly I need to buy when I head out to the pet store today? I want to get it right this time. Thanks!
P.S, What I said about the K ratings working backwards was really just my guess.. that's the only way I can make sense of a 6,500k bulb being stronger than an 18,000k bulb.
Thanks again for your patience!
A little while back I started a thread about lighting for my 20g. I wanted to upgrade my standard lighting that came with the tank to lighting that is strong enough for plants.
On here I was informed about K ratings, so I headed out the pet store to pick out some lighting. I guess the store employee was wrong. (No surprise there... I should have known better.)
I asked him which lighting would be better, as one said it was suitable for plants and brings out the fish's color, (We'll call it light A) the other said just for plants. (Light B) He told me that either would be fine, but light A would be much stronger than light B.
So, I went with light A, thinking that it would be good because it bring's out the fish's colors. Light A was 18000K, and light B was 10,000. I thought that what he said about light A being stronger made sense, because 18,000 is more than 10,000, right?
Well, when I got home, I found out that the k rating system works backwards... meaning that 6500k is stronger than 10,000k, right? Well, that's what confused me, because on here I was advised to look for lighting that was at least 6,500k , so I had thought that 18,000k would be even better.
So basically, the lighting really does bring out the fish's color fantastically, but I still want to be able to have live plants.
So, could you help a plant newbie out here, and tell me what exactly I need to buy when I head out to the pet store today? I want to get it right this time. Thanks!
P.S, What I said about the K ratings working backwards was really just my guess.. that's the only way I can make sense of a 6,500k bulb being stronger than an 18,000k bulb.
Thanks again for your patience!