10000 K lights

[jonnytens]

I recently bought a 24" T5 light strip from aquagiant for a 20 gallon planted tank, it has 2 24watt 10000K bulbs, it seems very bright. Just wondering if these bulbs are too bright or not.

Thanks,

[firestorm]

The higher the spectrum, the more you are getting into the blue tones for lighting. 10,000K will grow some plants, but they will probably not thrive as they would with a lower spectrum. I know blue tones are one of the types you need, but you also need the red tones which are beneficial to plant growth. 6700K bulbs are probably one of the better spectrums to get for plant growth. You can change the bulbs to a lower spectrum easily, or leave one of the bulbs in it, and buy another 24" bulb that has around a 5000-6700K spectrum (or one with red tones).

There are many others on this site that will be able to give you better informative advice, but that is what I have learned so far in my studies

[byte]

48 watts of light on a 20 gallon tank will give you about 2.5 watts per gallon (wpg) which is not too bright for a planted tank. I think bright would fall into the 5 wpg category The Kelvin rating is not that important and some the preferred lights for growing plants are the General Electric 9325 Kelvin Bulb, but they are hard to find.

[thegrandpoohbah]

10,000K has worked well for me. This was my 12G Nanocube with a 24W 10,000K bulb:

I'm planning to do a 50G planted tank using a 4 x 39W 10,000K T5HO fixture. I prefer the colour as compared to using 6700K (which i find to be too yellow) and the plants don't seem to mind one bit.

Edited October 14, 2008 by thegrandpoohbah

[firestorm]

Just don't go up to 18,000K, the plants won't do as well. I learned this by trial and error

[jvision]

I too have used 10,000K lights on plants, and they grew. Firestorm does have a point. Mixing color temps is a pretty good idea, as you'll likely get a broader spectrum of wavelengths that the plants need for photosynthesis.

[jewels]

Is there any simple math here? Can I arrive @ say, 75K-- by mixing a 10K with a 5K?

Assuming equal output

PS grandpoohbah--that is a killer sweet pool AKA I really enjoyed you photo

Edited October 14, 2008 by jewels

[jvision]

It kinda works like that. I have a mix of bulbs, putting the bluer ones at the back, the whitest ones in the middle and the redder ones up front

[Drydock]

I have 4 - 96W 12,000K and 4 - 96W Atinics and my plants are growing like crazy...

I don't turn all of them on at the same time... 1 hour atinics in the morning, leading into 9 hours of the 12,000 with the atinics off.

[firestorm]

I have 4 - 96W 12,000K and 4 - 96W Atinics and my plants are growing like crazy...

I don't turn all of them on at the same time... 1 hour atinics in the morning, leading into 9 hours of the 12,000 with the atinics off.

Lol, I can see why your plants are growing like crazy. You have alot of wattage on there. What size of tank is that again?

[jonnytens]

Thanks for the info, I guess I'll just leave it the way it is.

[Drydock]

I have 4 - 96W 12,000K and 4 - 96W Atinics and my plants are growing like crazy...

I don't turn all of them on at the same time... 1 hour atinics in the morning, leading into 9 hours of the 12,000 with the atinics off.

Lol, I can see why your plants are growing like crazy. You have alot of wattage on there. What size of tank is that again?

It's a 210. 72" long 24" deep and 30" front to back... It was originally a reef setup, but I wasn't ready to start a SW tank. Running the lights on the current schedule, I am just under 2 WPG, but I gain some advantage that the tank is not as deep as a normal 210 or 240.

I started with CO2 and I am using EI for ferts. All dry salts that I add every other day...