[megatrev62]

Can someone please explain the "6500k great for planted tanks"? It seems that is the color the plants like if I read this right. In the meantime I see many many tanks that are far from 6500k spectrum and the plants look amazing. If someone could explain for clarification it would be much appreciated. Thanks

 

[jeffkrol]

Simplist explaination is related to daylight:

K tenp is only one part and not really a very accurate part.
Technically most lights that aren' t hot tungsten filiment based are measured as cct.
Correlated color temp since the spectrum isn't continuous.
You can have all sorts of looks based on a 6500k averaged color temp.
From 3 rgb spikes w/ leds to phosphor tuned high cri leds. Will look very different but average 6500k

Color Accuracy

As to what k tenp plus cri you "want" depends on you moreso than the plants.

What is the Difference Between CCT and CRI? - TACHYON Light

All lamps and luminaires come with two key specifications: The Correlated Color Temperature (CCT) and the Color Rendering Index (CRI). Both terms describe the output of a light source, and both have the word “color” in their name, but they actually refer to very different things. ContentsWhat is...

tachyonlight.com

Why people singled out 6500k over say 5000k?
Probabky gad more to do w) the crispness if the slightly blue leaning 6500k's at the time and/ or what was available
Really has little meaning though from the plant standpoint

 

[megatrev62]

That explains it very well for me. Thanks so much for posting.

 

[Aaronious]

Ditto what was said above. It was well said I think, minus a few typos.

But from what I have learned looking at lights, mostly people are leaning towards LED these days. I suggest something adjustable, anything adjustable seems to have plenty of power. Otherwise you're looking at the cheap LED bars and these I would say are only good for shallower tanks, Like breeder tanks and tanks shorter than the average 10 gallon tank. So if you are going to have more than a foot of water I recommend just getting the "proper" lighting. for the price, I really like the Fluval Aquasky 2.0

Also, I bought this light, brand was MingDak I believe. anyway, this things was cheap and it surpassed all exceptions. and this one was adjustable by hand, no fancy app on this one. But settings stay so connecting it to a timer works beautifully.

 

[Fish Guy84]

This was very helpful. Thank you