[archer772]

I am planning on starting up a planted tank and have some questions on the lighting.
I think that all plants need light in the wave band of 400nm-700nm and if that is the case then it seem that as long as there is sufficient par then the plants will do good.
I believe that par meters only read the wave bands in the 400nm-700nm range so if that is the case then it shouldnt matter what the color appears to be as long as the par readings are high enough.
I dont like the WPG rule as all the different types of lighting will put out different amounts of useable light.
I would really like to know if what I am thinking is correct or am I way off with my thinking and it wouldnt be the first time :icon_bigg.

Thanks Scott

 

[lauraleellbp]

I'd have to look up your nm figures to be sure that you're right on with those, but they look about right.

You're definitely right on about the importance of Kelvin and PAR, however. :icon_smil

 

[JennaH]

yup- check out this thread http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/lighting/85667-par-data-spiral-power-saver-bulbs.html

 

[archer772]

OK then so what I need to keep track of is the par value regardless of the K rating. I say that because I can get almost equal par readings with 14k T-5's as I can with 6.5 K T-5's.

 

[Hoppy]

We can select light bulbs by what is most pleasing to look at for each of us, as long as we stay in the general area of 5000-10,000K, and probably even higher. When you first see different color temperature bulbs the aquarium definitely looks different. But, for me, the difference tends to disappear after a few weeks or less. My eyes seem to make all lighted aquariums look about the same, when I see only one tank at a time. I find that odd, and I'm not sure it works that way for everyone, but it does for me.

 

[archer772]

OK thank you everybody. I have been told by a couple people (not here) that anything above 6700 k is useless for plants and I had a hard time believing that. I started doing reef tanks in about 92 and for the last 6-7 years have been trying to learn as much as this simple mind :icon_smil can learn about lighting and when I started thinking about a planted tank I felt if it worked for keeping corals alive and growing good then it should work for a planted tank so thanks for your input.

 

[lauraleellbp]

I do think there's a difference in the wavelengths preferred by SW corals versus FW plants, but in general I think that FW plants can utilize a broader spectrum of light than corals.

I regularly use 18,000k (Hagen Power Glo) bulbs in my fixtures... the more important thing that kelvin rating is what combo of spectrums a bulb provides, and this can be different from brand to brand, even with bulbs of the same K rating.