[doug14]

hi,

i know my light set up isn't the best but it will be changed when i upgrade my tank at xmas.

i currently have 2 x 20W T8 Hagen Power-Glo bulbs running on my 30gallon. I thought higher WPG the better, but then was reading through some forums on here and realised its actually the K number along with the PAR that matters.

So I researched what K number my bulbs were and found out they are 18000K:icon_surp:icon_surp wow!

So i have ordered two 6500k bulbs for now, I take it this will benefit my plants a lot? The Power Glo i have are more suited to coral etc because of the spectrum of light i think.

 

[lauraleellbp]

Actually, the 18,000k PowerGlo bulb will support freshwater plant growth just fine (it's one of the few exceptions outside of the "ideal" kelvin range for flourescent bulbs). I think you may actually like it quite a bit if you run just one of the 18k paired with one of the 6500k in your fixture- that's actually one of my personal favorite bulb combos in terms of color rendition/visual appearance in a planted tank.

Your light fixture should be fine for a low light/low tech setup. Stick with some of the hardier plants (check out the list stickied at the top of the Low Tech forum).

 

[doug14]

Actually, the 18,000k PowerGlo bulb will support freshwater plant growth just fine (it's one of the few exceptions outside of the "ideal" kelvin range for flourescent bulbs). I think you may actually like it quite a bit if you run just one of the 18k paired with one of the 6500k in your fixture- that's actually one of my personal favorite bulb combos in terms of color rendition/visual appearance in a planted tank.

Your light fixture should be fine for a low light/low tech setup. Stick with some of the hardier plants (check out the list stickied at the top of the Low Tech forum).

Nice thanks for the reply!

Typical, i go and waste money when i didn't need too! haha

So you think a mixture would be nice? I know its going to be a visual shock for me going from the power glo to the 6500k but if it benefits plants i'm happy:icon_smil