# 10000�K bulbs and 12000K



## bioch (Apr 8, 2006)

*10000°K bulbs and 12000K*

are there and difference?


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## Newt (Apr 1, 2004)

Not much difference in color temp but the spectral output could be very different from bulb type to bulb type.


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

The higher you go the more blue output the bulb will have. Most planted tank keepers recommend not going higher than 10,000K. You certainly won't harm anything using 12,000K bulbs, but the usable light will be reduced.


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## erik Loza (Feb 6, 2006)

You talking fluorescent or MH? There would be a difference.


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## Ibn (Oct 20, 2004)

Using some 14,000k Ushio 250W with some 11,000k T5HOs right now. It gives the tank a very crisp look.


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## epicfish (Sep 11, 2006)

I might have to switch out the 10000K T5 HO bulbs I have now for 11000K to see what they look like. Probably not much of a difference though.


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## Newt (Apr 1, 2004)

The color temp doesn't mean as much as what the spectral output of the bulb is. True, as you go from 6500 to 10,000 to 12,000 K you will have more and more emissions in the blue region of the visible spectrum and less in the red.


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## erik Loza (Feb 6, 2006)

I have MH's, PC fluorescents, and regular fluorescents. All you need to worry about: Get the one that looks closest to daylight and appropriately bright for the types of plants you will be growing. Take good care of the tank, and your plants will do fine. I have one tank with very sophisticated 8,000K HQI's at 4wpg, and those plants do great. I have another tank with a 10,000K generic PC lamp at <1wpg, and those plants do great. Don't over-analyze it too much. This is your fish tank, not a laboratory experiment (unless that's what you want). Good luck.


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## Newt (Apr 1, 2004)

I was looking at a Dutch web site to gather some information on the lighting they use. I am curious about what they use, and if, and how, they
differ from what is being tossed around on this website. I had the impression, when first browsing thru the tank descriptions, that there was a high incidence of very low color temperature bulbs. Apart from the "daylight" and Aquarelle, therei s no reference to anything as "blue" as 5,000 Kelvin or above. The use of incandescent-like color temps (around 3,000 K) seems to be the norm instead.

I am using 2 x 55 watt PL-L/950 CFs, 5000K, 92 CRI and a 40w grolux and a 40w grolux WS (3400 K, 89 CRI).


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## Riba (Feb 9, 2006)

Newt said:


> I was looking at a Dutch web site to gather some information on the lighting they use. I am curious about what they use, and if, and how, they
> differ from what is being tossed around on this website. I had the impression, when first browsing thru the tank descriptions, that there was a high incidence of very low color temperature bulbs. Apart from the "daylight" and Aquarelle, therei s no reference to anything as "blue" as 5,000 Kelvin or above. The use of incandescent-like color temps (around 3,000 K) seems to be the norm instead.
> 
> I am using 2 x 55 watt PL-L/950 CFs, 5000K, 92 CRI and a 40w grolux and a 40w grolux WS (3400 K, 89 CRI).


Mmm, T8 is still quite common in dutch tanks. Popular are (combinations of) the philips TLD 830 (3000K),840(4000K) and 865's.(6500K)


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## Newt (Apr 1, 2004)

You're making my point: 6500K = daylight and down to 3000K (incandecent color temp). I don't understand why people on this site use 6500K and above including actinic. The Dutch and German tanks have set the standard for supreme planted tanks.


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## schaadrak (Aug 18, 2006)

I think with enough light going into the tanks, color spectrum is just a matter of personal preferance. If you like the tank more red looking, go with a lower color temp. If you like it bluer go higher. Any light that you see is light that the plant did not use, anyways.


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## erik Loza (Feb 6, 2006)

Newt said:


> I don't understand why people on this site use 6500K and above including actinic.


Clearly, I must be doing something wrong, then. Perhaps you could post some pics of your tanks so that I know how to properly set up my lighting systems, since they must be holding me back. Thanks in advance for straightening me out....

8,000K









10,000K


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## Newt (Apr 1, 2004)

Here>


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## erik Loza (Feb 6, 2006)

Hey, my lights can beat up your lights[smilie=b:. Seriously though, what you're saying might might make sense (I guess...) if keeping plants were only about graphs and spectral analyses, but that always seemed to me like plotting out some sort of chart on Mapquest just to get to the corner 7-Eleven for a quart of milk. Why complicate a simple thing?

I don't really keep up with what country is doing what, in terms of lights for their plants. I just pick a lamp that is close to daylight, which is pleasing to my eye, and happens to bright enough for the intened application. Among the various aquaria/terraria in my house, I have some Japanese ADA 8,000K HQI lamps (hands-down favorites; the best HQI lamps I have ever used), some Chinese 10,000K lamps marketed by "Odyssea", and some 6,700K lamps marketed by Coralife. Guess what? The plants are thriving in all these tanks. If the pink lamps work for you, then it sounds like you have figured out a formula that works. That's all any of us can ask for? 

I just wonder how much credibility it gets you to tell someone whose tanks are doing great that their hardware choices are wrong. Am I reading you incorrectly, though?


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## Newt (Apr 1, 2004)

I was just posing the question of why such a big difference in what we choose. Your tank looks great as do many others who use warm lighting. The kelvin rating has more to do with what your tank will look like with a given color temp - this is a personal preference) Althou, as you shift from 4000K to 10,000K there is also a shift in the spectrum of light being given off from a bulb - red to blue. Blue light being for good leaf development/growth and red light for stem elongation.

Happy gardening.

By the way: how do you attach/imbed pictures into the text section?


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## erik Loza (Feb 6, 2006)

photobucket.com


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## schaadrak (Aug 18, 2006)

Newt said:


> By the way: how do you attach/imbed pictures into the text section?


Type "IMG" in the squared brakets [] then type the url for the pic and follow that with "/IMG" also in square brackets.

If you don't know the URL for the pic you want to post, right-click on it, select properties and copy the URL from there and paste it in the message. The URL for the one you attached is "http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/attachment.php?attachmentid=3597&d=1160879910"

So typing "







" gives you:










HTH


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