# 6,700K vs 10,000K lighting for plants?



## cichlid85 (May 16, 2012)

I went to the LFS today to get a replacement florecent 6700k bulb for my 3 gallon nano. They only had 10,000k daylight. Am I better off with the 6700k? My tank is heavily planted. Will the 10,000k grow more algae or be less benificial for any reason? Every thing is the same (watt, size) except the kelvin degree. I know 10,000k is in the blue spectrum. 
Any advice is appreciated!


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## Sjb1987 (Aug 2, 2011)

they say the blue spectrum will bring out the reds..i have 2 10000ks on my tank and nothing else...it will take some time getting used to the color of the lights


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## Yo-han (Oct 15, 2010)

Sjb1987 said:


> they say the blue spectrum will bring out the reds..i have 2 10000ks on my tank and nothing else...it will take some time getting used to the color of the lights


Not sure how you came to that conclusion. First of all, red plants look most red under red lamps (to convert it to kelvin rating, lower is more red) so under the 6700K plants will LOOK more red, even when they are just as red as under the 10.000K. Second, a plant becomes red when it has too much light and makes itself red to limit the amount of red light it receives. So a red light would MAKE plants more red. So the 6700K would be better if you want red plants.

Another difference is that red light makes plants grow more vertical than blue light, which make plants grow more horizontal (also often referred to as 'bushy'). So looking this way, I would prefer the 10.000K so my plants look more 'bushy' and less 'leggy'. But this is only under extremes, say 3000K vs 14.000K. The difference in plant growth between a 6700K and 10.000K is almost not noticeable IMO.

The difference for you looking at it, is noticeable however... To quote my girlfriend: "10.000K looks like hospital lights" so she prefers 4000K, it looks more 'warm' to her. So this is just a matter of opinion what looks better to your liking. Your plants will grow almost equally with both!


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## acuaristico (Mar 1, 2011)

10000 K for me its better than using reddish lights. Do a mix between 10000K and 6500K it works fine for red plants, 10000K brings out more the reds of the plants because blue light its more penetrant wavelenght. but you need some red light to reflects the red of the red plants. you know, 6500K white light have reds, well it have all the colors, thats why is white. So something in the middle 5000 to 6500 with blue 10000K do the work.


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## DerekFF (Nov 21, 2011)

I use 10k and colormax

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