Wattage and Kelvin rating?

spunjin

spunjin

Manzanita Supplier
Aug 7, 2008
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I need some help with my lighting. I just purchased a 24" twin tube fixture and it came with 2 AGA bulbs. No info on the bulbs. I have a 15W Life Glo 2 and one stock bulb in it currently. I think that the Life Glo is 6400K or around there. I also have a 15W Aqua Glo and it is 18000K. I understand that plants like between 6500K and 10000K. I read threads on having 10000K bulbs in certain spots along with 6500K bulbs. My question is doesn't a combination of 10000K and 6500K bulbs sum to 16500K? Isn't that too much for plants?
I plan on making a canopy for my tank and attaching both light fixtures (a single and a double) to it to have 3 bulbs total. What is the best combination of lights I should use for my plants? What should by Kelvin sum to?
All advice is appreciated.
 
the K rating is more a scale (actually measure of temperature) 10000K and 6700k are the ranges most shoot for but in reality you are looking for spectrum.
you can add the wattage if you like this will help to determine amount of light you are adding.

the 10,000 k(kelvin) and 6700 K are desirable spectrum ranges for plants but a 12,000k daylight would do the same.

just stay away from actinic.
 
Kelvin is not cumulative.
If your sticking with T8's, just stay within the 5-10K Kelvin range.
My personal preference with that combo would be two GE Aqua Rays and one daylight bulb (6400K - 6700K)
 
So I am hearing that I should stay away from the 18000K Aqua Glo and stick with the 6700K Life Glo and other Daylight bulbs? And when I add all three 15W bulbs they should all be between 6400K and 6700K? What about the 2800K Flora Glo bulb? Life Glo is recommended to use with Flora Glo so should I consider a low spectrum bulb in conjunction with the 6400K-6700K bulbs?
 
spunjin said:
So I am hearing that I should stay away from the 18000K Aqua Glo and stick with the 6700K Life Glo and other Daylight bulbs? And when I add all three 15W bulbs they should all be between 6400K and 6700K? What about the 2800K Flora Glo bulb? Life Glo is recommended to use with Flora Glo so should I consider a low spectrum bulb in conjunction with the 6400K-6700K bulbs?
Click to expand...

The short of it is: Stick with a bulb between 5000K - 10000K.
There were some suggestions to mix and match for optimal plant growth and ascetics.
 
Keep in mind, that the lower the K rating, the redder the light appears. The higher a K rating goes, the bluer the light appears. 5000K-10000K full spectrum lights have a nice balance of both (as well as green).
 
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