How can I increase my light level ????

white light is made up of all the colors combined together. a prism or water is used to split the white light into red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. eliminate the orange, green, and violet because they are simply where the other three colors overlap.

you are left with red, yellow, and blue. the three primary colors from which all other colors can be made. blue is the strongest. it is the only color that can penetrate sea water. that is why underwater in the ocean, everything is blue. red is very weak and does not penetrate very far, yellow is somwhere inbetween.

as slappy said, freshwater plants live in shallow water, and have not addapted to use light in the blue spectrum. they need light in the red spectrum, which is 5000-6700k.

i use full spectrum bulbs on my tank and my plants are doing great.
 
Ok guys I'll defer to your wordly wisdom. But i still have the same problem which is my light intesity is well poorer than what I'd like, ok then from a freshwater perspective whats the best way to get some nice bright ligh in my tank which both my fish and plants can enjoy. Would T5 lighs be any better an alternative. Basically i just want a brighter light in my tank and a combined T8 light plus reflectors doesn't look all that impressive, its certainly dimmer just 2 months on than the day i installted it. I want a light thats gonna stay bright month after month.
 
Triton full spectrum bulbs may be just what you're looking for.
 
go to www.drsfostersmith.com and look at the coralife t5 setups. I have a t5 setup for the 20G and WOW it's really really bright. I bought the freshwater version for plants and t5's are what i run on my reef setup. If they have the parabelic reflectors, some put them in the running with HQI Metal Halides.
 
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