# Lighting: 6700K vs 10000K



## Moe (Feb 15, 2004)

Hey guys,

Was wondering what your experiences are w/ plant growth between the two common light colours. Also, what is preferred for the natural vivaria?


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## Rich Frye (Nov 25, 2007)

Hi, 
Natural light is about 5600K. 10,000 is very blue.
The only plant experience I have with 10, 000 will be salt water 'plants'.
Rich


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## skylsdale (Sep 16, 2007)

Go with the 6500K or 6700K bulbs (usually say 'full spectrum' or 'daylight' on them...but check the kelvin rating just to make sure). 

Coming from a reefkeeping background, 6700k is basically the spectrum of light in the tropics at mid-day and is great for corals. Going lower (like the 5000's Rich suggested) is going to have more red in the spectrum and appear more yellow. It is fine for the plants, but just a matter of your visual preference (I personally prefer a daylight spectrum for viewing).

A 10,000k bulb has a bluish-white light--good for corals and giving a really crisp white viewing light...but not needed for plants (and will generally be more expensive, so I would go with any of the former options).


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## melissa68 (Feb 16, 2004)

I use T-8, 6500K bulbs from Home Depot. I have had the best plant growth using this spectrum. Of course, you can't beat the price. Less than $8 for two 4' lights!


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## skronkykong (Jan 1, 2007)

My big setup has 10,000K lights over it. Not because I picked them out but because its what the light fixture came with. The plants are still growing well. I think it will work fine but 6,500K would be better.


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## jehitch (Jun 8, 2007)

melissa68 said:


> I use T-8, 6500K bulbs from Home Depot. I have had the best plant growth using this spectrum. Of course, you can't beat the price. Less than $8 for two 4' lights!


Me, too. I have two 4' shoplights over my rack of plants, and they grow like crazy. Have you noticed any difference when there's glass between the bulb and the plants? I've been trying to ballpark it, as one side of my room has just plastic wrap over the top of the vivs, while the other has glass. I haven't been able to note any difference in growth rate.


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## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

currently all my lights are 10K and i have to trim the plants about every 2 weeks, i use 10k because they are more of a white bulb then 6500K, the tanks are well light and like i said the plants thrive on them.


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## Rich Frye (Nov 25, 2007)

Bottom line is that most all plants will be fine in anything 4000s and up. Low-mid 5000s-low-mid 6000s are natural spectrums. What ever spectrum you find visually appealing should be your choice, remembering that the spectrum of the bulb goes down (or get yellower) as it ages. 
Fixtures are an other matter.


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## melissa68 (Feb 16, 2004)

No - I haven't noticed any difference between plastic and glass. My choice for the lights I use are price. I have used 4100 k bulbs in the past, but my preference is 6500k. 

Overall, the frog room is brighter using these lights.

Thanks


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## bbrock (May 20, 2004)

I use both 5,000K and 6700K bulbs. Like Rich said, both are within the range of strong natural sunlight and both look good in vivaria to me. Often I use one of each depending on what is cheaper or available.

Here's a thread that might help understand the lighting a bit. 

http://www.dendroboard.com/phpBB2/viewt ... um&start=0

For the most part, plants don't give a rip what color temp you use. They are more intersted in the number of photons of light within the photosynthetically active wavelengths. So price, appearance, and brightness are the important factors.


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## Moe (Feb 15, 2004)

My viv is a 24Lx20Wx24H" which i will use a coralife 2x65 power compact fixture. It comes with 10k bulbs, however i can replace with 6.7k's. Just wanted to see if the 10k's were ok for plant growth - which i guess it is. 

Thanks guys


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## mydumname (Dec 24, 2004)

This link shows the coralife 24" CF fixture with one 6700K bulb (65 watts):


http://www.bigalsonline.com/StoreCatalo ... ght2_x_65w

This one shows the 24" with 2 6700K bulbs (130 watts):

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/p ... atid=13733




Since you said you will use, I am assuming you didn't purchase it yet and you may want to consider just buying it from a vendor that will supply you the appropriate bulbs.


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## *GREASER* (Apr 11, 2004)

I have three of the 48 coralife hoods that have have a total of four bulbs in each. Mine have a mix of the 50/50 bulbs and 10k bulbs in them. THey seem to work good but I expected to see better growth out of my plants fromthem. 


http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsUS/ct ... 484x65watt


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