# Lighting: 5000k vs 6000k



## asteroids (Mar 20, 2021)

Hello, I currently have a 5000k light and plan on getting bromeliads. I want a good light to get nice colors, so I planned on upgrading to a 6500k LED bulb. As of right now the 5000k looks a good white color, so Im wondering if 6500k would look too blue. everyone says that neorgelias need 6500k to get good colors. There are also people who say that 6500k is too unnatural looking. Is 6500k too blue? I want the tank to look nice to the eye. I don’t think that my 5000k LED is enough to color the neorgelias, so I think I have to upgrade either way. Any information? Here is a picture of the current 5000k 650 lumen LED in my tank THIS TANK HAS NO DART FROGS ONLY A FIRE BELLY TOAD


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## Encyclia (Aug 23, 2013)

I think the difference between 5000k and 6500k is primarily aesthetic. What do you like? In terms of broms coloring up, I am pretty sure that this is more dependent on the intensity and I am betting you could get broms to color up with 5000k or 6500k lights if they are bright enough. What I am certain of is that there are people on this board that know a lot more about this than I do and I bet they will chime in, too  

Mark


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## Chris S (Apr 12, 2016)

I think the kelvin rating on the bulb is less indicative of it's usefulness in growing plants than the lumens. As @Encyclia said, the Kelvin is more how you perceive it (temperature). The lower the rating the more "yellow" it typically looks. 5000-6000K are pretty similar, on the sort of "neutral" part of the scale.


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## Harpspiel (Jan 18, 2015)

Kelvin does matter for plant growth, here's a good explanation. Lumens measure intensity of light that humans can see, so kelvin + lumens will give you an idea of how good a light is as a grow light, but a better measure that covers both is PAR.


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## asteroids (Mar 20, 2021)

Thanks for all the responses! that website that you mentioned says 5000-7000k is good for plants, so I searched up a 6000k light on Amazon. I think that 6000k looks nice and natural, so here is a light I found, I only plan on using 1 light fo the tank. The main goal of this light is to get neorgelias to color up a little bit. Would this product be able to do a good job? Also the neorgelias would be at the top of the tank (picture is in first post) and the current light is 650 lumens, so hopefully this light (800 lumens) will be brighter and better. Please give feedback, thanks!
LINK


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## Harpspiel (Jan 18, 2015)

asteroids said:


> Thanks for all the responses! that website that you mentioned says 5000-7000k is good for plants, so I searched up a 6000k light on Amazon. I think that 6000k looks nice and natural, so here is a light I found, I only plan on using 1 light fo the tank. The main goal of this light is to get neorgelias to color up a little bit. Would this product be able to do a good job? Also the neorgelias would be at the top of the tank (picture is in first post) and the current light is 650 lumens, so hopefully this light (800 lumens) will be brighter and better. Please give feedback, thanks!
> LINK


The difference between 650 and 800 lumens will be negligible. I believe Neos would want something like 2500+ lumens, so 3 of those lights across the top of the tank would do the trick. The measurements get complicated because when you're talking about how much light is hitting a specific spot in a tank the measurement converts to lux which has very different values than just lumens emitted...however, I am pretty confident that 800 lumens will not color up your broms.


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## asteroids (Mar 20, 2021)

I only have room for 1 light to be screwed in, so IDK how I am going to fit more. Would this light be any better?
LINK 2


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## Harpspiel (Jan 18, 2015)

asteroids said:


> I only have room for 1 light to be screwed in, so IDK how I am going to fit more. Would this light be any better?
> LINK 2


You could try it, I don't think it will color up your broms. You might have better luck finding an actual grow light that has a measurement in PAR.









B. Neoregelia PAR Requirments


Finally picked up a PAR meter and confirmed my thoughts with solid measurements. The photo is of two Neo 'Wild Tiger' from the same source, purchased at the same time, and kept under LED lighting. The one on the left receiving 58 PAR is growing at the same rate, healthy, and an overall great...




www.dendroboard.com













Light Recommendations: PPFD (PAR) for Orchids and Houseplants


This article covers the PPFD (PAR) targets I aim for with my orchids and houseplants (on a 12h daily cycle); please understand these are my…




herebutnot.com





It's also possible that in a low tank like that, the amount of light you would need to get color in your broms would stress out your toad. I don't know much about herp keeping so someone else might be able to comment on that.


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## asteroids (Mar 20, 2021)

I think I might have found a solution. If I used one of these, and put 4 lights each at about 600 lumens, would this work?My idea


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## Harpspiel (Jan 18, 2015)

Would that fixture be safe to have inside the tank? Is there an automated misting system? Does the toad climb?


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## TeddytheFinger (May 8, 2019)

Ok so I don't have any critters in this tank besides isopods. My lights are 3000k-5000k and I get beautiful colors and crazy stupid growth. I was a bit hesitant at first to go with lights that were so warm because I thought they'd look like this, all orange and crazy looking.








However after I got them the warmer temps weren't as "warm" as I imagined and looked really pleasing to my eyes.









All in all I'd get what looks best to you. I remember reading on here it's not the quality of light that matters but the quantity. On my old 40gallon breeder tank I had a single beamswork 6500K fixture and my broms, albiet slowly, turned red. Under these warmer lights it only took a few weeks.


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## asteroids (Mar 20, 2021)

Wow those look really nice! I guess 5000k lights will be fine for me. Also the light source would be outside of the tank, I will send a picture to describe what I mean


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## austin (Dec 6, 2013)

The 6500k will be slightly more “blue” though your eye may perceive it as white at that K. 5000k is great any lower and you’ll start to look slightly yellow or very yellow depending on how low you go. Both are good choices and unless you are buying very high quality diodes won’t make a big difference on color perception. Either will grow plants just as well as the other at an equivalent brightness.


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## asteroids (Mar 20, 2021)

Would this light be good?Light


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## austin (Dec 6, 2013)

That looks like it’s probably about 4000k based off the spectrum, if it’s accurate. It will be a little yellow, but not terrible. It should have good color rendering for its Kelvin rating if the spectral output presented is accurate. 

You might be happier with something 5000-6500k.


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## Socratic Monologue (Apr 7, 2018)

In the product Q&A on Amazon:

"Q: What is the color temperature of this bulb? I'm looking for something between 5000-6500. 
A: Dear customer, 
Thank you for your question. The color temperature of the 30W led grow light bulb is very close to 5000K, as well as our 40W led grow light."


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## asteroids (Mar 20, 2021)

I have actually found a better light, it has a good PAR level of 95 from 12” which is not a ton but it is all I need. There is also a picture of it used for growing neorgelias, and the colors look pretty good. The light is the NICREW SkyLED PLUS on Amazon, and it has 6500k color temp, pretty decent reviews. So I think that is the light I will be going for (Unless there are any other suggestions)


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## TeddytheFinger (May 8, 2019)

Depending on your tank size I really like my beamswork.


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## fishingguy12345 (Apr 7, 2019)

asteroids said:


> I have actually found a better light, it has a good PAR level of 95 from 12” which is not a ton but it is all I need. There is also a picture of it used for growing neorgelias, and the colors look pretty good. The light is the NICREW SkyLED PLUS on Amazon, and it has 6500k color temp, pretty decent reviews. So I think that is the light I will be going for (Unless there are any other suggestions)


I love these lights. I use them on my tanks.


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## Harpspiel (Jan 18, 2015)

asteroids said:


> I have actually found a better light, it has a good PAR level of 95 from 12” which is not a ton but it is all I need. There is also a picture of it used for growing neorgelias, and the colors look pretty good. The light is the NICREW SkyLED PLUS on Amazon, and it has 6500k color temp, pretty decent reviews. So I think that is the light I will be going for (Unless there are any other suggestions)


A PAR of 95 from 12” sounds great. If your light is 6” above the lid, so maybe 8-9” above the tops of the broms, that will be brighter than 95, but as long as your toad is ok with it that should be great.


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## asteroids (Mar 20, 2021)

Wow, thanks everyone for all of the feedback! The only problem is that for mounting the light, I already made a custom lid, which was great and worked well (WITH a standard LED bulb). so the thing is, it’s not really meant for one of these aquarium lights. I could easily mount the NICREW light as it is and make no changes, but then the light would be very close (maybe an inch) from the top. So I could do that and just lower the brightness, but would that decrease PAR? Or I could modify the existing structure and have something that would allow me to mount it a couple inches (how many, IDK). So I think I’m just going to test out the light when it arrives. If it is too bright, I will either lower brightness or make a mount. Simple as that. Again, thank you everyone for all of the responses! It is good to constanlty get good advice from people who know what they are talking about


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## Harpspiel (Jan 18, 2015)

asteroids said:


> I could easily mount the NICREW light as it is and make no changes, but then the light would be very close (maybe an inch) from the top. So I could do that and just lower the brightness, but would that decrease PAR?


Yes. PAR is brightness in specific wavelengths that plants use.


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## imchet (Apr 7, 2021)

Bit of a newbie, but with a Physics background I know a bit about light. Something to consider is that light follows the inverse square law. intensity is divided by the square of the distance. What this boils down to is if you double the distance from your light source to your subject you don't end up with half the light intensity, but only a quarter. And simmilarly, if you cut the distance in half from light source to subject, you don't get twice the intensity, but four times! Be aware that radiant heat works the same way.

I'm running a reptisun Nano Led bulb to light my 12x12x18 which uses four watts of power and puts out 450 lumens, but I'm gathering from what I've read that that's probably not bright enough. I have a 10w led green grow bulb from Josh's frogs that I might switch out. 

Great thread, I'd also like a sense of how much light is too much for my tank or 18" square.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk


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## Socratic Monologue (Apr 7, 2018)

The inverse square formula describes point source light, but not directional light that is focused by refraction (with lensing/'optics') or reflection. 

For much of the lighting used in frog vivs (COB LEDs, no lensing), this won't matter quite as much, but for some it will -- that Reptisun LED has a decent looking reflector; the diffuser on InSitu's lighting does tighten up the light distribution quite a bit, according to my eyes; and aquarium-intended fixtures often use lensing (I use an AI Prime FW which has 80 degree lenses, for example).


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## Erskine888 (May 1, 2021)

asteroids said:


> Hello, I currently have a 5000k light and plan on getting bromeliads. I want a good light to get nice colors, so I planned on upgrading to a 6500k LED bulb. As of right now the 5000k looks a good white color, so Im wondering if 6500k would look too blue. everyone says that neorgelias need 6500k to get good colors. There are also people who say that 6500k is too unnatural looking. Is 6500k too blue? I want the tank to look nice to the eye. I don’t think that my 5000k LED is enough to color the neorgelias, so I think I have to upgrade either way. Any information? Here is a picture of the current 5000k 650 lumen LED in my tank THIS TANK HAS NO DART FROGS ONLY A FIRE BELLY TOAD
> View attachment 298270
> View attachment 298270


As someone who also keeps reef tanks, 6500K is still quite "white" to me, and it grows my plants well. I don't notice the "blue" until I go over 10000K. Guess that it's all a matter of perception. I agree with the others that PAR is a much more important parameter, and it can vary quite a bit due to the distance from the bulb, as well as the angle of incidence. The PAR that is quoted on any given bulb is only accurate at a spot directly under the light (as well as how much you trust the manufacturer). Unfortunately, a PAR meter can be pricey, and I find it to be unnecessary for vivaria. I have found that any bulbs that are recommended for freshwater planted aquaria do well for vivs. I use LEDs myself...


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## asteroids (Mar 20, 2021)

It’s been a while, and I’ve gotten a solid understanding of lighting from these forums. The tank in the picture has gotten a NICREW brightLED, it’s 7500k which looked very blue to me since it replaced a 5000k bulb. Ive gotten used to it, and now it looks like a normal white. Now I plan on getting These lights for a 65g tank. I have learned PAR is very important, and there is some good news about PAR meters. Check out this Video - it wasn’t spot on, but it gives a very close estimate of the PAR


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