Which is better? 6500k,8000k or 10000k

[AnA]

Have read somewhere that 6500k of PL light should be suitable for planted tank. But, I have used 10,000k lighting all this while for plants with 'good' results. But, wondering should I purchase the 6500k so as to cut cost and at the same time produce similar results? NA selling the 8000k type from Elbiru. Anyone uses this with great results? Anyone has tried all the 6500k, 8000k and the 10000k? Please share your experience and advise. Thanks.

[jasonwcs]

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On 3/21/2003 10:49:24 AM

Have read somewhere that 6500k of PL light should be suitable for planted tank. But, I have used 10,000k lighting all this while for plants with 'good' results. But, wondering should I purchase the 6500k so as to cut cost and at the same time produce similar results? NA selling the 8000k type from Elbiru. Anyone uses this with great results? Anyone has tried all the 6500k, 8000k and the 10000k? Please share your experience and advise. Thanks.
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Hi,
I have been using 6500k for most of the time, it works well for me, my plant is very the healthy and green but recently change to 10 000k not very "Friendly" to the plant as it give out more blue light compare to the 6500k, even my ricca doen't bubble much
, so I swap back to 6500k , so now everything is back to normal!!I would say 6500k is the best choice after some small research u can check it out from osram wedpage it help!! as for the 8000k, it's new in the market have not try yet

[tawauboy]

6500k lights are widely used because it is readily available and cheap. the light output is similar to sunlight and gives plants a natural look.

someone who used 10000k light did feedback that it promotes algae growth. these lights are normally used for marine and cost more.

fyi, lights <6500k gives a reddish light while >6500k gives a bluish light. the effect is more pronounced as the k goes towards the extremes.

[AnA]

Thanks guys for your information.

Ok, I have yet to try 6500k as the original come with 10000k. So far, it does not give algae problem...maybe it is due to my water is a bit yellowish and thus filtered the blue light which emitted from the 10000k. But now, the water is clearer and thus is suitable to use the 6500k. Maybe, I will do a mix of 8000k and 6500k and see if it is OK.

[Clement79]

I have one doubt in mind, what happen if the FL is 6200K will that be the almost the same as 6500K I mean the result? Currently, I am using Philips Daylight tube TL'D' 18W/54 which is 6200K.

Cheer....

[Allen_1971]

Clement are you sure about that? as far as I know philips tri-phosphor tube TL-D series is a 6500K?

Anyway, Its not going to make much difference whether it is 6200K or 6500K

[AnA]

Have fixed up the 6500k and the 10000k side by side. I think the 6500k looks more natural to the sunlight. I think it should be more suitable for plants since it has the 'colour' of the sun.

I have put up the 8000k too and found it has a slight reddish colour as compare to the 6500k. But, since have already bought the 8000k, just give it a try. My tank now is much brighter now. I guess 1 year has wear out the lighting density of the my old 10000k.

[sherchoo]

Allen,
I'm afraid that the tube that clement mentioned is 6200K and agree with you that it won't make much difference if you're using 6200K or 6500K. The colour looks the same and probably give the same results.

[Plantbrain]

I've been using a mix of 5000K and 8800K PC bulbs and like the color mix.

Plant growth is good with good colors . Cannot say if it's better than a 5000-6500K mix really but the bulbs cost the same so what the heck.
10000K bulbs looked weird to me.

Triton's are 7200K which is also a nice color. Therre are some 13w bulbs that are this color temp that I use on a smaller cube tank.

Most of the lighting works fine, main thing is what looks good to your own eyes which for most happens to be in the 5-6500K range.

Regards,
Tom Barr

[Allen_1971]

Clement,

I was at best denki just now, and I happened to catch a look of the tube you mentioned. I realized that not all the TL-D series are tri-phosphors.

While its true that a color difference from 6200K to 6500K is not going to make much impact, its worth noting that your 18W/54 is the older series of philips tubes which has an output efficiency of about 57lm/W (was on the packaging). This is bad compared to what you could get with a TL-D/865 tube which has an efficiency of 90lm/W (also on the packaging)... that works out to roughly 58% improvement in luminous flux for free. So my advice is to change to the newer tri-phosphor tubes.