10k & 14k T5 lights

[ahkarboy]

Hi, is it possible to grow plants at a normal rate with 1 globe of 10k and 1 globe of 14k T5 lights?

would the 14k affect growth of plants at all?

this is for freshwater plants.

[barmby]

It is not a problem. Depends on what plant too.

[ahkarboy]

I'm kinda thinking of just growing riccia and downoi (if i can find any in australia)

it wouldnt be a problem would it?

[barmby]

Relative easy plants to grow. Riccia is one. They used to be floating plant until Amano tried it. They grow at an alarming rate.

One of the trick in growing downoi is growing it on sandy sand bed like lapis. Because they are living on rocks and stone in the wild. They are sensitive to over dose of Excel.

[ahkarboy]

aite so take me through why this kelvin rating is so important. i understand that for plants to photosynthesis and grow, they require some red light or wavelengths and blue and that the higher the kelvin rating is, the less of a red wavelength i get. pardon my physics.

what type of plants would require a lower kelvin rating then? please guide me through this.

cheers barmby.

[barmby]

OK. I am actually not the right person for lights. I will normally dump in all the lights that I can find. Wattage is to Planted tank like what RAM is to Computer

[bbpippen]

most 10000k or 14000k arent really that kelvin index, once you hit 14000k, we humans see it as bluish light (meaning the blue spectrum)

as long as you see white light(beyond the uv and Infra Red range) then the tube is usable for planted tanks.

However it doesnt mean that the light tube is ideal for the tank and plants.

[MiminoloGy]

Hi, is it possible to grow plants at a normal rate with 1 globe of 10k and 1 globe of 14k T5 lights?

would the 14k affect growth of plants at all?

this is for freshwater plants.

Im currently using 10k only with no problems on my HC, L.Brevipes and Arcuata.

aite so take me through why this kelvin rating is so important. i understand that for plants to photosynthesis and grow, they require some red light or wavelengths and blue and that the higher the kelvin rating is, the less of a red wavelength i get. pardon my physics.

what type of plants would require a lower kelvin rating then? please guide me through this.

cheers barmby.

The lower the kelvin ratings, the wavelengths tend to the reddish end which the human eyes see as yellow light. Sunlight is about 6K and this promotes the highest growth because the energy is highest here.

Moving up the spectrum with higher kelvin ratings the color our eyes see become more bluish and in this range the energy gained for photosynthesis is lesser.

To answer your question, it is quite difficult to answer because the issue is as explained above.

Let me use marine tanks as an example. 6K promotes very high growth rate for corals during photosynthesis, but however when the aquarium is shone only with 6k light, all the animals (corals) will look very brownish and hence many use 10k, 12k, 14k and/or even 20k to enhance the look whilst giving up the high growth factor. Use this and apply it to the planted tank. Most plants still look as great under 6k-10k. But if somehow, your eyes prefer the plants' green under 14k and/or even 20k, then your plants will not grow as fast as compared to using 6k.

Lastly, algae is known to grow the fastest under reddish wavelengths because of the energy given, so you might want to take note.

Cheers