Difference between these 2 bulbs
I am ordering 2 20-watt compact flourescent bulbs to go in a 10g tank and have a choice between 50/50 10,000K Daylight, 50% Actinic 03 Blue and Colormax 6,700°K full spectrum. What is the difference between the two and which would be best suited for my plants? I have some crypt, java fern and vallisnera (the vallisnera might not make it).
These are the two bulbs:
Or would 1 of each be best?
-6700K is for plants. The light is more like the top of the water.
-50/50 is 10000K, and actinic. The higher "K" The more it simulates deeper water. The deeper you go, certain colors get filtered out of the light.
Remember good ol' "Roy G. Biv" from elementary? 6,700 has red orange...all the way to purple. The higher K bulbs may skip a few colors and start at "G. Biv" and skip the roy colors.
Bottom line is that the 6700's are for plants, and the 10,000 are for reef tanks.
Also, the higher the temp the more "white" the light is. I'm not sure if 6700k starts to show some tint of yellow or not but the 10000k are nice, clean light.
So because of tank and plants should I definitely go for the Colormax 6700K?
That gives an idea of the color spectrum in Kelvin Degrees. It helps a little but doesn't give all the answers.
Would it be better if I went with 2 10-watt bulbs since they are considered in between low and moderate light.
While it could be considered overkill for the plants you mention it only lead to massive gorwth from both, not a bad thing in my opinion. You could have algae issues is the only drawback if you don't have CO2 injection or dose Excel regularly. You could always find a way to mount the light 6-8 inches above the tank to cut the amount of light that the tank actually receives. I say if you are game to deal with dosing and controlling the algae, go for it. Just make sure that you give the crypts root tabs and keep the moss clean of algae growth and keep the moss thinned enough to make sure it gets enough light.
If you don't want to mess with Excel or CO2, then go with 30 watts or 20 watts, you can always but the full spectrum bulbs back in later when you are ready to do a little more maintenance.
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