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Originally Posted by poolman84 okay... I have one fixture with one light over the tank right now, the 8000k 15w T8. I have in my possession another fixture with a 6700k 15w full spec T8. it says on the box-960 Lumen, 7500h and 95 LUX. I had this over my tank in addition to the first one. That's when I noticed the algae growing really fast so I removed the 6700k. The plants are growing good right now but the were really exploding when I had both lights on. tank size is 10 gallons by the way. which light should i be using? |
The full spectrum 6700K tube is far better for your setup. First, it has red and blue highlights (necessary for plants) plus green to balance for a nautral colour rendition. Second, the higher blue tube alone will encourage algae.
Using both together will provide more light which means you will need more nutrients to balance, as Angel079 pointed out. I am a real fan of the "less light is better" school headed by authorities like Tom Barr who advocate the minimal amount of light to achieve plant growth is preferable because nutrients don't then have to be as massive to balance. Without sufficient nutrients for the plants to balance the light, more light will not help the plants but algae will take over.