I've been using strictly 18k Power-Glo bulbs for a couple years now with
phenomenal plant growth results. My ludwigia is always a bright red color
and all my other plants grow like weeds (of course dependant on other
factors like proper fert dosing and CO2). What I like about the color is
that it shows fish colors beautifully. I've had neons/cardinals with vibrant
results and now keeping a school of harlequin rasboras. I've tried the
typical Phillips sun spectrum bulbs that people claim work just as good but
was very disappointed with the dull yellowish light it cast on
everything--making plants look pale and fish colors unattractive!

The only downfall is that the lighting can get pretty expensive...especially
when you must replace flourescents every 6 months.

Dave.

"basserman" wrote in message
oups.com...
Can you tell me if this is the wrong light for my tank. I recently
bought a Power-Glo 18,000K 30Lux 8W light for a 6gal eclipse tank that
I'd like to grow plants in. As I do more research I've notice that
this might not be the right light for growing plants (or for keeping
the guppies happy either). It look like it has plenty in the blue
spectrum range, but not enough in the red spectrum for any significant
plant growth.

As far as plants, I'm sticking to low light plants because I can only
fit an 8W bulb in the 12" fixture that came with the eclipse unit.
Java Ferns, Crypts (red wentii), and anubais.

I know the 8W is a bit small to grow plants, but I must deal with it as
part of the Eclipse unit.

Do you think I should change to a 5,000K - 6,000K rated bulb? Does the
K even matter for plant growth or is that a rating of lamp color
visible to the human eye. From what I've read, it's more about the red
and blue spectrum that the human eye can't see anyway.

Thanks for any help you can give.