hop2jr

I was reading up on planted aquariums and most things say that the plants like the 6700K to 5800K specturm but last night bought a T8 Flora bulb for planted aquariums and it is 2800K so which is it? right now I have Dwarf hair grass and going to add java moss if I can ever find it, java ferns and maybe 2 more spieces of plants for low to med light. I have a 29gal tank and the new lamp is 20watts but looks dim compared to the aquatic buld that came with the hood. Any help on this out there?

GreenMan13

2800K are very yellow, that is one reason why is seems dim. I think they will work just fine for plants, they might even work better then 5500K or 6500K, but they work a lot better for algae too. I think this and the color preference are the main reasons most people go with 5500K or higher. Those will still work great for plants but not as well for the algae so the tank will not become covered in algae. And how yellow 2800K is compared to a 5500K is pretty ugly IMO.