# Which t-5 bulbs would you recommend for a 20 gallon High pla



## daffodils (Mar 10, 2008)

Which t-5 bulbs would you recommend for a 20 gallon High planted tank?

I have a 2 bulb Coral Life fixture that I would like to use for my 20 gallon H planted tank. It currently has the bulbs in it that came with the fixture. One of the bulbs says 10000K and one says Actinic. I am not sure what wattage they are but from what I have seen online I would assume they are 15w bulbs.

Thanks for the help!


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## Chris2500DK (Feb 15, 2006)

They're most likely 24W T5HO bulbs.

For a planted tank I'd get one 6500K bulb and one 10000K bulb. Giesemann makes excellent bulbs as well does ATI.


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## addicted2cichlid (Apr 8, 2008)

i like the hagen power glo and flora glo


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## Narwhal72 (Sep 26, 2006)

Coralife T5 are Normal Output bulbs. If you have a 24" fixture it's using 14 watt bulbs. I would suggest the 10,000K and Colormax bulbs for the best color rendition.

Andy


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## Vincent (May 7, 2004)

I think plants will do best with the 6700k bulbs.


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## Number6 (Mar 13, 2003)

Narwhal72 said:


> Coralife T5 are Normal Output bulbs. If you have a 24" fixture it's using 14 watt bulbs. I would suggest the 10,000K and Colormax bulbs for the best color rendition.
> 
> Andy


 Low light plants could eek out an existence under the above bulbs and I'd agree that the 6700K colormax win out for me over coralife's 6500K bulbs. 
The 6500K bulb I had from corallife did not have a decent spectrum IMHO.

so I'll agree with Narwhal... 10,000K and a colormax.


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## Narwhal72 (Sep 26, 2006)

Coralife does not make a 6500K bulb in T5. They make a 6700K, 10,000K, blue actinic, and the Colormax (not rated but probably around 4000K CRI). The 6700K and 10,000K bulbs will support plants equally well as will the Colormax. All the light necessary for chlorophyll is found in them. From a color standpoint I like the blend of the 10K and Colormax as the 6700K is a little too yellow for my tastes.

Andy


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## Number6 (Mar 13, 2003)

So Corallife's colormax in PC is 6700K but in T5 it's 4000K?

Weird... I'll take your word for it though. I assumed the colormax in T5 would match the kelvin rating of my PC bulb...

I'll have to assume you're right about the T5 not being 6500K... I typed that one from memory and wouldn't be able to say for certain that it wasn't a T8 that I used to own.

Thanks for the corrections!


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## Narwhal72 (Sep 26, 2006)

Coralife doesn't make a Colormax PC bulb. We make a 6700K/Colormax split tube bulb. One tube is 6700K and the other is Colormax all in the same bulb. Kelvin rating refers to the Color Rendition Index. Red is at the low end of the scale and blue is at the high end. A 5500K is a yellow bulb and bulbs lower than that have more red in them. The pink hued Colormax has a low kelvin rating. It does bring out red, orange, and yellow colors more vibrantly because of that though. However to get really good all around color balancing it with a whiter bulb works best in my opinion.

the only 6500K fluorescent bulb that Coralife makes is the Trichromatic which is only available in T12. 6700K and 6500K bulbs are so close in color though that you would be hard pressed to tell the difference.

Andy Hudson
Central Aquatics (Coralife)
Research and Development


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## Number6 (Mar 13, 2003)

you made me run out to the garage to look at the lamp, but sure enough... one side of the lamp is a different color than the other! 

There is a dash in between the Colormax and the 6700K on the packaging but that didn't register with me for some reason... go smack your marketing guys for me please! :thumb:


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