A newby question about lighting.

[Danomanotai]

Hi, I will soon be converting from a reef to a planted tank and was wondering if the light I currently use will be ok. I have a razor nano 16k. I've never been one to really understand spectrums, watts etc, but I know this one was good for coral that use photosynthesis. However the corals used the blue spectrum more when they came from deeper water, and more white spectrum the shallow the water.
However plants aren't corals so I'm wondering if this light will still be ok. I'm guessing it will be but I'll have to have it on a low setting (as I'm starting low tech) if I keep it on a more full white spectrum. I'm guessing blues won't do plants any good whatsever.
I'm hoping this light will be ok and produce a decent enough spectrum of light.
Looking forward to learning from you all here. Reading the tutorials at the moment so I don't mess up to much and have to learn from any mistakes.
TIA

 

[Guest]

I have zero experience of your light, but plants have accessory pigments that will compensate for spectrum deficiencies outside of the of the often quoted 6500k norm. The determining factor will probably be your sense of aesthetics ...that is whether you find the results attractive enough to live with.

 

[Danomanotai]

It's a 16k spectrum light, very bright, so I imagine it will need to be dimmed down, as for the blues I think it will be more for aesthetics, plus it's got a timer on it which might be handy as I read in one of the threads that it is a good idea to turn off the lights for 2-4 hours during the photosynthetic period, which is a good plan for electricity and when I'm at work in the day I won't need it for viewing as much. Plus the blues are nice at night, everybody likes a blue glow from their tank in the evening.

 

[Martin in Holland]

I have the same light above my reef tank and would probably not use more than 10% of the whites, I still think it could be to bright, do not bombard your plants with to much PAR, if you are able to get your hands on a PAR meter you would make things much easier to yourself. The 16000K is with the blue light on next to the whites, Kelvin is only the color we see and most of us aim for about 6500K to maybe 8000K.

 

[Danomanotai]

Thanks Martin, I was thinking of starting low, maybe some pistia would help as well to block some of the light. If worst comes to worst I can sell my razor and get a decent enough light for the plants.