When setting up your first aquarium and choosing the correct LED lighting for your tank, there may be some terms that look unfamiliar to you. There’s a lot more that goes into choosing the lights needed for your fish and plants than one may think. To choose the correct lighting for your tank’s needs, there are some terms you need to know and understand so you can make the right choice.
Kelvin: this refers to the color temperature of the bulbs. This measures how “warm” or “cool” the lights are. Live plants do well when the lights are under 6,500 Kelvin.
Lumen: this explains how intense the light is. For example, the higher the lumen, the brighter the lights are. This measures how much light the bulb puts out into the tank.
Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR): this is the type of light that is required for live plants to grow properly. It is typically seen in daylight bulbs.
Photosynthetically Useful Radiation (PUR): this describes the usable portion of PAR and can be affected by how deep the aquarium is.
Watt: this is what measures how much energy the bulb needs to light. The higher the watt is, the brighter the bulb will be.
When researching various aquatic plants, you can simply look up a list of beginner live aquatic plants for freshwater or saltwater setups, depending on what you have. It’s a good idea to start with simple plants that are easy to grow and don’t require a lot of maintenance until you have a better idea of how to take care of your plants with the proper lighting and you understand the terms that go along with choosing the right lighting for your aquarium as a whole.