Few things I would like to hit on that seem to be not entirely correct:
Quote:
Freshwater aquatic plants require peaks in the red spectrum for optimal growth, as freshwater aquatic plants' photosynthetic ability is most sensitive to red light......
.....If one were to use a light source which produced peaks in the red and blue spectrums, the overall effect would look quite garish.
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Plants use both the red and blue spectrum. Both are important for a healthy tank especially if you have plants that are red-ish in color. When selecting bulbs, you actually want bulbs that peak well in the red and blue spectrums, however, intensity(ie lumens/lux) is actually more important than the spectrum. However, it just so happens that most 6700K blubs provide a good level of red and blue spectrum along with good intensity. This explains why they are so popular.
With that said, I have actually kept tanks and seen others that used all 10,000k bulbs or all softwhite bulbs which I believe are ~3000K. The plants in these tanks grew very well.