Wattage for 10-gallon.....

[jread]

I currently am running two Coralife, 18", 15watt plant growth bulbs on my 10-gallon. That works out to 3wpg. I'm wanting to upgrade to a power compact(s) soon and was wanting some advice:

I'm going to get my lighting from http://www.ahsupply.com/

They have a 36wX1 kit that would go on my tank, or the 13wX4 kit also sounds nice. I'm wondering what would be the best for my tank. I would like to have enough light to grow glossostigma, etc., so would the 3.6wpg from the 36w PC be enough? If not, the 13wX4 would give me 5.2wpg. I'm thinking that might be a little overboard, though.

Another question is about what kind of bulb: 5000k, 6700k or 10000k?

[Tempest]

3.6 watts should certainly be enough. I'd use either the 5000 or 6700.

[Richer]

In the case of compact flourescent lighting (like the ones from ahsupply), the usual watts/gallon may not work out as well compared to using normal flourescent lights. CFs tend to be able to penetrate water better than normal flourescents. Since a 10 gallon tank isn't all that deep (in most cases), I believe 2x13watts should be enough to growth just about anything you want.

HTH
-Richer

[djlen]

I would go with the 3.6 watts/gal. arrangement.
The ratio of watts/gal. is not as radical in smaller tanks as it is in larger ones. I believe I read in some of Amano's articles, that he uses, in many cases, a ratio of 6:1 in small tanks.
I think that 3.6 CF would be just fine as long as you plant it well and keep after it to keep it in balance.
BTW, I would opt for the 6700K temp.

Len

[jread]

Thanks for the help :)