10g light suggestion?

[Bonne46]

I'm looking at starting a 10g plated tank. One thing I need help with is lighting, I'm not sure what wattage to get to make my 10g at 2.5wpg. I'm looking at doing CFL, the DIY hood using CFL posted in DIY section. Any help?

 

[zpromoter]

using the stock hood I am pushing 2.0watts per gallon. I just use two 10watt cfls to power it.

Cfls are a good way to go in a custom fabrication.

 

[Bonne46]

Since I'm doing the CFL bulbs in stock hood what wattage do I look at to figure wpg for my tank, the cfl wattage or what the cfl wattage equals to a normal bulb?

 

[coach_z]

actual wattage. 5w cfl=5w

 

[nandar82]

well I have a 10g planted tank and I use a cheap and simple way to light it. I bought this plastic All-Glass Economy Full Hood for about $20 for LFS. It came outfitted with dual incandescent bulbs (not included) set up. But insted of buying the aquarium type incandescent bulbs, I went to Home Depot and bought two of those spiral energy efficient 14 Watts Compact Fluorescents Daylight. once you installed and light it up, it takes about 2 minutes to become fully bright (normal for those energy efficient bulbs). My plants are doing great with this set up. * Warning * it is important not to use regular incandescent bulbs in this fixture. They can overheat and melt the plastic housing.

 

[Bonne46]

actual wattage. 5w cfl=5w

Thanks for the info, but when I see the CFL packages I see it saying 13w but equilevent to 100 or whatever it is.

 

[Bonne46]

Do they only do 6500k for higher wattage bulbs? I like the look of the 6500k but I want my tank around 2.5-3wpg.

 

[Jspigs]

Thanks for the info, but when I see the CFL packages I see it saying 13w but equilevent to 100 or whatever it is.

The incandescent equivalence is irrelevant. 13 watts is 13 watts. When we talk about how many watts for a CFL we mean how many watts it uses, not how many watts it is equivalent to because how many watts it uses is the important part.

 

[coach_z]

you can find CFLs in the 6500-6700 range at your local hardware store (lowes, home depot, menards, ace, etc.)

 

[dinosue]

I picked up this light for my 10 g and have been very happy with it.
http://shop.aquatraders.com/Odyssea-20in-1x36W-Power-Compact-Light-Fixture-p/51102.htm (I did order 6500k light bulb since the fixture came with 50/50)
You can take a look in my old thread here too.
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=206365