Lighting for 10-Gallon Planted

enrique4jc

enrique4jc

AC Members
Oct 17, 2006
615
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18
Russell Springs, KY
Real Name
Eric
Hey guys, just got a 10-gallon tank set up with fancy guppies. I've got a few plants in there, and want to scape it well, but right now all I have is the original walmart hood.

Can anyone recommend a decent light?
 
is it the kind of hood that comes with 2 screw in, incadescent bulbs?

if it is that type.. then keep the hood you have and just replace the bulbs with 12-15w CFIs... that will give you 20-30 watts of nice light.. 3wpg is good enough for almost any aquarium plant

wal mart acctually sells some nice CFIs that are the perfect size for those hoods.. they produce 6500k light and are 12w each.. they are $5 each in the aquarium section of most wal-marts (one good thing about walmart lol)

otherwise you can get the normal CFIs for house lighting... just make sure you get the lower wattage ones (you dont want 120w on a 10g lol).. and make sure they are a good color temp for plants (most are)
they are a bit bigger and bulkier than the aquarium variety.. but will acctually fit into most hoods that take incadescent lighting

I guess alternatively you could just use 1 higher watt bulb.. but I like to use 2 as I think it spreads out the light more evenly


other options if you wanna buy a new hood are out there as well.. but this is cheap, efficient, and works great!
 
7itanium said:
is it the kind of hood that comes with 2 screw in, incadescent bulbs?

if it is that type.. then keep the hood you have and just replace the bulbs with 11-15w CFIs... that will give you 20-30 watts of nice light.. 3wpg is good enough for almost any aquarium plant
Click to expand...

+1

Go back to walmart they (should) have some in the aquarium section that will be perfect for that hood. BTW if you got your filter at walmart too it is a Marineland filter in disguise. :)
 
Well, it was an empty 10-gallon tank I found in my parents' shed that had one of those undergravel filters with the little filter things you put on the end of a tube and run the air through. I decided to toss that (it was really nasty anyway) and added a new Penguin Biowheel, a visitherm stealth heater, and just bought a cheap hood from Walmart. I've had the tank for a while, but all of that I bought before I was into plants.

Unfortunately the hood has a florescent tube in it. The bulb isnt labeled worth a hoot so I don't know the wattage or the k rating. Does anyone have an idea what it might be?
 
small flourescent hoods can suck for planted tanks

I would return it (if it hasnt been too long) and buy an incadescent one

you can buy a plant bulb for the flourescent hood but chances are it will be too low wattage to grow many plants

but ye.. I pic would help-- as well as the size, and number of bulbs
 
or you can go to any hardware store and get the one that says its closest to real sun if they show a k rating near 6500 k.

like this one.
63c7649b-9253-45e6-8eea-df145f381d00_400.jpg
 
Okay so I took another look at the bulb is listed as an eclipse F15T8. 15w? 1.5 wpg is decent, but I'd rather have more. Do they make bulbs to fit that are higher wattage?
 
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