Plants in the future...?

Bobafish

Star Wars Freak
Mar 6, 2005
119
0
0
38
Ankeny, Iowa
www.freewebs.com
I am new to plantkeeping and I want some plants, but I am really confused. Does anyone have a suggestion for a setup for my 10 gallon tank.
Right now I have 50 watts of incandescent light, which is wrong I have been told that I need florescent light.
Suggestions for Lighting and CO2 for this tank would be appreciated.
 
Incandescent bulbs aren't really going to provide enough light, but you can buy spiral screw-in compact fluorescent lights at Home Depot, they fit into incandescent fixtures and work quite well for plants. Most spirals sold are designed to replace household 40, 60 or 100W bulbs, so they're quite yellowish in colour. I have found a few types of bulbs, Pur-Lite brand 'full spectrum daylight' (5000K) and Philips 'daylight' (6500K), that work well for the plants and produce a colour pleasing to the eye. If you see a Kelvin rating (an indication of the colour temperature) on the package, look for something between 5000K and 10 000K. The lower the number, the more red/yellow the light will appear, the higher the number, the bluer.
For a 10g tank, two 9W spirals would give you lowish light, two 13W or 15W 'mini' sized bulbs are enough to grow medium light plants IME. I wouldn't go with anything higher than 15W, the bulbs will probably be too large to fit into the fixture.
I use DIY CO2 on my 10g, with 2 15W spirals (along with indirect sun part of the day). DIY is easy and works well for me, I find it makes a noticable difference in plant growth.
Along with CO2 and lighting, read up on fertilization - I view the three as equally important sides of a triangle. If all three are in balance, the plants will grow well and algae should stay at a minimum.
 
I think I will go with the two 13-15 watt florescents, but does it matter if water touches them every once and a while? There is no plastic divider between the water and the bulbs- this makes it almost impossible to keep the bulbs dry. This is no problem when the lights are on because they evaporate the water on them. However, will it be a problem if the bulbs get some droplets on them?
 
AFAIK, it's not a good idea to let water contact fluorescent bulbs. If you can, you may want to get a glass cover for the tank to keep the bulbs dry. If that's not possible, see what you can do to reduce any splashing that takes place (raise the water level if you have a HOB filter, don't use an airstone, things like that).
 
AquariaCentral.com