10 Gallon lighting for plants

Byron

This is a bit confusing to me.

If you have a fluorescent tube light, there is only one tube that will fit and the length is how to find it. The watts mean nothing, they are the same for all same-size tubes except that some manufacturers are now making more energy-efficient lights that use less energy (= lower watts) but produce much the same light. So look for the proper length to fit (take the existing tube with you to the store) and get that in a tube with a kelvin around 6500K.

If these are screw-in bulbs, you use CFL (compact fluorescent) that do come in different wattages. Over a 5g or 10g two 10w daylight 6500K CFL bulbs will work fine.

Byron.

stevenjohn21

It's a 12" T5 bulb. I ordererd a bulb that's 8000k so I'm thinking after reading watts are not as important as the kelvins that my new light should be ok
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Byron

The Aqueon tube you linked a couple posts back will not light in your fixture. You have a T5, so only T5 tubes will work.

If you have a T5, it is likely HO (= high output) so the intensity (brightness) is much higher than a comparable-size T8 tube. Here again, watts is rather meaningless.

The Kelvin is the colour temperature of the light produced; around 6000K is equal to the sun at mid-day, lower number is warmer (more red, less blue), higher is cooler (more blue, less red). But this is just the colour we perceive. The actual spectrum (determined by the phosphors inside the tube) is what matters. Sometimes the two relate, sometimes not.

Byron.

stevenjohn21

The one I ordererd is a T5 light....it clearly states that model/ size is a t5 the rest are t8....so my question again is will this be sufficent for a 10 gallon tank ?
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Byron

Yes.