After being out of the aquarium phase for a few years, I am resurrecting one of my old 10 gallon tanks. I would like to plant dwarf sword, vallis, and maybe some java moss or an amazon sword. I had moderate success with a 35 gallon planted aquarium a few years ago so I am familiar with the basic ideas behind a planted tank.
The 10 gallon has 2 25 watt incandescent bulbs, are these any good for planted tanks and will this give out enough light for the plant species listed above?
I realize flourescent lighting is better but I am trying to use what I have without spending alot of money.
Incandascent can grow nothing but unwanted algea. It also heats your tank up a lot.
You may want to buy two of the 6700k (Colormax) bulbs here. I have one on my 5G, and it is very good for plants. Two should be fine for the plants you want: Small Aquarium Lighting: Mini Compact Bulbs
Or you can look for a decent fixture somewhere if you want to spend a good amount of money.
If you have an incandescent fixture you can use the screw-in compact fluorescents in it. I have found that a smaller profile 13W works fine in a 10 gallon tank hood. The larger wattage bulbs were too big for the space intended for a tube shaped incandescent. Even some of the 13W bulbs were too big so you should look at their shape before spending money on one. You want the daylight spectrum instead of the cool white or warm white spectrum.
Coralife also makes purpose-built screw-in compact fluorescent bulbs. They're about ten watts and come in both Colormax for plant growth and 50/50 for saltwater. I use a bunch of them and they work great.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Tropical Fish Keeping
597.8K posts
83.7K members
Since 2006
forum community dedicated to tropical fish owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about species,breeding, health, behavior, aquariums, adopting, care, classifieds, and more! Open to fish, plants and reptiles living in freshwater or saltwater environments.