Starting fresh!!! new 10 gallon tank!!!

Blaxicanlatino

yeah it does! i guess your right i wouldnt need the flourite, i have root tabs

Byron

My approach is usually keep it simple. Especially in small tanks; the more "stuff" the more can go wrong with the balance.

Byron.

Blaxicanlatino

sounds good to me :) but what about lighting though? im still confused on lighting.

Byron

In your first post here you mention two places for lights, are they sockets for screw-in bulbs, or fixtures for fluorescent tubes?

B.

Blaxicanlatino

Looks to me like screw in. There's also a plastic covering on the area too. I'm guessing it's there to keep water from the bulbs?

Byron

Yes on the cover, can't get water on the bulbs, they may crack plus the base rusts. IF they are screw in then I would suggest compact fluorescents. They come in various wattages, and colours (warm white, cool white, natural white or whatever). Look for a natural around 6500K and a cool white; this combination works well. The smaller wattage will work, they are more intense than normal bulbs. They probably come in packages of 2, you could get a pair of each (intense white and colol white) and try them to see which you prefer, but the intense white around 6500K will be overall best.

B.

Blaxicanlatino

ok thanks for all the help. im still confused on the wattage though. is high wattage 2X the amount of gallons? or X3? im getting alot of high light plants like baby tears. wuld 25 watts be suffice?

Byron

Compact fluorescent bulbs use much less energy (= less wattage) to produce more light than normal bulbs. For instance, if memory serves me, a 13 watt CF bulb is supposed to be equivalent in light output to a 60 watt regular incadescent bulb. There was quite some time back a thread with a conversion explanation by one of the members, I'm thinking either Mikaila31 or Tyyrlym. But if you can't find that, I would go with the "old" wattage, and over a 10g I would suggest 25-40 watts as adequate, the tank is not deep, so two CF bulbs that equate to this would work.

Blaxicanlatino

alright thanks again! i got 2, 15 watt bulbs for a total of 30 watts. now i jsut gotat get the plants. im thinking of dwarf baby tears, microswords, red cabomba and scarlet temple

Angel079

I just replanted a 55g too and I also added Baby tears from my research on all the plants I gotten, I found out they need lots light, but its my first time having them as well, so I can not tell you how sufficient or not the 30w will be for them. Also for the Cabomba to become nice and red it wants good light and proper nutrition.