redgal

Hi, I am a fish newbie. I have a 10g freshwater tank with some live stringy moss and fake plants. I have 40 watts of cfl's in there ( 2 x 20watts). The tank is 10ft away from a big window. Is this too much?

I have an algae bloom right now so I am wondering if it is too much and was thinking of switching to 20watts total . 2 x 10 watt bulbs ( from coralife) are the lowest I can find around here as they have to be compact and fit in standard sockets ( my canopy is for two incandescent/standard light bulbs).
If I have 20watts in a 10g is this low or medium light? Will it slow my algae growth?


My other option is that my local hardware store has standard cfl bulbs that are l7w or 9 w each ( so total of 14watts or 18 watts in a 10g) but they wouldn't be aquarium ones. Are regular, non-aquarium bubls okay to use?

Which option would be better for my 10g?
20watts of cfl aquarium lighting OR
14 watts of non-aquarium cfl's? OR
18watts of non aquarium cfl's?


Sorry if these are basic questions I just can't figure it out!

Thanks so much!

mathas

40W over 10g is a lot of light, and is likely contributing to your algal bloom.

How much wattage you need depends on the tank inhabitants. Some fish like dimmer lighting, while some plants need very bright lighting. The best route to take is to decide what you want in the tank first, then figure out how much lighting is needed.

As for how long, I like a photo period between 10-12 hours.

That's a very difficult question to answer, as there are more variables than just raw wattage. You'd also have to take into account the efficiency of the bulb as well as how good the reflectors (if there are any) are. It's entirely possible to have a few tanks with 20W, and have each tank be getting a different amount of usable light into the water.

But as far as pure wattage goes, a moderator at PlantGeek posted the following:



That would depend on what plants you wanted. The following guides may give you some ideas, if needed:

http://plantgeek.net/plantguide.php
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/f...c/plantfinder/

redgal

Thanks mathas,

i just edited my post to ask another few questions!

My other option is that my local hardware store has standard cfl bulbs that are 7w or 9 w each ( so total of 14watts or 18 watts in a 10g) but they wouldn't be aquarium ones. Are regular, non-aquarium bubls okay to use?

Which option would be better for my 10g?
20watts of cfl aquarium lighting OR
14 watts of non-aquarium cfl's? OR
18watts of non aquarium cfl's?

Cheers,
Kath

dancerhas

We use 2 standard 13 watt CFL's from Dollar General in our 10G betta tank. They have much whiter light than incandescent and give us a good 2.6 WPG. Great for low to moderate light requiring plants. We just planted our first live plants today, so we'll see how much the plants like them.

Fla_Larry

There are differances in fixtures. just not the bulbs until you get into specialty stuff like actinics etc.... well except for price that is

anything in the 4500k - 6500k range will work nicely.

and as a persnal opinion i would stay in the 1.4 WPG range. that would be the 14 watt or if your hood is designed for incandescent blulbs put in 2 14 watt cfl's, that will keep your WPG way down to a livable level