10 gallon Tank

[parrottbay]

Good Afternoon fellow "planters",

I have few questions on lighting for a ten gallon. I have a regular 15$ dollar 10 gallon that I would love to turn into a shrimp tank. I would also want it to be able to grow a green carpet since I have had no luck with my 72 or 36 gallon with carpets. I dose everything that flourish recommends/ sells and how they say how and when to dose, so I would plan to follow those same guidelines into the ten. I want a black substrate and would think dark flourish would fit these needs? Money is no option, is a little bit of worry like with anyone but I wanna do it right the first time and be able to know how to fix/unscrew my 36 and 72. I have been reading this link but I am unable to understand it when it goes into multiple bulbs etc. http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/sh...d.php?t=105774
And I also have a problem when trying to order it like from amazon because I can not look at the reflectors. Any help is appreciated because I do not know who to turn to other than you guys! Thanks again!

[nchumley]

What kind of lighting do you use?

[parrottbay]

In the 72 I have a Nova Extreme x4 and the 36 I have a aquasun t5ho that I run for 12 hours roughly on a timer.

[Elrodg]

Dude I use two 100watt CFl on my ten and have a half marimo, half dhg carpet that is already in need of thinning. There isnt much of a footprint on a ten so with all the substrate you are looking at what 9-13 inches?

[parrottbay]

So these lights in this link will be sufficient for the ten? Just making sure I got the right thing...I appreciate this BC this is WAY cheaper than buying a metal halide just for a 10 gallon. How did you hook these up on the aquarium?

http://www.amazon.com/Watt-Energy-Sm...bulbs+100+watt

[QQQUUUUAADDD]

No, they're not the correct spectrum. You could get an incandescent fixture and put these bulbs in or get some of those metal dome lights from Lowes,.

[Elrodg]

Make sure they are daylight and not cool white. And they will do fine. I change mine out every three or four months with new because they do tend to lose their strength over time. But yes. Two of those can in some cases be a bit overkill.

[Hoppy]

Originally Posted by parrottbay

Good Afternoon fellow "planters",

... I have been reading this link but I am unable to understand it when it goes into multiple bulbs etc. http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/sh...d.php?t=105774
And I also have a problem when trying to order it like from amazon because I can not look at the reflectors. Any help is appreciated because I do not know who to turn to other than you guys! Thanks again!

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/sh...d.php?t=184368 is a much more up to date reference.

[parrottbay]

Thanks Hoppy, and btw I am now using a Oddysea fixture, Thanks guys for the help!

[talontsiawd]

I like using a incandescent hood with two CFL's. I would start at maybe 10-13 watts. The reason I like this setup is that you have so much adjustability compared to using florescent tubes. You can start at a lower light level and increase as your plant mass increases. Go to far, just put the old bulbs back in. I use daylight bulbs in lamps and other places but it bugs some people. If it doesn't bug you, you are really only out the cost of 2 bulbs because you can use them elsewhere if you go to dim/bright as you experiment with different amounts of light.

[parrottbay]

Thank you for your time and help!