10 Galon tank

. . . . *spypet theme song* . . . . . . . . .

i personally just got a 10 gallon incandescent hood and put 2 10W compact fluorescent bulbs in there, and all of my plants are growing great, nothing's dying (except cabomba, that died). other than that all's well, and less than $30

I was thinking of doing just that... They even have those CF bulbs with the proper temps! How much in your opinion would I need to avoid problems, and be able to keep nice looking plants? (30W?)

30 would do it i think. i only have 20 and have no problems except that cabomba died. other than that all plants are doing great. my val propogated across the whole tank.

Got a 10gal W/ 2 35W 10K daylights 16Hrs daily, 24" overhangs a bit but have a plastic dish W/ soilmaster & HC under the overhang & everything grows very well

Wow, 70W isn't that a bit much? Algae problems?

There are people with 96+ watts on a 10 gallon. As long as you keep up the CO2 levels and the dosing levels, it can be accomplished. Of course, whether you want to deal with such power is up to you. You can grow more, but you're also more prone to algae.

Personally, two 13W spiral screw-in grew plants fantastically for me, as long as I had CO2 running (aka, I didn't get lazy to replace mixture when they ran out).

Great haeun. I guess if I go for a 20gal (I prob will), its a similar story. I do however like the tube fluorescents because I think they distribute the light more evenly. But it might be a pain riggin up a DIY fixture for them. Also, what kind of plants can you grow in your 10Gal? I'd like a small red plant for some contrast, a lot of short, good looking ground cover (with some thin, long leafed plants spiking up at random) and moss on driftwood. So the tank won't be stocked to the max with plants probably, but I will like nice looking plants....