Lighting a 10 Gallon

ive just bought a 36watt t5 for my 10gallon, i gave up on trying to understand the rules for lighting on nanos and bought the most powerful light that would fit in my hood

36 watts is not over kill... Finch man has 65 watts over his little ten gallon. Are you planing to go low tek or high tek?

Hi,
I don't plan on going controled CO2. I can do with a DIY and simple defuser or bubble lader.

garuf: It is my understanding, ( and I could be wrong ), but if you put a 36 watt bulb/tube in a fixture you will not get the full 36 watts. The transformer, magnetic ballist or electronic ballist by design self regulates its output. It is not like an incandestant bulb where the bulb design is what controles the power flow.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong in this thinking.

I've gota 40watt current fixture and a 19 watt all-glass fixture on my ten gallon, so 59watts is goodfor me with no co2.

I've got a 36-watt compact fluorescant on my 10-gallon tank. I'm not sure why you would want more light because I can't think of what you can't grow that would be a let down. Plus, the tank is shallow so it's more suitible for slower growing plants that may not require lots of light anyway.

if you're building a whole new hood you can save some $$$.

buy screw bulb bases and mount them on your hood. You'll spend less than $5 each and you need 2
screw base CF bulbs are about $7 for 2 at walmart (20w). That'll give you 40w over your 10 gal for cheap. It's working well for mine and worked for my 2.5 when it was up and running.

Lol I had a 24 Coralife CF 2X65 watt over my 10g (yes it hung over) and it grew fine. Lol 13 WPG. Ferts and Co2 to the max though to prevent algae.