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I have a 10 gallon tank that I would like to convert to a planted tank. The hood that I would like to use is incandescent and will take up to 50 watts with 2 separate sockets (25 watts a piece). The best light bulbs I could come up with for this setup are 2 x 20 watt coralife colormax screw in compact fluorescent bulbs. Does anyone else have a better suggestion? My only other option would be to use a fluorescent fixture that only goes up to 15 watts. I say these are my only options because its the only stuff I have on hand but I'm open to other thoughts as well.

I have a 10 gallon that's doing pretty well planted with a flourescent hood that takes 2 15-watt bulbs. It was designed for incandescent, but the CFs they sell at the hardware store fit - I have two "daylight" bulbs, and the 3 WPG seems to be sufficient.

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your lighting depends on what kind of plants yo wish to get.

you can simply remove you incandecent lights and purchase regular flourescent bulbs(like for a hime fixture)... they come in daylight and other variations and it all depends on what you are catering too. i have one of those fixtures like you, for a 15g with one incandescent and a soft white flourescent with some pothos and some bulbs in there and it seems to be doing fine... but if you wish to have high ;light plants you might want to look into another fixture that will support higher wattage.

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

I guess my question is will the colormax bulbs work by themselves to grow plants or would the daylight bulbs from the hardware store be better. I think they're either 5100 or 5500K.

Hi there!

The daylight bulbs in stores are 6500-6700 Kelvins. They usually come in a sky blue package, and have watt capacities from 10 to 60 watts of flourescent light. If you have a 10g with a hood that takes 25 watts on each of the two sockets, you can have 5wpg easily! That even could be a bit too much, as it may spike up the algae. You dont have to use aquarium bulbs from the LFS. In fact, it is better to use the daylight bulbs from a hardware store as they are cheaper, and come in more watt selections. I wouldnt use the flourescent fixture, as you wont have such a wide selection of plants.

Good luck!

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use the flouresents from the hardware store!!!

i would say get two 18W bulbs and that should suffice as any more wattage and you could be in some serious trouble!

also stick with bulbs arround the 5100-6000 Kelvins (or K) range as there are more adapt for plant growth than anything higher or lower!

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"