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is 50 watts of lighting way too much for a dinky 10 gallon tank? i haven't done this in a couple of years and i forget. am i going to be all algae? i'm hoping it will end up being a pretty well-planted tank.

50W of light on a 10G is quite a bit of light but I think you will be alright if you take care of business with the tank. By this I mean you need to plant it heavy from the start, don't over stock your fish, run CO2 (either pressurized or DIY) or does Flourish Excel, don't skimp on the fertilizer dosing.

Right now I am a small 1.5G tank with 18W of light on it. That works out to be about 12wpg (Watts per Gallon). Dosing Excel everyday seems to be the trick to keeping things under control. With your tank you have about 5wpg which I believe is considered high light even for a small tank.

From what I have read or heard - the smaller the tank the more light you need because so much of it is lost out the sides of the tank compared to a larger tank.

Good luck and let us know if we can help any more!

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

What type of 50 watts are we talking about?

Is it a compact floro, strip lighting or a regular bulb?

What wing said .


Wing, I'd never heard of the smaller tank light loss issue, I'd always figured that small tanks can get by with less than the average 2wpg+ needs co2 rule simply cause it was closer to the light source! Guess I'm done with my learn something new for the day

^_^

i thought i had compact floros but when i took them out of package they were regulars, but i will probably switch to compact floros

A general FW tank with plants requires 2-3 W per gallon
But remember it is not only the wattage that counts it is the type of light/s
Plants require a plant light and preferably a combination of one plant & one daylight. Also remember they should be replaced regularly the cheepies should be replaced more often where as a high quality light will last about two years.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info
Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

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I'd always figured that small tanks can get by with less than the average 2wpg+ needs co2 rule simply cause it was closer to the light source!

Depth of tank also makes a pretty huge difference. I forget what I have read exactly what I have read but you loose a ton of light the deeper the tank.

Right now I am running a 20G long with 30W of light on it and growing plants quite well.

I am not entirely sure where I picked up on the need for more light in a smaller tank thing. I tend to spend too much time reading things here and other places.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric