10 gallon planted tank

[Rozdab]

I'm doing research on a planted tank and have a couple questions about lighting.

I will be ordering a new light for a 10 gallon tank and it will have 4 T5 HO 6500k bulbs which equates to 72 watts.

Is this to much for a ten gallon tank? I know it matters on what plants I get and how easy or difficult they are to grow and how much light they need but I'm wondering for even some of the toughest plants that need lots of light, is this overkill and am I better off just getting two of these bulbs in a fixture opposed to the four?

I don't want to have a tank full of algae.

Another thought I had is I could do 2 of the 6500k bulbs and get 36 watts from that and for the other two spots in 4 fixture ballast put in 2 actinic blue bulbs that would still give me another 36 watts. For this option I would of course have them on timers and go on/off at regular times everyday.

So in either scenario I would have 72 watts for a ten gallon planted tank so my question(s) are:

Are both of these lighting options overkill? And if not which one is the better option?

The fish will be probably a small school of easy sturdy fish like danios or some sort of small easy tetra.

I have 29 and 55 gallon community tanks in the works. 29 is basically done and good to go and the other one is cycling and working out stock options for it now. They both have all plastic plants so I'm pretty clueless still on how to do a planted tank. I'm sure this ground has been covered before but would like to hear different people's opinion's and there experiences with this area.

Thank you.

 

[aqua_chem]

T5HOs are a lot of light. However, I take it that you're buy the odyssea model from aquatraders? The reflectors on that are crap, which might work to your advantage; otherwise I would say that you are heading to an algae farm.

Simply because the bulbs and reflectors are what they are, I would say that it would be hard to predict the amount that you will have, but I'm pretty sure that it will be pretty high light.

I hope you're planning on blasting the CO2?

 

[Rozdab]

You are correct my friend!!!! LOL the price is so right and its a ten gallon and yes I can do co2.
But what light would you recommend then for what I'm trying to accomplish and as for the plants I live in Chicago so I have many options for LFS and chains and of course the Internet so I'm not to concerned about what I get and how much light they need. What I mean is they can be low light plants or medium or high. I just want a nice fixture that is gonna give me a good balance of light and not cost me a fortune as this is more for personal interest and accomplishment lol.

 

[Rozdab]

And I also can get other reflectors and of course other bulbs I like the fixture I don't mind DIY'ing it if it is gonna be half the price all together.

 

[aqua_chem]

I don't know how the odyssea fixtures are set up honestly. They might be DIY-able.

I'm not 100% on what you're trying to do. What are you goals for this tank?

 

[jeffp]

what kind of plants are you wanting to grow? you might be better off with a 2 or 3 bulb fixture. too much light can be detrimental to plants too

 

[aqua_chem]

too much light can be detrimental to plants too

Only if you don't have the necessary technology (pressurized CO2, dry ferts, etc). Light in and by itself isn't a detriment to plants.

 

[Rozdab]

What I am trying to do...

Trying to grow plants in an aquarium.

The tank is a 10 gallon and I will put a school of fish in there. (Not many fish)

I basically wanted to know if the Odyssea light fixture (4 light fixture with 4 6500k 72 watt bulbs is ok or is it overkill. (Or option 2 in post 1)

I also have the ability to not use all the bulbs all the time on this fixture and to change the bulbs I put in there.

I will put moss on a piece of driftwood in the tank.

I'm gonna use varieties or stick to one family of java, anubias, crypts, or whatever else I find locally or branch out and buy em online or through a forum.

Since all those seem to be fairly low light plants, I am willing to find plants that will be able to handle stronger lighting. (SUGGESTIONS AND OR CLIPPINGS ALWAYS WELCOME)

I will be using co2 and fertilizer and also testing water chemistry and will monitor co2 and fertilization.

 

[Rozdab]

I haven't ordered any lighting for this tank yet.

 

[Coursair]

Yes it's overkill IMHO. I use 2 screw in compact fluorescents on my 10g and I grow low-med light plants just fine. I do have root tabs and add basic liquid ferts 1x weekly.

My other 10 I am trying an LED fixture. Root tabs same dosing in both tanks.

NO CO2 in my tanks btw


View attachment 52909



This is a new tank, still adding plants.

View attachment 52910

 

[jetajockey]

A 4 bulb t5ho is a ridiculous amount of light over a 10g. It's a lot even for a 55g or 75g. Granted, the oddysea fixtures have sub-par reflectors and cheap bulbs, but it's still a ton of light.

I guess you could theoretically balance out that much light, but the level of co2 in the tank wouldn't be very animal friendly.

I like using the screw in CFLs on my smaller tanks as well, cheap simple upgrade.

 

[Rozdab]

This is probably the most silliest most stupid question ever asked on here but how do you guys do a DIY screw in UFL's

 

[Rozdab]

I meant CFL's oops

 

[Rozdab]

Are you guys talking about taking the light fixture that came with tank for most instances and just upgrading with a compact fluorescent bulb for it and one will be ok?
I received the tank brand new cause I walked into a fish store and they handed me a ten gallon fish tank for free so wasn't gonna pass that up. Lol

But it's only the tank so still need to buy a fixture for whatever lights I pick out.

 

[Coursair]

Petsmart has cheap hoods that will hold 2 CFLs. Or you can light with clip on lamps (no top) or you can use desk lamps.

 

[aqua_chem]

Are you guys talking about taking the light fixture that came with tank for most instances and just upgrading with a compact fluorescent bulb for it and one will be ok?
I received the tank brand new cause I walked into a fish store and they handed me a ten gallon fish tank for free so wasn't gonna pass that up. Lol

But it's only the tank so still need to buy a fixture for whatever lights I pick out.

Yea, any hood with screw in incandescent sockets can be used. Just put in appropriately colored CFLs in it and you should be good.

 

[Rozdab]

A 4 bulb t5ho is a ridiculous amount of light over a 10g.

I guess you could theoretically balance out that much light, but the level of co2 in the tank wouldn't be very animal friendly.

I'm pretty clueless when it comes to co2 what do you mean by not being very animal friendly? And would there be a way to correct that?

It sounds like I am better off going with a two bulb setup opposed to the 4.

If I go that route is it better to get 2 6500k bulbs for the plants or would one of those more than likely suffice and for the other socket get an actinic bulb so basically 1 of each?

Would this also affect the co2 and not be animal friendly?

Once again I'm just starting out with this and am gonna do a ton of research before I do any ordering or put anything into the tank right now.

Thank you for the patience and your knowledge is helping me every day.

 

[jeffp]

I'm pretty clueless when it comes to co2 what do you mean by not being very animal friendly? And would there be a way to correct that?

It sounds like I am better off going with a two bulb setup opposed to the 4.

If I go that route is it better to get 2 6500k bulbs for the plants or would one of those more than likely suffice and for the other socket get an actinic bulb so basically 1 of each?

Would this also affect the co2 and not be animal friendly?

Once again I'm just starting out with this and am gonna do a ton of research before I do any ordering or put anything into the tank right now.

Thank you for the patience and your knowledge is helping me every day.

it depends, the actinic doesn't add much in the way of usable light for plants, but a lot of people say the blue makes the colors of the fish pop. so if you wanted to do lower light plants, you could do 1x 6500k and 1x actinic, or if you wanted medium light plants go 2x 6500k or 1x 6500k 1x 10000k. with bulbs, part of it is getting a combination of colors you like. you might even look into the 3 bulb odyssea fixture and go 2x 6500k 1x actinic.

 

[aqua_chem]

I don't think odyssea makes a three bulb fixture that size. More importantly, does anyone knows if you can run two of the four bulbs in this fixture. Thing about using actinics is that although plants cant use it, I would bet that some optimistic algae form could capitalize on it. Life is like that. Given an unoccupied niche, life finds a way.

 

[jetajockey]

I'm pretty clueless when it comes to co2 what do you mean by not being very animal friendly? And would there be a way to correct that?

It sounds like I am better off going with a two bulb setup opposed to the 4.

If I go that route is it better to get 2 6500k bulbs for the plants or would one of those more than likely suffice and for the other socket get an actinic bulb so basically 1 of each?

Would this also affect the co2 and not be animal friendly?

Once again I'm just starting out with this and am gonna do a ton of research before I do any ordering or put anything into the tank right now.

Thank you for the patience and your knowledge is helping me every day.

For a 10g tank even a 2 bulb t5ho light setup would be a ton of light.

Have a look at this chart to get an idea of what you are working with, be sure to deduct substrate height.

PAR vs Distance, T5, T12, PC - Updated Again Charts

If you are set on using a 2 or 4 bulb t5ho fixture, it can be done, but I think you'd probably have to raise it above the tank quite a bit to reduce the light intensity by a lot.

For an example, my 10g tanks I just use a basic stock screw-in bulb hood and put screw in CFLs in them. This setup grows most plants that I put in there and is usually around borderline for needing Co2.