how good is a 26 watt CFL over a 10 gallon?

[FastFly67]

trying to get everything set in my head before i buy for the new tank. it will be sand gravel planted for a betta and a school of corys. a snail too i think to burrow thru the sand so no gas pockets form. i'd rather not do ferts or co2

 

[Purrbox]

You're probably looking at somewhere between low to medium light, so no CO2 necessary and probably only minimal fertilization.

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

2 13w bulbs would be better than a single 26w IMO. I have used that setup on my 10G for a couple months with 10hrs of lighting and worked OK

 

[FastFly67]

2 13w bulbs would be better than a single 26w IMO. I have used that setup on my 10G for a couple months with 10hrs of lighting and worked OK

so 2 26 watts would be even better?

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

Well for mine, 2 20w bulbs is the limit as algae comes into play. Mine has lots of RCS to eat algae and I also use Excel to help control algae. I honestly feel that 2 15w T8 tubes would be better.

 

[newfound77951]

I've had both 2x15 watt T8s and 1 26 watt PC on my 10 gallon. The PC works fine for low-medium light plants. I have Java fern, crypts and Rotala rotundifolia in there doing fine. One advantage of the two T8s is that they are a little longer and get more light to the ends of the tank than the PC does.

Another option would be a 24" 2x24 watt T5 fixture...hangs over a bit but I have one of these (currently on another tank) and I think it would do well for a higher-light 10g.