Sillyfishies
Aquarium Advice Addict
What wattage of CFLs do I need for medium-highlight on a standard 10g?
bump I also would like to know!What wattage of CFLs do I need for medium-highlight on a standard 10g?
oh I saw some at dollarama. Ima gonna have to pick some upI think one 23w or 2 x 13w would probably do the trick.
I think one 23w or 2 x 13w would probably do the trick.
I've had so many different suggestion. I've seen people say 2x23w will be highlight, some that say 2x13w would be low lowlight, and some that say 2x13w would be medium-high.
Have you personally tried it out yet?
I have 2 x 13w over my 10g. I get a bit of algae since I never dose, it is my "wild" tank that I just let run free. It never really takes over though, partially because my shrimp help keep it in check. For a week or two I added a 23w CFL in addition to my current lighting and it was way too much. I only have crypts, anubias, and hydrocotyle in there, however I could probably grow some stem plants like rotala or ludwigia if I wanted to. Here is a PAR chart, if this is correct you would more than enough light with just one 23w:
I would have a VERY 1-sided tank I'd prefer to have a light on eachside. I might just do 2x23 watts and run short photoperiods.
2 x 23 would be way too much IMO. You can get 2 smaller clip-on dome lamps and run two 13w bulbs, that would probably be better.
I'm debating. You get more par with bulbs facing down then laying on the side.
With the clamp-on lights I'm talking about you wouldn't have them facing to the side. At most you would have a very very small angle, nothing that would affect PAR much. Commercial Electric 75-Watt Incandescent Clamp Light-CE-200PDQ at The Home Depot
There's two types of CFLs to consider:
The first two on the left in that picture are "U-tube" bulbs, and they give out more light on their sides (ie, higher light if placed horizontal vs vertical). The opposite is true for spirals (furthers right on that picture). The PAR chart Bud posted is for spirals in an aluminum reflector, which can be quite high light indeed. A 10w U-tube on it's side will probably put out more than a 13w spiral on its side, so keep that in mind. Also, the larger wattage spirals sometimes don't fit well into the hoods.
What are you trying to do? You might start out with 10w Us and see if that's enough.
With my ten gallon, I took everything off of the hood. Once I had the hood completely disassembled I spray painted the inside flat white. Even the reflectors are out. If I remember correctly, flat white has more reflectivity than brushed metal. I get a great use out of my two 13 watt spiral cfls. More light is being reflected into the tank rather than being absorbed into the black plastic. Just throwing my two cents in the mix, food for thought and all that.
I have two 27 watt, 6500k spiral CFL's ten inch metal clamp lights on my 10 gallon. I use diy CO2 and dry fertilizers in it. I have medium to high light plants and no algae problem. I leave the lights on an average of 10 hours a day. I don't have a timer for that tank yet. It is doing great.