New tank

[Engel]

So we decided our new tank was going to be a planted tank. If we are doing this right from the get go, we may as well do it up, yeah? Anyway it is just a 10g, and we've set it up with some fine gravel (pea gravel?) and petrified wood. After setting it up, and adding Prime I tossed in some of those WalMart bulbs. A pack of lily bulbs and a pack of hardy aponogeton. If they don't sprout, I'll just go buy plants from PetSmart I guess.
My tank came with regular old bulbs in a screw it fixture. Do you guys think 2 15w CFL full spectrum bulbs will be enough for a 10g? There are two so that's 30w total. I know that the 23w version of the bulbs put our 1650 Initial Lumens, 2700K color temperature, but can't find these specs for the 15w.... is that important? I am really ignorant of planted tech!

 

[fort384]

The color temp is important... you want light in the 6500-10000K range.

I think your lighting will be good enough to grow some low light plants. Be careful if you purchase plants from petsmart. They sell a lot of plants that are marked as aquatic, but will not grow or survive when submerged.

 

[Engel]

Be careful if you purchase plants from petsmart. They sell a lot of plants that are marked as aquatic, but will not grow or survive when submerged.

Seriously? That is really crappy. So do I need to do my research first, or will it say something like "fully aquatic" in fine print on the labels? I guess I need to find out what low light plants I want anyway since I am stuck with screw in bulbs, at least for now.
Anything better than PetSmart is about an hour away. It may be worth the drive though... it was for my Angels!
If I had half the knowledge you guys have I'd be in business for life with a lfs in this town. So many wishful aquarists, so little supply, and zero knowledgeable sales people.
Do you know that the PetSmart lady was looking confused during our conversation about angels, and I told her about my "koi" angelfish that I really think is a gold marble. She finally asked me, "Are you talking about goldfish?" I told her I was talking about a white, black, and gold colored angelfish. She smiled at me like I was a sweet imbecile, and shortly after excused herself! :lol

 

[jespenguin]

Try plantgeek.net, someone referred me to it after I got non aquatics(from the LFS not petsmart lol) and they have lists of non aquatic and low light very low light plants. Very handy list to keep with you.

 

[BigJim]

Even the plants labeled "fully aquatic" often aren't, especially the plants in the tubes. Here is a pretty good list of non-aquatic plants you might see: PlantGeek.net - Plant Guide

Two 15W CFLs over a 10g should be fine for a variety of plants. I have two 18W CFLs over a 20L and I have to do weekly trimmings. I don't inject CO2 or dose much fertilizer either. Plants use light in both the blue and red spectrum. A decent 6700K light puts out enough light in these spectrums. Your 2700K light doesn't put out enough blue. IMHO, the 6700K light makes the tank look a lot nicer too. The 2700K bulbs make the tank look very yellow.

 

[Engel]

Thank you so much guys. I have managed to make a good start based on your help.