# CFL Wattage for 10 gallon tank



## burr740 (Feb 19, 2014)

If you are running co2, may can get by with 18-23 watt bulbs. 23 watt bulbs can get fairly warm, and depending on the size of the stock hood, the bulbs may touch or be very close to the plastic housing. This may or may not be a problem.

No CO2 then 13-18 watt.

Paint the inside of the reflector flat white is probably the best bet. Krylon Fusion is made for plastic.


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## spore (May 7, 2016)

streamlined said:


> Bacopa
> Dwarf Hair Grass
> Dwarf Sagittaria
> Java Moss
> ...


All these plants are good with lower light levels. As far as CFL bulb wattage, I'd suggest you have a look at this post in the PAR data for spiral bulbs thread.

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/10-lighting/85667-par-data-spiral-power-saver-bulbs-lighting-question-2.html#post837592

Hoppy gives some extrapolated charts for other wattages.. but this assumes a good reflector. I'd probably start with two 9w just to be safe, or maybe even 14w if you are feeling saucy. As burr740 said - If you are running a pressurized co2 system, then you'd have some leeway to start a little higher on the wattage

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/10-lighting/85667-par-data-spiral-power-saver-bulbs-lighting-question-5.html#post904062


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Jun 15, 2008)

streamlined said:


> Hi, I have a question about the wattage I should use for CFL lighting. I'm looking at putting together a simple 10 gallon planted tank. I am looking at having the following plants:
> 
> Bacopa
> Dwarf Hair Grass
> ...


Hi streamlined,

Welcome to TPT! What part of Canada are you in?

A 10 gallon can make a fine planted tank, even without CO2 or fancy filters. I too replaced the 2X incandescent bulbs in my 10 gallon fixture with these 2X 10 watt CFL 6500K lamps from Walmart. They provide a nice even light, [email protected] when the bulbs are new and [email protected] with 12 month old bulbs. You could possibly go up to a 13-18 watt CFL (different style) to improve the PAR reading but excessive light = excessive algae. Here is the 10 gallon dosed with Seachem Flourish and Seachem Excel for ferts.

10 Gallon Low Tech


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## streamlined (Jun 21, 2016)

Thanks for all the advice and help everyone. I think this is the setup I will be going for, as it's cheap, readily available, and lots of people seem to go with it. I can increase the wattage later if I end up doing CO2, but 10 watts seems to be a reasonable compromise between what people have suggested, so I believe that that's what I'll be using. Very grateful for all the advice, thanks to all!


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