# LED lighting for 10-gallon planted tank?



## Curb Your Aquarium (Aug 1, 2018)

Hi everyone,


I'm setting up my first aquarium. It's a 10-gallon tank which is currently still in its first week of fishless cycling.


There are nine species of aquatic plant on a mineral-rich aquarium soil substrate. No fauna yet as I'm still waiting for the nitrogen cycle to get established.


Here are the plants:



anubias barteri nana
cryptocoryne crispatula
cryptocoryne x willisii
eleocharis acicularis "mini"
helanthium quadricostatus
rotala macrandra
rotala wallichii
sagittaria subulata
taxiphyllum "spiky"





























I'm having trouble choosing my lights.



I really like the look of the Aqueon OptiBright - at least in terms of aesthetics and features. My concern now is how well it will support/grow my plants. Originally, I bought the regular model. Then I did some research and discovered that there's a "Plus" version with a built in timer and a better power supply that's been out for a couple of years. The first generation had a lot of issues with the 0.5A PSU struggling to keep up with the 0.5A demands of the unit itself but the Plus apparently solved that with a more powerful power supply.


So I returned the OptiBright and called Aqueon tech support a couple of weeks ago, to ask them a few questions about the technical specs of their lineup. The tech support guy was extremely helpful and knowledgeable. He told me there's a new model of the OptiBright coming out, the successor to the "Plus", called the "Max". This new model is so new that they still haven't added the product to their website and it is not yet available in most markets (but will be by late 2018). This is apparently 50% brighter than the Plus (though I don't know how that translates to PAR) and has great timer features... so my plan was to wait for the Max is available in a few months and use something cheaper in the meantime.


But then I did some more research and started to learn about full spectrum lights and PAR values and realized that a light source can appear bright to the human eye without necessarily being particularly photosynthetically active. As beautiful as the OptiBrights look, I'm not sure if it will give my plants the light they really want. I want to choose whatever lights are optimal for plant growth - preferably LED but I am open minded.


What do you guys recommend for lighting a 10-gallon tank? Would the Aqueon OptiBright Max be able to provide the right quality light for plant growth or should I go for a more expensive broad spectrum option?



Once the plants have a decent light source and the nitrogen cycle is established, I eventually want to add a snail or two, some shrimp and a few small fish. :fish:


----------



## Nigel95 (Mar 5, 2017)

twinstar 450 es (if it fits) or try the EA series (adjustable version). Great light man.


----------



## Curb Your Aquarium (Aug 1, 2018)

So the Twinstar is a full spectrum LED with a high PAR rating? Awesome!! I'd never heard of it until now but it sounds like exactly what I'm looking for (an LED that is full spectrum with a focus on plant growth, and looks great).










I like how they talk about wavelengths on their site. I'm always suspicious when manufacturers fail to mention details of the specs:

"_TWINSTAR LIGHT is a new aquarium LED lighting with full light spectrum for rich and vivid colors. In addition, the LED provides the optimum brightness for plant growth. Under the new Twinstar LED the colours of the fish appear more luminous than ever before.

With its full light spectrum and a wide range of wavelengths of 400nm to 700nm, the new LED provides the optimum light required for plant growth. The aquarium plants remain healthy and colourful. The Twinstar Light optimizes and improves the environment for the growth of the aquarium plants and makes the colors of the fish appear more luminous._"

Looks fantastic. My only reservation is that you can't control individual colour channels as far as I can tell. With the Aqueon OptiBright, you have that option BUT the OptiBright isn't a full spectrum light (which is the most important thing for me).

Some people seem to love the Twinstar but others have either had problems with the construction quality or the fact it does not have a built-in dimmer (or timer!)

https://www.plantedtank.net/forums/10-lighting/1125274-thoughts-twinstar-led-light.html

Overall, I am very interested in the Twinstar options. My tank doesn't have a rimless top, so I would need to think about exactly which one to get and how it would sit on top of my tank.

Nigel, do you have these yourself? How do you like them so far?


----------



## Bogey (May 7, 2017)

Twinstar 450E is perfect makes my red plants bloom. The only problem is the arcylic starches super easily so that's a problem...


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


----------



## Curb Your Aquarium (Aug 1, 2018)

That's great. I have mostly green but also a couple of red plants. Right now, they're not growing at all but this should all change once I buy my lights.

What does it mean if the acrylic "starches" exactly? Loses its transparency and becomes opaque?


----------



## Nigel95 (Mar 5, 2017)

Curb Your Aquarium said:


> Nigel, do you have these yourself? How do you like them so far?




Currently running one on my ada 45p forest. Was a great upgrade from my daytime led. Really happy with it. But mostly mosses in that scape. Next scape I will use it in a brazilian style scape with lots of color. So then it's time to shine with this LED. 

But I definitely like it. One thing... it is next to my 80cm tank with an ada rgb solar. The ada rgb is a lot better than the twinstar e series. But thats my opinion. Some people say that the ada rgb solar is over the top. But for nanos you can't really use a ada rgb solar so IMO Twinstar is a very good if not the best choice. 

new twinstar e series by Nigel Aquascaping, on Flickr


----------



## Kaiede (Sep 11, 2017)

Curb Your Aquarium said:


> What does it mean if the acrylic "starches" exactly? Loses its transparency and becomes opaque?



I think it is a typo/autocorrect? Acrylic does scratch easily.



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


----------



## Curb Your Aquarium (Aug 1, 2018)

Kaiede said:


> I think it is a typo/autocorrect? Acrylic does scratch easily.


Ok it makes more sense now. Thanks.


----------

