# Any ideas on 10G lighting



## Msapp1 (Feb 11, 2010)

Anyone have any budget ideas for lighting a small 10 gallon, currently has ~2WPG looking for more of the 3 to 4 rangs, but not sure. Would probably have to buy a new ballast and such.


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Mar 7, 2008)

Hi Msapp1,

Do you have incandescent or florescent? If incandescent how about using these compact florescent bulbs?


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## Msapp1 (Feb 11, 2010)

Florescent, one 15 watt "tropic sun" bulb. I've read that encandecent are rediculously unefficient.


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## northtexasfossilguy (Mar 6, 2009)

I bought a strip from home depot for about 30 bucks, it was 20inch T5, comes with yellow bulbs that you can swap for some plant bulbs from Pets-mart that are 10-20 bucks each. Made a reflector out of a doorstop piece that exactly fit the bulbs. Cost me like 70-90 total, I don't remember exactly. It is plenty of light and you can either lay it on the tank or suspend it like I did. I screwed mine into my cabinets with some funky expandible screws. 

Or just buy one if you don't want to go through the trouble for saving $20.

They were saying one bulb above but I recommend two for even spread. My heteranthera became very very fine leafed, it is really cool.


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## papichancho (Sep 22, 2009)

i recently bought a 20" 72W light fixture off of eBay for $40 plus $15 for shipping. it works great and in the past week that i have had it all of my plants have grown dramatically. it was from topdogsellers or sumthing like that. its an odyssea brand light and looks exactly like a coralife one but it is black instead of silver. it came with one 50/50 and one 12000k bulb, which probobly arent the best things but oh well, they were free


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## MacFan (Jul 30, 2006)

A desktop metal halide or quartz light might work well. It's hard to find home lighting above 3,000K but while the spectrum does vary, it's mostly a personal decision, if you like the look, I wouldn't worry about it. Make sure whatever you choose has easily available replacement bulbs. You'll want to replace them at least once a year for best results. 

Michael


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## bettalover (Feb 24, 2009)

papichancho said:


> i recently bought a 20" 72W light fixture off of eBay for $40 plus $15 for shipping. it works great and in the past week that i have had it all of my plants have grown dramatically. it was from topdogsellers or sumthing like that. its an odyssea brand light and looks exactly like a coralife one but it is black instead of silver. it came with one 50/50 and one 12000k bulb, which probobly arent the best things but oh well, they were free


i got a 24" t5HO fixture from the same seller on ebay... great product at a good price! i have had mine for over a year and it's still doing great.


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## Msapp1 (Feb 11, 2010)

Went ahead and did your idea Northtexasguy, the most expensive out of the project was the light bulbs... Looks decent, lets see its performance.


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## northtexasfossilguy (Mar 6, 2009)

It works I promise. The ballast for that size is the right luminosity, but the larger sizes have smaller output ballasts so you can't do my idea for the 36" or 48" sizes.


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## Msapp1 (Feb 11, 2010)

Yeah I bought a 24" dual T8 setup, lined the inside with aluminum foil and burnished it smooth. Sitting on top of the tank at the moment. Now on to the fertilizing task.


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## Msapp1 (Feb 11, 2010)

No one would happen to have any extra fertilizer sitting around would they? And would like to sell for cheap?


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