# Light bulbs and no CO2 plants



## seamonkeybear (Aug 1, 2011)

Hey gang!

I have a couple of newbie questions regarding lighting, live plants and a 10 g tank...

Which bulbs are better for live plants: incandescent or fluorescent? My goal is to get rid of the "yellowish" lighting.

Which live plants can do well with no CO2 system in place. (And honestly, I don't even know what that is or looks like... again, noob here.)

Once I find out answers to the above questions, just how many live plants can one have in a mere 10g tank.

My tank currently houses 2 Mickey Mouse Playts and one Pleco.

Thank you in advance for any and all help!

Jim


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

The flourescent is much better than the incandescent lighting for the plants.The color spectrum is more along the lines of sunlight for them.You want bulbs in the 6700K range.

Many plants will do well for ten gallon tanks.Anubias nana,java moss,java fern,cryptocoryn wendtii(sp?)all do well with no CO2.

On the pleco,he will get way too big for ten gallons,so I would look into rehoming him soon.even the BN plecs need about 29 gallons.


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

seamonkeybear said:


> 1. Which bulbs are better for live plants: incandescent or fluorescent? My goal is to get rid of the "yellowish" lighting.
> 
> 2. Which live plants can do well with no CO2 system in place. (And honestly, I don't even know what that is or looks like... again, noob here.)
> 
> 3. Once I find out answers to the above questions, just how many live plants can one have in a mere 10g tank.


Jim,

Welcome to the forum! In answer to your questions:

1. Bulbs are classified by Kelvin rating, which is a black-body heating rate and basically tells you what type of light is being emitted. Bulbs in the 5500K-6700K range are on the pink-red side of the spectrum, 10,000K is a full-spectrum daylight bulb, and anything in the 12000K-16000K is a blue light. Plants enjoy the 5500K-6700K range, but it will put out the "yellow" light you mention. 10000K daylight bulbs are more white-ish light and will really showcase your fish and plant colors and pigmentation, while still being marginally beneficial to plants (however, with a 10kK bulb, watch out for algae!).

2. CO2 systems come in two forms - the cheaper and less effective systems use yeast and sugar to ferment and generate CO2, then inject it into the tank using a ceramic plate diffuser or reactor. The more expensive and much more effective systems use pressurized bottles (similar to a keg tap or welding apparatus) and inject using the same diffuser or reactor. The idea is to artificially boost the CO2 concentration in the water above normal (~3ppm) levels in order to stimulate plant growth, in conjunction with high efficiency lighting systems like T5HO and LED. For non-CO2 tanks, I would suggest java moss, java fern, anubias and crypt plants (aquabid any many members on here including myself will sell plant bunches off for cheap or free).

3. There's really no limit, you could grow so many plants your fish won't have room to swim, haha. Or you could trim and keep some elbow room. I'm growing a forest of wisteria in my 10 gallon with seemingly no swimming room, in order to accomodate an army of Red Cherry Shrimp and some tiny little fish called Emerald Dwarf Rasboras. Both species enjoy heavily planted tanks.

Hope my thoughts help! And remember, all of us have differing opinions and differing levels of experience, so no one answer is correct


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## seamonkeybear (Aug 1, 2011)

Thanks so much, Maj! I appreciate the help. it begs me to ask... are the Kelvins listed on the packaging? (again, noob... sorry)

I hear you about the tank size... My next tank is going to be a 55g, so I can really aquascape the hell out of that biotch! LOL

-j


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

It should be listed both on the packaging AND on the bulb itself.

And don't go incandescent, CFL is much more effective.

Also, go big or go home. 55 is a great starting point!


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## seamonkeybear (Aug 1, 2011)

Gizmo,
WOW... thanks for the info. Very informative. I very much appreciate your contribution... A lot to consider. Those poor people at the fish store... I am going to be a whirlwind of "do you have..." "can I..." "what if..."

Again, thank you!
-j


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## archer772 (Nov 8, 2008)

I prefer T-5's over PC's because they tend to run cooler and dont shift there spectrum nearly as fast and you can get away with less wattage because they tend to be more efficient at getting light down into the tank.


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## seamonkeybear (Aug 1, 2011)

Hey Archer... thanks! 

Now, being a former member of the military, I am a huge fan of acronyms... but what are T-5s and PC? (I am sure CFL is a compact fluorescent light, but I could be mistaken...)

-jim


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## archer772 (Nov 8, 2008)

PC's are power compacts and the T-5's are 5/8 inch diameter flouresent tubes. The T-5's have been used on SW Reef aquariums for years so they are a very effective light.

This is a type of PC
Compact Fluorescent Aquarium Lighting: Compact Fluorescent Quad Bulbs

This is a T-5

Aquarium Lighting T-5 Fluorescent Light Tubes: Coralife 10,000K Daylight HO T5 Fluorescent Lamps


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## seamonkeybear (Aug 1, 2011)

Very cool, Archer! Thanks for the distinctions and the links... very much appreciated.

-Jim


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

FWIW, 10000K spectrum lights will work fine if that was all you could find. It is still a plant spectrum light and a lot of people use because it makes colors in plants and fish look different. The more common is the 6500-6700K lights I believe, but some people will have a mixture of the two.


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## archer772 (Nov 8, 2008)

jrman83 said:


> FWIW, 10000K spectrum lights will work fine if that was all you could find. It is still a plant spectrum light and a lot of people use because it makes colors in plants and fish look different. The more common is the 6500-6700K lights I believe, but some people will have a mixture of the two.


THANK YOU!!!!!!!! I hear people say that 10K's wont work but it boils down to nm wave lengths that produce the par that plants need and the 10K's still fall in that range of about 450-650nm I believe.


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## seamonkeybear (Aug 1, 2011)

Thanks Ben! I appreciate the help and clarification...

-jim


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

archer772 said:


> THANK YOU!!!!!!!! I hear people say that 10K's wont work but it boils down to nm wave lengths that produce the par that plants need and the 10K's still fall in that range of about 450-650nm I believe.


Right. I have asked the question on planted tank forums if anyone has noticed a difference in one bulb or the other, and there really isn't a difference. When I ordered some custom lights, they usually shipped lights in a 50/50, 6500K/10000K combination as a standard light. Some believe that some plants here or there may prefer one spectrum or the other, but the thing that matters is they both grow plants equally. And 10000K does not cause anymore algae growth than 6500K. 

Just really comes down to what you like as each one does give a different look to your tank.


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## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

seamonkeybear said:


> Hey gang!
> 
> I have a couple of newbie questions regarding lighting, live plants and a 10 g tank...
> 
> Which bulbs are better for live plants: incandescent or fluorescent? My goal is to get rid of the "yellowish" lighting.


 if you have an older cheapie hood that takes two long skinny incandescent bulbs, you can just replace those bulbs with the screw in spiral 6500k flourescent bubls from wallmart. A couple of 10-11w will be like $6 or so and the package will say 6500 vertically up the side. They give a nice bright crisp blue-white light.


> Which live plants can do well with no CO2 system in place. (And honestly, I don't even know what that is or looks like... again, noob here.)
> 
> Once I find out answers to the above questions, just how many live plants can one have in a mere 10g tank.
> 
> ...


for plants in a 10g I recommend 4-6 bunches of anacharis, 4-6 vals, 4 small potted typs (small swords, crypts, etc) and a single amazon sword.

I also recommend peat moss trapped under a layer of play sand for the substrate. the peat helps keep the hardness constant for years but with no peat the tank kh and gh values rise.

my .02


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