Lighting for Live Plants

[drewdigg]

I'm thinking about making the switch to live plants.

The plants I'm thinking about planting are:

Anubias
Java Moss
Java Ferns

I have a 10 gallon tank. The lights no longer work on the cheap hood that came with my tank so I would have to replace it with something.

For this setup and these plants would I be better off getting a hood with a single 15W 18" fluorescent tube or getting a hinged glass top and an incandescent strip light with two 15W compact fluorescent?

[ZergyMonster]

I wouldn't use more than 20W of light for a 10 gallon unless your tank is completely full of plants. I used 30W for a week and my tanks were flooded with algae. With my 20W I have moderate algae that my snails can take care of.

[Geomancer]

If you go with the screw in bulb type, get two 10W 6500K CFLs at the hardware store, less than $10 for a two pack probably.

If you go with the T8 tube, still go to the hardware store and buy a daylight 6500K tube.

Both, however, will be overkill for those plants ;) They are the lowest of the low light plants. You may want to add some stem plants, or floating plants to give a little shade to those guys. They grow so slowly, that even under moderate light they'll develop algae on the leaves.