10g Plant Lighting

[Phoxly]

I was reading about lighting around the internet and I started reading alot about the "Watt Per Gallon" rule (WPG) and many people claim that for small tanks like a 10 gallon which is pretty limited to just 15watt bulbs (unless you go external) you can really only achieve 1.5w per gallon, but because 10g's are so shallow, it can be adequate for plants that only require "moderate" lighting. Thoughts on this?

I'll PM OLF in case she doesn't see this :)

[Oldfishlady]

On the sister forum tropicalfishkeeping.com-has a great 4 part sticky on planted tanks written by Byron-he can explain light much better than I can
http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/a...um-part-34862/

[Phoxly]

Wow TYVM! Great read, so umm I read the part about cleaning the filter, I've had my tank for 2 months and never cleaned the filter... should I be? How do I do it? Its an aquaclear... how do I know when it needs cleaned?

[Oldfishlady]

You want to give the sponge a rinse/swish in old tank water with a water change or in dechlorinated water 1-2 times a month and when the water flow slows.