Question about lighting for planted tank.

[MJK87]

Hey everyone,

I had a quick question about my lighting that I need some opinions on. Which would be the better option for lighting for my 10 gallon planted tank? two 13w 6500k CFL bulbs or one 15w zoomed T8 flora sun bulb? I have jungle val, anubias, dwarf sag, java fern, rotala, water onion, and a moss ball in my tank. The CFL bulbs make my plants look alot more green but the flora sun bulb is made for plants but is a lot less watts. What do you guys think?

[Oldfishlady]

If your hood hold two tubes...I would use one of each...

Do you know the kelvin on the plant bulb?

[MJK87]

One hood is for CFL bulbs and the other hood is only for one T8 tube. The flora sun tube is 5000k.

[Oldfishlady]

Any way you can use both over the tank...if not either should work fine...while 5000k is not what I personally like to use on my planted tanks-it is in the acceptable color temp range....if one looks better to your eyes-use that one and/or you could even switch them out every couple of weeks and see which one the plants like best too....just a thought....