I'm probably repeating a topic, but I couldn't find this one. I know for 20gal and up that the 2wpg rule works, but how many watts should I have for a 10 gallon freshwater tank. The dimensions are L20"xW10"xT11". I am not looking to grow anything that needs high light necessarily, medium would be fine.

Also, I read an article somewhere about lumens, but I was really confused.

Thanks

me personally i would probably shoot for something like 3wpg 3.5... that would probably be ideal. I believe that would provide substantial lighting. You'll probably wanna research a diy co2 system as well to begin with to keep algae problems at bay and keeping your plants loving ya, EI dosing would be ideal as well..... jeez... all this stuff we need to know eh

Depends on what you want. I'm lazy, so I doubt I'd put anything more than 28W over a 10g, probably less. I think a 15w tube will grow most of the easy plants well-enough (crypts, java fern, anubias, mosses) with some excellent results, and the growth will be slow enough that Fish load and good circulation will take care of most of your plants' needs. If this is your first shot with a planted tank, go with a lower light level first (between 15-30W), make the proper plant selections, and then when you've wet your hands a bit, you can always upgrade your lighting. I currently have 24W over an 8g tank and I consider it low-light. I had 28W over 10g and treated it like a high-tech, but that was a while back. In retrospect, I should have treated it like a low-moderately lit tank. CO2 injection is an option with these lower-light systems. When my tanks were younger, I injected, now that they are over a year old, I have stopped injecting, and it's really made no difference.

Just make sure that whether you go high-light or low-light, that you follow up with logical plant choices and the right equipment.

Personally? 2wpg will be pretty good, I have 2wpg on my 15-gallon and it is more than plenty, no troubles with anything growing well.

Thanks so much for your input. It's made life much easier. I'm thinking I'll shoot for 28-30 watts