Suggest a Light

[Rozmere]

So, money is a BIG factor but I'm looking for a light for my standard 10 gal tank (12" high, 20" long) that will help kick my plant growth into super high gear (along with my ferts, substrate, minerals, etc. obviously). I know there are some great lower cost lights out there (somewhere) but I'm suffering from a case of too little information on every one that I look at. I'm wanting something that's going to have sufficient PAR under 12" of water and a glass lid to make my plants take off like rockets.

Right now I have Water Wisteria, Dwarf Sagittaria, and Bacopa which should be growing like crazy considering the other conditions but I have a feeling the light is what's holding them back. I also have Anubias and Java Fern but I'm less concerned with them growing quickly.

So any links or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!

[Mmiller2001]

Finnex ALC

[lefty o]

on a budget, i like hygger lights.

[Guppysnail]

On 5/2/2023 at 4:18 PM, lefty o said:

on a budget, i like hygger lights.

I second hygger. I run all of my tanks on the hygger strips from Amazon. They are the best limited budget I have found. My plants do great. 
Just to add I run them on 4 - 10 g tanks. I never need to turn them to the brightest setting. 

[Ninjoma]

It looks the fluval aquasky 12w, the twinstar 45b and the finnex HLC are all basically the same price on Amazon. I think they are all decent choices. My speculation is the finnex light is probably the best for growing plants, but I find the remote really annoying, so the others are also considerations. 

[A3M0N]

I'm a budget kind of guy, I use 2x clamp shop lights and LED bulbs from Walmart for my 10 gallon. 

[nabokovfan87]

On 5/2/2023 at 4:56 PM, Ninjoma said:

It looks the fluval aquasky 12w, the twinstar 45b and the finnex HLC are all basically the same price on Amazon. I think they are all decent choices. My speculation is the finnex light is probably the best for growing plants, but I find the remote really annoying, so the others are also considerations. 

I had ran a test for several months with my aquasky, granted it's a bit older, growing in some anubias and low demand plants in a 29G tank.  Granted that it's tall I spent a lot of time trying to dial in the light and get it adjusted in.  Ultimately, ambient light in the room did slightly better for me compared to the aquasky.  I ended up swapping it for the better quality/spectrum LEDs on the planted 3.0 and the tank is doing a lot better now.  My main issue previously was just not having enough light for the plants, but having plenty of light for the algae to utilize.   The aquasky is fun, Bentley's video on the light is great, but I just wasn't able to replicate good results in my situation with that light on a very low demand setup.

I would look into the ACO light given that a light that fits a 10G tank can be a pretty awkward size as well as some of the other options mentioned above.

[Shrimpee]

I use the Aquarium Co-op easy plant LED for my high tech tank. The spectrum is a little bit ugly but you can probably fix it with a finnex ALC planted or a finnex stingray. I don't know what your cost range is but the Aquarium Co-op is my favorite light so far.

[Rozmere]

THANKS! After reading all your comments and some additional comments online I finally decided that I was going to try a hygger of some sort and I narrowed that down to one that's listed as:

"hygger Auto On Off 18-24 Inch LED Aquarium Light Extendable Dimmable 7 Colors Full Spectrum Light Fixture for Freshwater Planted Tank Build in Timer Sunrise Sunset"

Which is a RIDICULOUSLY long name for a product! I believe it's also known as a "hygger 957"

It's supposed to be here tomorrow and I'll be able to give my first impressions of it.

I should state that my current light, the "Feit Electric LED 32W 8" Adjustable Full Spectrum Clamp Grow Light", which I picked up at Walmart, isn't necessarily bad, in fact, it grows algae for my snails and every day, about an hour or more after the light comes on, my plants start pearling like crazy! The problems I have with it are: 1.) It's a round light so it doesn't have adequate coverage at 4-6" above the tank, and 2.) I'm not seeing satisfactory growth from plants that are considered to be "fast growing" varieties. In fact, although they aren't dying by any means, I don't think my water wisteria (for example) have grown even an eighth of an inch in the more than a month that I've had them.

 

 

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

Piping in a little late here but just to confirm the Hygger lights are great and good for the budget. I will say that I've had to turn off the sunrise/sunset function and just use the timers (I put mine on 8) as they are SUPER powerful and grew a bit too much algae in my tanks. On the 8 hour setting, all the plants are happier. Regardless of how you use it, I think you'll be happy with the choice. 

[Rozmere]

I just got this light, I have it on full spectrum and 100% intensity and it is far dimmer than the non-aquarium grow light I was using. I have no way of knowing if it's supposed to be this dim or if I have a defective product. Also, with the previous light my plants would start pearling like crazy after the first hour it was on and with this Hygger they aren't pearling at all. I'm trying to figure out what to do at this point.

[Patrick_G]

With the plants you mentioned I think you'll be ok with just about any light, and the Hygger should be great. Don't be to worried about your Water wisteria. They're usually grown out of the water at the farm and then they need some time to convert to their underwater form. Even if they're already growing in their submerged form they'll take a bit of time to get settled into your tank. The first month growth will be very slow, then the second month it'll speed up a bit and then before you know it the entire tank will be filled and you'll have more cuttings than you know what to do with.