i want my tank to glow :(

[fish&chips]

i bought my tank 2nd hand very good price i may ad
4ft long 50 gallon
fluval 203 external
bogwood heater gravel food treatment
rocks dropped to me door 55 pound

But 1 things missing its not that bright at night i get a kind whitish tank looks like chalky or smoke white affect (-example isnt smoke dont worry or chalk

soon as i turn light off clear as day perfect i turnd light on staird straight into it thought hmmmm
not very bright didnt hurt eyes much for a 42 inch tube
then i come to this thought the owner befor me said he had a cold tank setup
gold fish ya average thing so are the light much more dull cus this look like a really low wat kitchen strip light that doesnt do much

i got sum exellent zebra danios and spending 2 hours trying work out wots wot i got 2 females and 3 males but there silver color doesnt sparkle much unless i get close

sorry for going on butthought i better say about the gold fish cold water setup as may be the reason ...i asked for new light today when i bought 2 more golden barbs to finish the school and he said 13.45 for 42 " is this right or am i being mugged noing im begginer

 

[Braddah]

did you check the wattage of the bulb? (I'm assuming its Flouresent, right?) Is it a single bulb or double? If it is a single bulb light strip the bulb you put in is prolby a 40w bulb...It is not strong enough to light up your tank how you want it to. I bought a 4ft 55gal tank and thought the bulb was bad so I went out and bought a brand new "super" bulb and it was still dim...solutions 1) buy or build a new light strip using 2 bulbs...or just deal with it and dont try and grow plants in it.


P.S. If it is a double bulb set up buy some new bulbs! Good Luck

 

[fish&chips]

nope its stupid to me its pretty huge tank 50 gallon for 1st 1 and looks big but hmm

1 light space i cant buid lid no chance im disabled with bad back
yea your right on wattage its i got it here
marina 48" 240 v 50 hz but think light is 40 wat?hz

i heard you can buy and wastold i can get a tropical flurecent light that Light blue tinted ??

just wonderd wot kind price and wot sort ppl could advice just 14 pound seems lot for light bulb lol but if needed ill pay no prob

(I'm assuming its Flouresent, right?)
im not sure as stated bought 2nd hand was just told for gold fish
how can i tell by looking at it ?
its white not clear and doesnt giv the yellow tint like most its white
i think why makes water look white chalky

 

[fish&chips]

also not to worried bout plants die they die nothing i can do just want it to look more clear when i sit in chair and look for fishes bit dark at back

 

[Braddah]

the blue tinted light might help a bit but unless you can get another bulb in there its not going to give you the results you want. I paid $24 (american) for a bulb that did nothing for my tank so I returned it and told the Lfs to just give me store credit...well I went to use my store credit and they "lost" it so mad....but thats another diatribe all together.

 

[fish&chips]

is tin foil a good idea behind the light
ig i by new tropical light with blue tint then i carefully put tinfoil behind it to reflect all off the back

it could higher my chance what you think thanks for replying braddah
and the light is around28 us $

 

[Braddah]

BTW a 50 gal to start with, I hear is easier than a smaller tank (maybe someone else can back me up, or correct me), but I have less problems withmy 50gal than with my 20gal.

 

[fish&chips]

ide say so been going 2 -3 weeks with fish had 5 zebra danios to start and then sum more and golden barb

then today got more golden barb so have 4 barbs 5 danios they loveeeee it

water is normal 0 0 0 ph 7.5 and i htink as there small so much water it can sort it out faster and get it cycling better i think

brother has a 1half ft tank took 2 months to fully cycle it

ops sed 4 nun died mistake they healthy mad as //and even laid 1 lot eggs from danios mating or wot ever its called couldnt save them tho i didnt no wot was happening lololol
i was scared thought they attacking

 

[AquaNut]

I'm not of much service on the light issue - my tanks could be brighter, too. Ohhh the fish-wish list that never stops.

Just wanted to comment on what Braddah said with regards to the fifty gallon tank being easier. I totally agree. The smaller the tank is, the harder it is to get everything stabilised and balanced. My most challenging tank is probably the ten gallon one with guppies in it. The tank is so small and the population of fishes changes so dramatically.

 

[fish&chips]

can you buy under gravel lights ?> this would be exeelent light it from top and bottom

 

[Braddah]

I dont think so...electricity and water dont mix as a rule of thumb...however I did see some LED lights on the gravel illuminateing a bubble bar tonight...It looked a little clubby to me...but hey, to each there own right?

 

[CFC]

To get the effect your looking for you are going to need at least 2 watts of light per gallon (4 watts per gallon if you want live plants), so for a 50g thats at least 100watts. The only way you can acheive this is to add one or two extra tubes into the hood and fit them with reflectors which increase the light output by reflecting wasted light that would be shining on the hood back into the tank.
The blue tubes you speak of are designed to give a dull light to mimic dusk or moonlight so using one of those would just make the tank dimmer. I would suggest using one or two arcadia "freshwater " tubes and a arcadia "original tropical" tube to get the best lighting affects. You should be able to fit additional lights to your tank for about £35 per tube (cost of lighting unit, fittings, reflector and tube).

 

[Lithril]

I've got to agree, my 10 gal tank is being an absolute ***** to get cycling, doing small water changes daily at the moment just to keep levels down.

 

[fish&chips]

well i looked at the reflecters but they where 12 pound and thought ay up i aint paying that for summut chrome so i made my own with tin foil long bit card to round it

then coverd with tin foil works ok but i only have 1 light fitting need to cant figure how to get 2nd in not enough room as the light controll (box)is next to the tube

so looks like i got put up with it im moving soon so when do i can get to the back of the tank ill remove the dard back ground and put a light blue ?

 

[playfulalliecat]

Just a thought here but if you are going to change backgrounds anyway, maybe you can get a metallic blue to reflect the light some. We used a mylar wrapping paper on our 55 gallon and it looks really good (IMO). All you do is put a little veg. oil on the back of the tank, spread the paper over it and use a squeegee to smooth out the wrinkles and bubbles. It actually stays on much better than the special backgrounds made for tanks. Ours has been on for months.

I am not sure if this will help your problem or not but it couldn't hurt to try. With the reflective qualities, it might reflect enough light to make a difference.