noob lighting question

[Ace Rimmer]

hi everyone,

I'm wanting to put a 1 foot light on my 5 gallon tank, I was just wondering if an ordinary household fluro would be any good for plants/fish???

cheers guys

 

[impur]

I don't think a cool white bulb gives off much of the right light for plants. I would get a daylight or a type of grow light bulb for it. Anything with a broad spectrum of light. Also make sure any connections are water tight so you don't get that little shock in the morning when you turn it on. BTW I have just a standard cool white bulb on my 55 gallon and it does fine. I don't have live plants though.

 

[HooDude]

Ace Rimmer,

I have a 5 gallon tank too, and I put a household flourescent light on it. It has worked fine for the fish, they like it and it doesn't heat up the water more than 1 or 2 degrees when the water is cold. Never gets any hotter than 24 C and its 30 C outside usually. All I did for mine was buy a flourescent workshop light thing that goes under a desk or on a wall or something, it cost me about $10 Canadian (6.50 U.S.) and then I took a piece of black 3" ABS sewer pipe from a hardware store, cut it in half, crazy glued an end cap on each end of the half-pipe, and then stuck that on top of the flourescent light on the tank.

This works great because it keeps dust and stuff off of the light, and it prevents any extra light getting out into your room, so only the fishtank is lit, not everything around it too.

I dont know if this would have the right spectrum for plants or not. Likely not. But if you wish, go to your LFS and take the bulb from your fixture with you, and just find a floura-glo or similar plant light that is the same size.

Good luck!
HooDude

 

[Ace Rimmer]

do they make fluro "glow" tubes that are 1 foot long??

i've never seen one

 

[Jamnog]

you can use a normal bulb but i would recomend keeping it in a well lit room ... no matter what the experts say (narf) i dont thing the plants will do as well but the fish wont care as far as i know.