# Planted Tank - Lighting Dilemma



## Emily (May 4, 2010)

Hey everyone, just looking for some advice/opinions...

Ok so I recently purchased a 5g tank (not great quality, it's a walmart tank). I knew I wanted to have a little planted set-up, so I bought an upgraded light (25 watt Aqua Glow), figuring that that would be better than the 15 watt it came with. I found out after opening everything up that there is a 15 watt limit for the hood .

So basically... Could I have success with the 15 watt? Or would I need to suck it up and buy a new hood/light fixture? 

Thanks in advance!


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## CRS Fan (Apr 21, 2010)

Emily.

Go to Home Depot and buy a Phillips 9W Spiral Compact 6500K bulb. It will actually grow plants .

Best Regards,

Stuart


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

I think it's more of a liability thing, at least it was in my case. I plugged in my 25w bulb into my 10g where it stated it was to be used only with those thin 15w bulbs. It works fine, just have to limit light time otherwise you might get algae blooms.


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## anessa (Apr 26, 2010)

Yup. The small flourescent spiral daylight bulbs work great.


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## tang daddy (Apr 21, 2010)

Emily said:


> Hey everyone, just looking for some advice/opinions...
> 
> Ok so I recently purchased a 5g tank (not great quality, it's a walmart tank). I knew I wanted to have a little planted set-up, so I bought an upgraded light (25 watt Aqua Glow), figuring that that would be better than the 15 watt it came with. I found out after opening everything up that there is a 15 watt limit for the hood .
> 
> ...


I would screw in the new bulb to see if it fires, the reason why they said 15w was because sometimes larger bulbs can end up exerting more heat and then maybe melt the plastic on the hood.... Make sure that there is enough clearance between the hood and bulb you can also take tin foil wrap it up a few times to make it thicker then place it between the bulb and hood this will reflect abit of the light while dispersing the heat!


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## EDGE (Aug 24, 2010)

second what Tang said. I am assuming when you say 15watt and 25 watt, they are incandescent bulb and not fluorescent? 

Going with a 9 to 13watt screw in compact fluorescent will make a huge difference. You will be able to grow a nice variety of easy to grow plants in there.


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## Edarion (Apr 21, 2010)

I believe the aquaglow is already flourescent


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## Emily (May 4, 2010)

Ok, the other day I picked up the Phillips 9W Spiral Compact 'Daylight' bulb. Thanks everyone for all your input!


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