# lighting help please



## hanky (Jan 18, 2012)

Hey everyone, So I just inherited one of those Eclipse 5 gal hex tanks that I' plan on using for a Betta, It came with a 15W incandescent bulb, should I replace this with a fluorescent bulb if I want some easy low light plants?
or is there another inexpensive bulb you may recommend?

What wattage would anyone recommend?


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## Rob72 (Apr 2, 2011)

you might try wal mart they have the CFL bulbs that can fit in the fixtures that will grow plants pretty good, i have 2 of them in the 10g tank and doing really good i have


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## garryp (Jan 14, 2012)

Uncle Wally's, check in the fish dept. (as noted above)


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## gar1948 (Jan 25, 2012)

CFL's work well in a small tank. If you buy at a Dept store try to get something close to 6500k. If you buy at a fish store than it will probably be in that range.


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## Redtail84 (Jan 23, 2012)

I got my bulbs at Walmart, but they were sold out in the pet section so I got my CFL back with the rest of the bulbs. They are marked as daylight and are 6500k. They were very inexpensive.


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## snail (Aug 6, 2010)

I agree with others, CFL work well. The pigtail shaped ones are the most efficient, but are a bit larger around and wouldn't fit in my fixture when I used one. To grow plants you want one that says something like 'daylight' or 6500K, you don't want 'warm white' or 'soft white'. They come in a variety of wattages. When working out the wattage go by actual wattage and not equivalent wattage.


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## ArtyG (Jun 29, 2011)

Yes, you should get either a daylight balanced CFL at WalMart in the pet dept. or even better a small, LED from the regular bulb section in hardware. The ones I found are about the size of an "appliance"bulb yet only uses a couple of watts. If they are not sold out it's the way to go.


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