Redoing the 5G

[BirdOfPray]

I'm getting frustrated with the Eclipse hex I have my betta in, and I'm pretty sure that sometime in the next few weeks I want to start the process of moving him to a standard 5ish-gallon tank. While I'm at it, I'd also like to find the best lighting I can for a reasonable price so maybe my plants will do better. They don't seem to like the hex, and I assume light is part of the problem.

One thing I ran across is this: [Only Registered Users Can See Links.] It says it'll take a 15- or 25-watt tubular bulb. Does anyone know if that would provide decent lighting for plants in a 5-gallon tank? I could also try a glass lid and separate light fixture if there's something better available, or I thought about the desk lamp route but am not sure exactly what I'd need to look for.

Sorry, I know I'm being clueless... my brain doesn't wrap around math and science stuff as well as I'd like and I'd rather buy the right thing to begin with than have to replace it later. Any help from all you brilliant left-brained people is much appreciated!

[Wild Turkey]

A desk lamp or anything else that will take a 6500 or 5500k CFL bulb like this

[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

will be excellent, and it doesnt get much cheaper.

[Wild Turkey]

darn its too late to edit, but the hood you listed you can cram 2 cfls in there if you wish. I do this for my tens gals and its more than enough light though, so you would be looking at 4-5 wpg so you will probably want to co2 and dose etc. If you leave in the stock lights (incandescent) they will heat the water up a ton but thats it. When you said tubular i assumed it was fluorescent, my bad. Incandescents are useless but the price is right for the hood if you are looking for a lot of light, as two cfls is about 2 dollars at the hardware store.

[aspects]

i guess it really depends on what kind of plants you have in your tank.

[BirdOfPray]

So just to make sure, that hood will take CFLs? Even though it says "tubluar" bulbs? Sorry to be redundant, but playing with electricity always make me nervous. You should see me try to jump a car -- makes me nervous as heck.

Would the desk lamp or the hood be better, or is it just a matter of preference? I'd need to put a glass lid on the tank if I used a desk lamp, since I understand bettas can be jumpers. Not sure how that would affect things. Probably the desk lamp would be slightly more expensive due to the need for both the glass top and the lamp, but not anything to break the bank.

I'm thinking I wouldn't be doing anything fancy with CO2 because of my aforementioned inability to handle math and science easily. Looking at using Flourish and Flourish Excel, but I don't think I'm up for anything too complicated. So, I'd need to keep the light at a range where I don't need much in the way of CO2.

All I've managed to keep alive in the current tank is some sort of rosette plant that hasn't grown above a few inches tall. I'm not sure exactly what it was -- I got it free when the LFS was cleaning out tanks and about to throw a bunch out with the tankwater. It's survived, but hasn't grown worth mentioning since it's been in there. Other plants that have caught my eye, if I could keep them in the kind of set-up I can manage, would be things like dwarf hairgrass, red ludwigia, and some sort of small anubias. I also like the looks of myriophyllum mattogrossense and hemianthus micranthemoides, but am not sure how likely I would be to find those. I'm also open to suggestions -- I'm really just trying to figure out what I can do and be likely to succeed. If it won't die on me, I'll probably like it just fine.

Again, many thanks for the help!!

[Wild Turkey]

Yea incandescent bulbs fit into a regular light socket, so you just have to find cfl bulbs thats will fit without touching the housing. ( Try the "mini" style cfls, they only give 10 watts or so and they should definitely fit. ) I use regular ones in the 20 inch incandescent hoods which im 99% sure is the same thing just 4" longer. With 20 watts over 5g I think co2 would still be an option, smaller tanks need more light anyways, once you get down to ten gallons or less the wpg rules apply only loosely if at all.