The Hood on my Five Gallon

**leaveittoweaver** · 04-28-2012, 02:56 AM

So I have a new five gallon tank I picked up today. I bought a Coral Life 50/50 compact flourescent 15 watt bulb for it and there is nothing in between the bulb and the water, however the bulb and the water do not touch.

Will this be a problem or unsafe? :/

Thank you!

**pjaldave** · 04-28-2012, 06:19 AM

are you gonna use this for freshwater? If you are, i do recommend replacing the 50/50 bulb into a normal 65-6700k bulb.

i am not too sure, but a little bit of protection might be better. Though, how high is the bulb/fixture from the water? If less than an inch, then it might not be a good idea.

**Cermet** · 04-28-2012, 08:45 AM

Depends on surface agitation and/or bubbles. If none, any fixture that does not touch will work. If running an air stone, could have issues if not careful. Best way is to test - after running your filter/air stone etc with the light off, check to se if the bulb is getting spray/wet. If not, most likely good to go. I would not use a coiled type CFL - these get very hot and would be an issue both for heating the water and breacking if any water splashed on them.

**pjaldave** · 04-28-2012, 05:58 PM

Even if not surface agitation, once evaporation occurs, moisture goes into the fixture. If it's too close to the water level, even though water does not directly hit the bulb/fixture, it might still break.

**leaveittoweaver** · 04-29-2012, 01:55 AM

Originally Posted by Cermet

Depends on surface agitation and/or bubbles. If none, any fixture that does not touch will work. If running an air stone, could have issues if not careful. Best way is to test - after running your filter/air stone etc with the light off, check to se if the bulb is getting spray/wet. If not, most likely good to go. I would not use a coiled type CFL - these get very hot and would be an issue both for heating the water and breacking if any water splashed on them.

Makes sense, I'll try that. :)

Does anyone know of a good bulb that will grow plants that will fit in that kind of fixture?

**dbosman** · 04-30-2012, 09:10 PM

The screw in or incandescent style hood can only take up to 15 watt incandescent bulbs. The long skinny ones.
They can take higher wattage spiral compact fluorescent "bulbs".

The one I have used and still recommend is a Sylvania, 23 watt, daylight, "now smaller than ever", spiral compact fluorescent. Menard's usually has them. Walmart often has them and others - sometimes stock them.

One of these in my son's 5.5g tank grew, with no algae, six species of low to moderate light plants.
Two of these over a 10g tank is perfect for low to medium light plants.

**leaveittoweaver** · 04-30-2012, 09:50 PM

Originally Posted by dbosman

The screw in or incandescent style hood can only take up to 15 watt incandescent bulbs. The long skinny ones.
They can take higher wattage spiral compact fluorescent "bulbs".

The one I have used and still recommend is a Sylvania, 23 watt, daylight, "now smaller than ever", spiral compact fluorescent. Menard's usually has them. Walmart often has them and others - sometimes stock them.

One of these in my son's 5.5g tank grew, with no algae, six species of low to moderate light plants.
Two of these over a 10g tank is perfect for low to medium light plants.

Awesome! Thanks for the suggestion, I'll look into ordering one of those.