New cover/light - recommendation

[bluemeate]

also, anyone know how are those 'plant and aquarium' lights at home depot?
they have 2ft ones for about 7 dollars.

would this be a significant upgrade to the stock 15w light that came with this aquarium beginngers tank?

 

[Trigger1985]

It's not ideal, but it's cheap to build- DIY CFL Retrofit

As far as those bulbs they don't produce more light- just a different spectrum of light it's more purple, and it they always seemed dimmer to me. A minor upgrade, but no "magic bulb" is going to change the 15watt rating.

 

[shw104]

There are several rules of thumb for WPG. They're actually a balancing act between light, fertilizers and CO2 depending on what you want from your plants.

What do you want from your plants? Little to no maintenance with little growth, a little bit of tinkering with more growth, or lot's of time, money, and effort with lush thick growth?

well.. i have 3 kids 4 and under to extra time is very limited.. however.. i do want a planted tank that looks fairly nice... looking for a good middle ground I guess.

thanks for the feedback and advice.

 

[schaadrak]

You're probably not going to find much of a middle ground for under $40.00, but if you're handy you can definitely upgrade for about that amount with a 4ft fluorescent shop light retro-fitted into a homemade hood.