Question about a 5 gallon eclipse corner tank and lighting...

[reyqno]

Simple question, what is the best kind of lighting for such a small tank? I'm trying to get my java moss to grow in it w/o much success. Is there any other lighting for such a small tank?

 

[cohazard]

I'm not familiar with the tank, but what type of lighting does it require? Incandescent? If it has one of those screw-in incandescent fixtures, you can find small compact flourescent bulbs around 10w, for like $5 at Wal-Mart.

The same exact bulb online will cost you $10 +shipping. I have an Eclipse system 6, and the moss grows fine under the single flourescent tube (8w), albeit slowly.


HTH,
Serg

 

[phanmc]

I'm pretty sure the Eclipse 5 comes with a 10w CF bulb, which should be enough for java moss. I doubt there's any room under the hood to retrofit a more powerful lightsource. Java moss is a very slow growing plant but have you tried Flourish Excel?

If you want additional lighting the only thing I can recommend is to add another desktop lamp next to the tank and direct the light into the tank.

 

[cohazard]

I'm pretty sure the Eclipse 5 comes with a 10w CF bulb, which should be enough for java moss. I doubt there's any room under the hood to retrofit a more powerful lightsource. Java moss is a very slow growing plant but have you tried Flourish Excel?

If you want additional lighting the only thing I can recommend is to add another desktop lamp next to the tank and direct the light into the tank.

phanmc is right; I just looked up the specs online. That should be enough light to grow quite a few different types of plants, although you'd have to keep them trimmed as not to outgrow your tank.

Maybe since the tank is so small, that's too much light on the tank? Try some sunset hygro., Limnophila sessiflora (ambulia), water sprite, etc... See what you can get to grow. The WPG rule breaks down on small aquariums and large ones.


HTH,
Serg