lighting question

[pandafishowner]

My guppy tank lightbulb blew out last night. I went to Wal-Mart and grabbed a set of 2 15w bulbs. They also had 25w bulbs and I wasn't sure what watt mine was so I had to check some of the tank they sell. Some tanks said they included 15w, some said they included 25w. Does the watt difference really matter? I went wth 15w because they're cheaper actually, but could I have gone with 25, or would that be too bright? My tank is about 5g's or so. Just has the 3 guppies and a snail, all happy now without dying and I've replaced the filter too :lol:

[christyf5]

15W bulbs are fine. You may want to have the brighter bulbs if you are growing plants and such but remember brighter lights grow algae as well :biggrin:

Christy :)

[lukep77]

The 25 watt lights would of been fine. But so is the 15 watt for a tank that small. You just have to be carfull that your not getting a lot of the red spectrum in the light. Which is what promotes algae growth. There should be a spectrum chart on the side of the box the light comes in that will show you how its designed.

[StirCrazy]

I was at superstore today and they had 23 watt PC's in a daylight (6500K) for about 5 bucks each. they screw into regular sockets for light bulbs and would work perfect for fresh water tanks.

Steve

[fakename]

The cheapest I have seen for screw in PCs is at RONA. I picked up a box of 6 23 watt bulbs for $16 on sale.......they also had some 23 watt PC "grow lights" that had colour temps that would be really nice on a fresh water set up!!