littlejsm

I have recently inhereted a planted 15G tank. When it came to me the bulb didnt go so went to get a repalcement. The LFS only had blue lights which I didn't really want so got one from the local hardware store. As soon as it went on the fish went nuts!! and every time I turn it on they hide or feak out at any noise. Am I supposed to get a fish bulb? The bulb is 15w. Can anyone 'shed any light' on this for me please...

GreenMan13

Can you give us any more details on what kind of bulb you bought? Does it make any noise when you turn it on?
How long have the fish not had a working light? Could be that they are just startled by the brightness that they have not been use to.

littlejsm

The bulb does not make any noise at all. It is a Phillips tube TLD15/29 (means nothing to me) It replaces a xing xing T8 F15 15w 230v. I am not sure how long it has not been working for as got from a friend of a friend. When the light gets turned off they do come out of hiding... I have tried to leave it on for an hour or so but they hide or are right at the bottom of the tank in a corner until it goes off. Any advice is much appreciated.

sirdarksol

It may just be that the fish are not currently used to bright light.
Is there anything on the Phillips tube box that says "watts" (just want to make sure you're not overloading the ballast).

Maybe you can try to dim things a bit for the fish. If you can find a piece of tinted glass or plastic and put it under the light, that will soften things up a bit. Then you can slowly, over a couple of days, pull the plastic out from under the light, acclimating the fish to the new light.

littlejsm

Thankyou, it is a 15 watt bulb so that shouldn't be too bright? I will try the plastic covering and see if that may make a difference.

nemo addict

poor or incorrect lighting can cause algae blooms so would source the right replacement for aqaurium

GreenMan13

15 watts should be fine. I think it is the shock of the light though too. It's like your eyes, if you have been in the dark for hours your eyes adapt but then if a bright light is turned on you want to hide your eyes from that light till they can adapt to it. The fish are the same way with not having any light other then the ambient light for days and then suddenly having a lot of light suddenly. Try the plastic and keep us informed.

littlejsm

Hi, just to let you know, we have been turning the light on for a couple of minutes a day and today we started feeding first then turned on the light. I htink their bellies got the better of them and they seem to be out from hiding a bit more. Will try it a little bit more to see if we can get them familiar with the lighting?? If that fails will try the plastic.