Saxobone

Hi Guys.

So I've been workin this 55 gal since November now and its going swell.
But I have lighting issues.

The clear plastic part of the cover that came with it (craigs list) where the lamp goes that also came with it, has a whitish buildup on it that decreases the amount of light that gets to the water from the lamp.
I scraped and scraped for hours when I got it but only got so far.

Anyone else get this build up ever?

So what I did was use one of this small coral lamps I allready had, and stick it in the back left corner where theres a large opening, so I keep my 6 plants in the back corner and they seem to thrive.

The setup actually looks cool cuz the normal lamp is yellowish, with the back left having a bluish whitish shine down.

Now my next issue.

I am clueless when it comes to ray types and bulb types.
What I know is that the bulb is 30 watt and long.
How do I know what type of build I can put in my lamp?
And what are the different types of bulbs?

I've only glanced at that section of the fish store.

Sorry for the ignorance!
Thanks guys!

Cory




P.S. Oh ya by the way the rest of the aquascape consists of fake plants so it all works out and only I know that those ones are real, its like i have a garden section

enthusiast

hi cory!!

first off as for the white build-up yes everybody with a fishtank gets it unfortunately :S its just calcium/mineral deposits from your water. This can easily be taken care of with some vinegar just be sure to rinse it will so no vinegar ends up in your fishs water!

as for your lighting issues.. it seems that with only a 30 watt bulb, and a 55 gal tank, your plants would do much much better with more light.
If you have a 55 gal tank that is probably 4 ft. long, right? your plants would do much better with one of those 4 ft. long light fixtures just put over the top of it. Infact over the top of my 55 gallon which are also 4 ft. long i had a 4 ft. light fixture that holds 2, 4 ft. bulbs, each bulb is a 40 watt bulb for a total of 80 watts of lighting, for a 55 gal tank.

the general rule for lighting in a planted tank is atleast 2 WPG (watts per gallon) of light. if you have a 55 gal. fishtank & only a 30 watt bulb, your getting less than 1 watt of light per gallon of your tanks water.

On my 75 gallon tank i have 2 of the double-bulb, 4 ft fixtures over the top of it, which means its 4- 40 watt bulbs, totalling 160 watts of light, for a 75 gal. tank, giving me about 2.13 watts of light per gallon. This is a heavily planted tank and the plants seem to do great in this lighting!

hope this helped!

Saxobone

Thanks for the info.
Really it just takes some vinegar and scrubbing? I'll try that.

And as for the light fixure you're talking about.
U mean the ones that clamp on or whatever? No Hood?

Thanks again!!

enthusiast

you may need to take the glass top off and let the vinegar set on it a few minutes full strength, then try cleaning it off after letting it break it up a bit

& the lighting systems that clamp on the hood are ideal, they are expensive though, the ones i was actually talking about are just regular shop lights you can buy at wal-mart for about $10-$15 a light fixture. Its a much cheaper alternative with great results, as the light bulbs are generally pretty expensive enough!

You can view my gallery and see my lighting from the pics i believe? if not & you still dont understand fully what lights i'm talkin about i can take more specific pictures just to show the lights