# 2.5 mini bow



## stcyrwm (Sep 1, 2005)

Jackie,

What wattage was the incandescent bulb that came with it? Incandescent bulbs run way hotter than flourescents IME so unless you were going with a way higher wattage cf or larger size I don't understand why it would be a problem. Any cf bulb in the 5000 to 10,000 Kelvin range will work - most prefer the 6700 range for color rendition. I have 2 All Glass Aquarium 11 watt 6500k bulbs over my 10 galllon. You should be able to find those online. I'm not sure whether 11 watts would be too much for that size aquarium - hopefully someone else will advise if you need a smaller one. 

Bill


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## TheOtherGeoff (Feb 11, 2003)

i replaced the incandescent bulb that was in my 5 gallon with a 15 watt 6500K screw in CF. worls very well for me. i got mine at walmart for maybe 5 bucks or so. pretty darn cheap. im sure the spectrum isnt as good as some of the 6500s but its looks nice.


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## will5 (Sep 30, 2005)

*Hi*

Hi the 11 watt screw in pc bulb will do just fine and it should put you at a medium-medium high light tank. DUDE YOUR FISH STORE IS LYING. Go buy a screw in pc bulb and if your not sure about any thing else post here before you go to your LFS and buy something you don't need ok.


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## paulsonja (Mar 31, 2005)

I figured my LFS was lying or perhaps the sales guy just wanted to sell me something expensive. I tried to take out the current bulb this morning and it came apart so now I have to unscrew the fixture and take it out with a pliers. I'll go with the 11W CF and we'll see what happens. I'm away for Christmas so hope to set the tank up over New Year's. 

One more question--I want a good substrate, I had thought ecocomplete--what are the pros/cons of laterite vs. ecocomplete? I can get both, I thought the ecocomplete looks nicer than the laterite. 

Do shrimp need a heater? I'm hoping to go without a filter or heater to save space, 2.5 gallons is not much space. My house is generally 65 degrees or so in the winter. 

Looking forward to this project, I have 2 other small tanks--a 5.5G planted (just plain gravel and a regular lamp, but the red melons swords and anachris love it) that holds a betta and 3 white clouds, and a 10 gallon planted (also gravel with a 20W plant light) that holds 2 fire belly newts. 

We're moving in 7-8 months cross country so everything will be broken down. When I start up again I hope to upgrade all my substrate, including my 55G which I recently did an AHS retrofit on to upgrade the lighting to 2wpg. 

I'll try to post pics when I can get some good ones.
Jackie


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## TheOtherGeoff (Feb 11, 2003)

go with eco over laterite. 

you should be ok without a filter and heater in that tank. the cf will give off some heat which will heat the water. i dont have a heater or filter in my shrimp bowl and they are all doing fine. i also dont have a heater in my 5 and its all good.


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## uncskainch (Feb 22, 2005)

I have a 2.5 gallon minibow and I replaced the incandescent bulb that came with it with a 10 watt 6700k compact fluorescent from Walmart -- works great, and I haven't had any problems with overheating.

My tank is in one of the cooler rooms of the house and was dipping a bit cooler than I'd like, so I also recently added a 7.5 watt Hydor mini-heater. It can be placed under the gravel so there's no visible heater taking up space. I think it was under $10 and, while it doesn't have a thermostat, it seems to keep the water temperature pretty consistently a few degrees higher than it would have been without it.

I'm using a Red Sea Nano filter with it which seems to be working out great. It takes up almost no space in the tank (unlike the internal filter that came with the MiniBow!) and keeps the water nice and clear.

Have fun with your tank!


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