# Lighting for 2.5g tank



## Aplomado (Feb 20, 2013)

Maybe a finnex stingray clip light?


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## Daisy Mae (Jun 21, 2015)

Hello and welcome to TPT. 

Anchoring the plants - yes, you are ok to sandwich the plants between rocks. As long as the rhizome (horizontal stem) is not buried, i.e. the water can flow though to it, you will be fine. One way of anchoring the plants is to use those thin slippy hair elastics. Goody brand has them in clear. 

Your light might actually be ok for the plants, those plants are low light plants so will just grow slowly. If you don't already have one, get a timer and set it for 6-8 hours. Less to start with and bump up half hour or so per week if needed. If you're getting algae, then bump down. If you wish, you can even split this total time into 2 periods of at least 3 hours each. It takes plants about 3 hours to complete photosynthesis, and some of us like to split the viewing time. 

Your Marimo ball would like to get turned occasionally if the betta isn't already doing it. 

Beautiful fish, and nice rocks!

So bottom line, suggest observing your plants for about a month before buying a new light. It take about that long for slow growing plants to show good growth in low light set ups. I would expect the anubias to have one or two new leaves during that time.

In case you still need to change the light-
Here's a thread on the mini bow, specifically bulbs. 
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/22-planted-nano-tanks/24294-2-5-mini-bow.html
A 9W CFL would be enough I suspect for this tank, anything higher might just be an algae factory.


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## alphabeta (Jul 14, 2014)

depends on your budget. you can go with nice looking fancy LED clips (finnex stingray clip light is one possibility). 
But you can do it for $10-15 too  by using a CFL bulb, 6500K Feit Electric 150W Equivalent Daylight (6500K) Spiral CFL Light Bulb-ESL40TN/D - The Home Depot They call them daylight, but just look for 6500K. 9W or 13W will be enough. Then also from a local home improvement store, and buy Clamp Light Aluminium Reflector Woods 60-Watt Incandescent Clamp Light with Aluminum Reflector with 6 ft. Cord-0160 - The Home Depot 
that's what i use for my 5gl, two of those, raised about 5" above the tank. Do not have a picture at hand.


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## loach guy (Jun 2, 2014)

I've seen clip on LED lights for aquariums for $13 on Amazon. I'm sure they would be plenty for those plants.


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## alphabeta (Jul 14, 2014)

can you give a link? i have seen too, but they are just lights, not enough for planted tanks. For that matter, you can build an LED light for even less, using some strip LEDs, but those are decorative lights, with not enough output.


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## loach guy (Jun 2, 2014)

alphabeta said:


> can you give a link? i have seen too, but they are just lights, not enough for planted tanks. For that matter, you can build an LED light for even less, using some strip LEDs, but those are decorative lights, with not enough output.


Amazon.com: LEMONBEST® Super Bright 3 Watt Fish Tank Clamp Light 48 LED Water Fish Plant Tank Aquarium Clip Lamp: Home Improvement

These should be strong enough for those plants with no ferts.


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## Whitetiger61 (Dec 2, 2011)

looks like you have pleanty of light for that tank.. just watch your plants for about a month for new growth..like daisy said anubius should have 1 or 2 new leaves by then and java fer should have new shoots in about 3 weeks, that been usually the time table on mine. Im really not sure about different setups but i have a highh flow tank and my java fern grows really fast in the tank.

Rick


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## alphabeta (Jul 14, 2014)

@loach guy - i see. there is not enough tech specs for that light to judge how suitable it is for a planted tank. maybe yes, maybe no. in particular, the color/spectrum of the light is not mentioned. Watts, and number of LEDs mean close to nothing


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## CalicoKitties (Apr 25, 2015)

Thanks for the advice, everybody!

I just wasn't sure about the light that's already in the lid because it's just a regular lightbulb. I thought it had to be a certain kind for plants to grow under it.. Plus, if I leave it on for very long, it gets really hot, and that kinda worries me. I don't want it to melt anything.  So I may get one of the other lights that y'all mentioned, and I'll certainly read the thread Daisy linked to


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## loach guy (Jun 2, 2014)

alphabeta said:


> @loach guy - i see. there is not enough tech specs for that light to judge how suitable it is for a planted tank. maybe yes, maybe no. in particular, the color/spectrum of the light is not mentioned. Watts, and number of LEDs mean close to nothing


You're right. However, it's an educated guess. The reviews on the light show people growing higher light plants than what the OP is growing in larger tanks than what the OP has though. Since I can probably get those plants to grow with the ambient light from my phone, I would venture to guess that these plants will do as well as they can in this setup with that light. Sometimes it's OK to go with your gut without getting scientific. This isn't rocket surgery.

The OP is looking for opinions, this happens to be mine, as I would buy this light and use it in this scenario. As a matter of fact, I plan to use this light (2 if need be) on a 5 gallon tank that I plan on doing this fall.


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## alphabeta (Jul 14, 2014)

@CalicoKitties did not realize that your current light is a regular bulb. then yes, go with CFL 6500K and you will be ok. That's the light plants need, without guessing or making educated guesses  btw, most of teh CFL are 2700K, so you do not need them. 
@loach guy  good luck in growing any plants with just the light from you phone


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## loach guy (Jun 2, 2014)

alphabeta said:


> @CalicoKitties did not realize that your current light is a regular bulb. then yes, go with CFL 6500K and you will be ok. That's the light plants need, without guessing or making educated guesses  btw, most of teh CFL are 2700K, so you do not need them.
> 
> @loach guy  good luck in growing any plants with just the light from you phone


I think a CFL is going to turn this tank into an algae magnet unless you hung it from the ceiling. No ferts, no CO2, and 2 out of 3 extremely slow growers does not take up much nutrients. You need low light to keep all of that in balance.

alphabeta, I guess I never took the time to look up how much par a marimo moss ball requires. Please let me know since you know all of the science and calculations on this tank. Thanks in advance!:x

What? doesn't everyone have the 6700K flashlight app for their phone? >


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## alphabeta (Jul 14, 2014)

@loach guy i think a picture is worth a thousand words. 
5lb, no ferts, no CO2, just 1ml a day of glut. Two CFL 13Wt each. About 8 hours of light, 4 on in the morning, off for 4 hours, and and 4 on in the evening. WC once a week, about 50%. 
Do you see any algae, because i do not. Do the plants flourish and grow like crazy? No, they do ok as supposed to do in a low light tank. 

1 bulb 9Wt for that tank sounds to me like low light, if raised 5" above the water. Anyway, eventually, @CalicoKitties will have to try. there is no perfect and exact solution.


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## CalicoKitties (Apr 25, 2015)

I'm a little confused right now: Would this light be adequate for my plants or not? Amazon.com: LEMONBEST® Super Bright 3 Watt Fish Tank Clamp Light 48 LED Water Fish Plant Tank Aquarium Clip Lamp: Home Improvement

Would I need the 48 or the 24 LED one? As far as appearance goes, this light fixture is what I was looking for. But I know little to nothing about what kind of light to get.


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## alphabeta (Jul 14, 2014)

as i said, i would be skeptical, and would go with a solution that works, cfl 6500K. 
looks nice, i agree, but what it actually outputs ... who knows. you can trust those couple of reviews of course. actually only two of them say they use it for planted tanks. one of which is only for couple of weeks. 
you can give it a try, it is just $15, ultimately.

also, a quick search gives this http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/20-diy/756810-am-i-being-cheap-my-light.html


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## loach guy (Jun 2, 2014)

CalicoKitties: Personally, I would go for the 48 LED light to get better spread, and it's only $2 more. If it ends up being too large, then send it back and get the 24 LED.

Alphabeta: I am here to help people, not hijack their threads.


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## klibs (May 1, 2014)

Stick to ultra-low light if those are all the plants you have


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## CalicoKitties (Apr 25, 2015)

Okay so I was at Walmart today and I glanced at the fish section and saw a lightbulb. It's tubular so it fits in my tank's lid, and on the front it said "Aquarium Plant Growth Bulb." So I grabbed it. It's an aqueon bulb. It's an incandescent 15w/120v, but it doesn't list kelvin... I figured it'd be fine since it says it's made specifically for plants, though; do y'all think it'll be fine? If not I can see if I can find a 6700k cfl bulb, but would there be one that'd fit in my tank or would I have to have it in a separate light fixture?


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## bereninga (Mar 18, 2006)

Hm, are you sure it's incandescent? Do you have a link as to what it is exactly? Maybe Google it and link it here.


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## CalicoKitties (Apr 25, 2015)

Ah, I just realized that I said it's an aqueon bulb! My mistake! It's an Aqua Culture bulb. Here's a link to what I got: Aqua Culture Aquarium Plant Growth Bulb, 2ct - Walmart.com


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## bereninga (Mar 18, 2006)

CalicoKitties said:


> Ah, I just realized that I said it's an aqueon bulb! My mistake! It's an Aqua Culture bulb. Here's a link to what I got: Aqua Culture Aquarium Plant Growth Bulb, 2ct - Walmart.com


I've never used those before, but incandescent lamps normally aren't that great for plants.
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080212002337AACSU9x


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## alphabeta (Jul 14, 2014)

usually no. 
why not to go to Home Depot or Menards or whatever home improvement store, and buy 
Feit Electric 150W Equivalent Daylight (6500K) Spiral CFL Light Bulb-ESL40TN/D - The Home Depot 
that will not get that hot as incandescent, at least.


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## sockfish (Jul 11, 2007)

If you can fit a 6500 CFL bulb in the hood, then I'd definitely try that first. They're easy to find at Walmart and cheap. Try it and see what happens. If you get algae, try something else, it's not the end of the world.

Otherwise, I'm setting up a 4 gal at work and am going to try this light. It's a little pricier but good reviews, is a clip on, and has the 6500 spectrum for plant growth:

http://www.amazon.com/Finnex-FugeRay-Aquarium-Moonlights-Cliplight/dp/B00LIL7YPE/ref=sr_1_sc_2?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1444412313&sr=1-2-spell&keywords=finnex+fuge+ray+planted+clip


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