Light making tank to hot

[neenjar]

Is the bulb incandescent? If so replace it with a compact fluorescent. they throw off almost no heat and have much whiter light.

[dr2b]

Well I haven't been to timely on the lighting schedule. I was turning it on 7-7:30 am till when I got home in the evening at 8 or 9. So I am def. going to shorten it. So should I do 7 hours or 9 hours?

[dukie1346]

Either one would be fine.

[dr2b]

The light bulb is a Tubular Incadescent lamp. It says it will also accommodate a 11 Watt maximum compact Fluorescent lamp. So I will have to go get that. Thanks Neejar I never even noticed that it had that in the millions of papers that came with the tank.

[neenjar]

incandescant is causing the heat issue. you can get a 10 watt CF lamp at target for about $5 and run a full 12 hours light :) get the one that says "daylight" spectrum!

[dr2b]

Do you think getting this type of lightbulb will help with the algae issue too? I'm not the most educated when it comes to this aspect of fish keeping.

[neenjar]

no it will not help with algae. you need algae eaters or boil the decorations from time to time.

[Angelmonster]

I have this tank in my bedroom and I have the saame exact "problem", which in my opinion is a plus for the tank! Fist off it isn't just the light but the motor for the filter, it gets really hot too. Make sur eyou have enough water to cover the outside of the motor. Both work as a heater for me in the summer.

I would not put the light on during the way, I would wait til the sun starts to set to turn it on unless your house stays in the 70s with central air. All summer long I do not use the heater unless it is dropping to the 60s at night, then I turn the heater on or just leave the light on. I think this is a great tank partly because of the light and filter creating so much heat=less energy the heater eats up

edit: As for Algae just use this stuff. Algae eaters will do you more harm then good in that tank(you would have to get a snail because of the size and their bio waste will cloud the tank up too fast >_<

[dr2b]

I used to have a snail, but he died. I never saw a lick of algae anywhere when the snail lived. I thought I starved him to death, but now I am thinking otherwise. I am wondering if I should get another snail...Flair is so content alone. I was avoiding getting a corey cat - especially in a 5 gallon tank. I do think part of the algae problem was the length of time I left the light on though.

[dr2b]

I did think of doing the light at night. I was afraid of messing up a day/night cycle for my betta by doing that though. But I just hate to have the light on when no body is home and then when we get home have the light off...it's no fun having fish if you can't see them when you are home. That is a good idea - light off during the day and light on in the evening...