Lighting for 3 gallon bowl???

[schpanky]

I was wondering if you guys have any advice for lighting for a 3 gallon betta bowl? I'd like it to be something pretty, maybe some sort of stand/light. I'd like to treat the little guy to some real plants.

Is 3 gal too small for him? He seems so happy and energetic. I don't have heat on it, but it never goes below 70. The filter is tiny. I've never seen one so small. Could this be problematic? What do you guys do?

 

[Mebbid]

Bettas need temperatures around the 78 - 82 degree range so it definitely needs a heater. The filter is less worrisome.

Are you looking at easy to grow low light plants? Or are you interested in more demanding higher light plants? This will determine what light fixture you should look for.

 

[Fishperson]

A simple 9 or 13 watt 6500k CFL (compact fluorescent) attached to a cheap department store desk lamp should suffice.

Ditto to mebbid; want kinds of plants do you want? Really, how in depth are you willing to go with fertilization, substrate, and CO2?

 

[schpanky]

Sorry it took so long for me to reply. I would like to do low light plants, something simple, actually I just want to start trimming back my big tank and using those plants. Everything I have is easy and mostly low light.

Now that I'm thinking about it, I may use another bowl (that I have) and no fish, just plants, maybe some snails or something.

Would that 9 or 13 watt 6500k CLF do well? Would it be too strong? With my big tank I'm using Metricide for C02.

So would I need a filter and heater if no fish (just a pretty plant bowl), and should I use the metricide? Have you guys done anything similar?

 

[Bradley1]

I lit up my betta bowl by making a round cover for it out of plexiglass. Then I found a small, used 7W Marina "Small Pals" light fixture online. After, I simply glued the light to the plexiglass and turned it on Could work nicely for some low light plants and it sure highlights the colours of the betta nicely

 

[Fishperson]

I'm not sure if it would be too strong; it depends on the height of the bowl. If you want low light a 9w would almost certainly be a better choice because I doubt the bowl is very tall or wide (if it were wide you'd have to raise the light to get better spread, but I don't think you will).

On this TPT post they mention CFL par values: Lighting an Aquarium with PAR instead of Watts - Page 6 - The Planted Tank Forum