Betta and lighting

[extremenewb]

Hi,

I'm in the process of transferring my betta from his 2g hex to a 5g square tank. I just have a few ques concerning this:

1. I'm thinking of changing the gravel substrate to sand (more specifically, pool filter sand). Is this substrate ok for the betta?

2. I'm a bit concerned about lighting. I remember my betta before that was very anti-light and used to try and hide from the light. I was just thinking, would there be a colour tint that would not affect the betta so much? (eg blue, red?)

Btw, no real light/substrate requirement for plants as I am using plastics and java moss.

Cheers.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Sand will be fine with the Betta.

I used red and blue on my Betta rank and he seemed to like the Red better. Not sure why. But I think it had to do with the fact that it was a very low wattage. I had a 7 Watt Red Bulb on a 5 gal tank. It looked really cool. I only changed the bulb because I'm going to start growing plants.

 

[Meredith]

I have seen little betta bowls that have little lights that clip on the side. Perhaps this would be the way to go. This way you could angle the light up so it not shining directly into the tank.

 

[An t-iasg]

If you don't have any plants in this tank, except java moss, you could just use the ambient room light. Java moss is pretty much indestructable and doesn't need any special light. Room light will be fine, unless it's a very dark room.

I had a 9 and a 10 watt light over a 5 gallon tank with a betta. He did seem to stay at the bottom of the tank, trying to get away from the light. I then put a 7 watt, 5000K bulb in the hood, and the betta was fine in that light, and swam all over the tank.

 

[extremenewb]

Thanks for the responses guys.

FYI, the aquarium I'm getting comes with a light in the hood, so actually finding the light ballast isn't the question. I'm just thinking of putting a bulb with another tint in, if possible.

I don't really want to use ambient light because I can't see him properly. And with the new tank, since it has a coloured hood, so there would be less light I think entering the tank (ie its bad enough now - I use room light atm)

Also, is there a problem with putting a lower voltage bulb in a socket designed for a higher voltage bulb (eg 8W bulb in a 10W socket)?

Thanks

 

[AquaJoe]

Numero uno, do not put a bulb in a ballast that is not meant to run it! You could damage your equipment and get severely electrocuted! All ballasts (with the exception of digital HID ballasts) may operate only specific bulbs. Some ballasts are compatable with more then one wattage of bulb. This information should be found somewhere on the ballast it's self. If it does not specifically say it is safe to use with bulbs of a higher/lower wattage then what came with it then stick with THAT bulb or equivalent. If all else fails you may want to try going LED. I know you can get LED kits on EBay for under 20 bucks and from what I can tell, they do a good job of lighting the tank yet are not intense what so ever.

I currently have one male and two female Bettas living in my 20GAL tank which is illuminated by a florescent hood. They all seem to love it and have absolutely no problem with the light. Are you sure your tank isn't too warm/cold?

Hope that helps.

Joe