Lighting

[Regen311]

If I wanted to upgrade my lighting in my tank for the possibility of plants, do I have to get a new aquarium cover? When I bought the aquarium, the woman told me not to go over a certain watt bulb (although I was so new to fish-keeping at the time, it went right over my head) because it might melt the plastic? Do any of you knwo anything about that?

[JohnPaul]

Whether you need a new cover depends upon what cover you have right now, which we currently don't know (unless someone here is psychic). 8O

Seriously, if you could give us your tank size, what your current lighting is, etc. we can help a lot more. If you have a stardard starter-kit type of tank, with a single fluorescent bulb, then more lighting is going to mean a new top and a new housing for whatever kind of light bulb(s) you are going to expand to.

[Regen311]

Yeah, it's just the starter kit. I'll just skip the plants then It seems expensive to buy a new hood.

[penpitt]

All you need to buy is a glass cover. They are fairly inexpensive, depending on the size of your tank. Even if you dont upgrade your lighting a glass hood will transmit the light better then a plastic one and are easier to clean.