Lighting Question

[sputnick]

well now that my tank has been cycled and my fish have been living happily for a few months now.. I need to worry about my lgihting.Im not happy with my lighting at all. I just have a single 20in t8 bulb that came with the tank. (i THINK, i really haven't looked at it or measured it yet.) My tank is 36"x12"x24". LxWxH. It just doesnt satisfy me with lighting up my entire aquarium (it just doesn't light up my cichlids like i want and the edges of the tank are pretty dark) and im wondering if i just need to replace the bulb or if i should just get a different lighting unit. If i replaced the unit i would hav to wait till the end of the month or more. I've been looking at LED lighting units because i like the night time lights but im wondering if it would be worth the money? Sould i buy a new bulb until i can buy a new unit? if so which bulb should i look into? Can anyone help?

 

[CezzaXV]

While it's true you can get different bulbs to achieve different lighting effects, your lighting unit will only support a bulb up to a certain wattage. If you feel your light isn't bright enough, I'd recommend going for a new lighting unit.

If you've got cichlids I'm guessing you've got lots of rocks and not many plants, so the good news is you don't NEED a light, you can just go with whatever you like the look of.

 

[sputnick]

I have a few plants and some rocks but most of the space is tanken up by my log (weird set up with cichlids, i know) and i plan on planting it further. They dont really dig up my plants at all. Thanks for your help im going to plan on picking up a marineland or aqueon led lighting unit.