plants and lighting

[sushi]

Hello. My post I wrote about my plants dying got heaps of responses. Thankyou.
I'm going to eventually get the little pebbles that are in my 5 gallon, but in the mean time....
My light contraption..... Can I put a light bulb in it that is more than 20w? Does it matter or would I need to buy a whole new thingy. I don't know much about lighting etc. I can see everything, and I originally thought that was all that mattered. Whoopsy.
So can I put in a sronger bulb? Will it say on the light holder thingy (I dont know what you call it) or do I have to ask someone?
Does anyone know. I want my plants to grow. They're getting expensive.
Also. How do I put Co2 in the tank? Is there little blocks or something, or a machine or pump or what.

 

[Lateral Line]

Assuming you have a fluorescent lamp, the ballast/starter unit is matched to the Wattage of the lamp, so putting a higher Wattage lamp in, (if you could find one the same size), is unlikely to work, the starter will not be powerful enough to flash the lamp reliably.

There are several ways of adding CO2, but unless you get your light levels up, it won't really do you any good. In this thread, myself and a few others chat about cheap and easy DIY CO2 systems. If you search the board, you'll find others as well.

 

[digital_run]

I tried putting 40 watt bulbs in my cheap little 10 gal. hood...there only suspose to be 20 wat....it worked....but got damn hot ...i wouldnt recommend it