lighting

Hi yall! I have a question. when i bought my aquarium(a while back now) it came with a sun-glo (hagen) aquarium light. It drives me nuts because it makes my water look yellow. Does anyone have any suggestions on good lighting? i have plants in my aquarium so something that would make my plants grow abit. I also have a tight budget so nothing too expensive..oh my aquarium is 30 gallons thanx!
~Leah~

The lights that try to reproduce the spectrum of the sun tend toward the yellow. Yours could be intended for a marine aquarium. You need some of that light spectrum for a freshwater aquarium, and you need really bright lights for some plants. However, if you buy easy to grow, low light plants you don't need exotic lighting. Check out the aquarium department of WalMart; they have low prices on replacement aquarium light tubes, but the selection is sometimes limited.

If you're going to buy very many aquarium supplies, try one of the on line shops like Drsfostersmith.com. They charge shipping but no tax, and they have information on selecting the right aquarium light. While you're shopping, you may also want to buy a clay based substrate supplement like pure laterite. It makes the water cloudy for up to a couple of weeks, but the aquarium will eventually clear. I tried the stuff after many unsuccessful attempts at growing plants in Phoenix water. After using the substrate supplement and carefully selecting plant varities, I put all of my plastic plants in the garage.

thanks for replying JohnA!Im not looking for expensive lighting I just want lighting that doesnt make my water look yellowish(looks un clean)..ill have a look around and ask. So if laterite makes the water cloudy for a couple of weeks will it be okay for my fish to be in? do you need to rinse the laterite before you put it in? I have sand in my tank so would you put it on top of the sand or under the sand? I also use a aquatic plant fertalizer called PLANT GRO NPK 0.6-0.3-2.4 ...is that sufficiant?(i add it to the water every water change)
thanks
~leah~

If anything, you may be adding too much. If you have excessive algae growth or strange water chemistry, that could be the cause. NPK stands for nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium, which are essential elements for plant growth. Plants also need trace elements like iron (Fe). I've never used Plant Gro in an aquarium and don't want to make any premature judgements. Maybe you could share your experience. Experts on planted tanks add all kinds of supplements, but everything you put into an aquarium will affect water chemistry.

Laterite probably would not be good on a sand substrate, especially if you have fish that like to dig. My own aquariums have gravel bottoms with under gravel filtering. I used to rinse laterite and Flourite, but it seems like I was just wasting the clay particles. I experimented with dumping the stuff in right out of the box. The amount of clay dust that clouded the water was not much different than the amount of dust from rinsed laterite. Most aquariums cleared within a day, but the tank with the epoxy coated black gravel took a month to clear. That's probably because natural gravel is more porous and rougher.

I assumed your light was fluorescent. WalMart does have replacement bulbs at a low price. If you have incandescent lighting, try one of the low wattage compact fluorescent bulbs.