The bin is maybe a 8 gallon or so i only put 6 gallons of water in it though. LOL the light our first light was a good year tire shop decorotive sign that had a flouresnt tube in it. It worked good to get them this far and then we just went out to wal mart last night and picked up some new lights the bulb says its a plant light i am not sure if it is really what they need but over night there was a huge change in the gods gift. i will take pics and post them at some point today.