|| I'm gonna be modifying my All Glass hood soon to get more lighting
|| for my new 55G tank. I'm hoping to achieve a tank that gives me ok
|| growth (ie: trim once a month or two). One that won't require CO2
|| (although I will be using Flourish Excel). I have fertilizers on
|| hand, so I don't mind using those, but I would like to have some
|| room for error since this will be my first planted tank. I don't
|| mind sticking with low/medium light plants if this means I get a low
|| maintenance tank that doesn't require hours of work/testing/trimming
|| every week.
||
|| So the question is ... is 1.6wpg enough for such a tank? Having
|| only 1.6wpg would allow me to stick with a cheaper T8 lighting
|| system instead of going with T5 or compacts in order to fit
|| everything in the All Glass hood. Btw, a fully DIY hood is not an
|| option unfortunately.
||
|| Thanks,
|| Harry

I wouldn't see a problem if it wasn't a 18" deep tank from top to bottom...
My buddy has been 'experimenting' with plants in his 55g, and everything
8-10" from top looks great, but the lower halfs look rough... the java fern
on the bottom is going good, the anubias are looking ok with some algae
around the edges of the leaves...

I do 1.5wpg in a 10g and it's great... but in my 18" high 29g, I had to go
with PCFs to penetrate to the bottom... and with 65W over a 29, I'm getting
2.24WPG...

I'd say you can pull it off..... just pick the right plants and you'll be ok

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