Starfish wrote:
ok...with metal hallide, how strong?

Honestly, I've never tried to light a tank that big. Wish I had the
space or money to try. *grin* Hopefully someone else who has actual
experience will answer. My best guess from reading around is 2 175 watt
bulbs spaced about 3 feet apart. MH lighting is pricey, but very
beautiful. You get the most amazing sunlight ripples in the tank.

If you're handy, here's an a very cool lighting effect for a 200g tank.
http://www.thecichlidgallery.com/mynewstuff_02.htm The 4 bulbs pictured
seems too low to me, but if you did something similar with 1-2 watts per
gallon of compact fluorescent or VHO lighting you could grow mid light
plants.

But hopefully someone who actually has a 200g planted tank will come to
my rescue...hint, hint!

Another thing - if you go to planted tank style light, you're going to
need more plants than just background ones to soak up nutrients.
Othewise you'll be cleaning algae nonstop. Even easy plants like java
moss, hornwort or anacharis will do the trick and your goldies will
appreciate the snack.


"Elaine T" wrote in message
t...

Starfish wrote:

At the moment, the temp is sitting on23 degrees c and i have 1 4ft
sylvania growlux 36w light. tank is 72"x24"x28"

Honestly, go for plastic or silk plans. Temps are fine, but you have
nowhere near the light for aquatic plants. They'll just turn brown and
melt.

The general rule of thumb for planted tanks is 1-2 watts of fluorescent
light per gallon - five 40 watt tubes would be the bare minimum for your
tank. If I had tank that size, I'd actually use a metal halide pendant.
Plus, with a deep tank like yours, 1 watt per gallon would only grow low
light plants because the light can't get to the bottom very well.

--
__ Elaine T __
__' http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__




--
__ Elaine T __
__' http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__