I'm trying to determine how much lighting to install over my upcoming tank.
It's a 37G tank (50G of water volume because it's hooked up to a sump). I'm
hoping to plant it heavily with plants in the "easy to grow" category (ie:
vals, java fern, etc.). My substrate will be flourite and I'm gonna install
undergravel heating cables. I'm hoping to stay away from CO2, but I'll
probably use Flourish Excel on a basis for the carbon and Flourish
for other nutrients. The only thing I still have to figure out is
how much wat of flourescent lighting to install.

I'm gonna use 2 foot bulbs which would be 20Watts each. How many should I
go with? Do I use the size of the tank (37G) or the total water volume
(tank+sump=50G) to figure out the light ratio? I'm guessing just the tank
size, so 37G. If I go with 2 bulbs I would have 40W, which would give me
1.08 wpg. I'm guessing that's too limiting? If I go with three bulbs I
would have 60W or 1.62 wpg. Is that too much for a non CO2 tank? With four
bulbs, I'd be at 2.16 wpg, which I'm thinking is definately too much for no
CO2. However, I might very easily be wrong on my assumptions on how much
light should go into a tank like mine, so if anyone could give me some
feedback on what options to go with that would be great.

Thanks,
Harry




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