On Fri, 11 Apr 2003 12:49:22 -0400, "Harry Muscle"
wrote:

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


Well I would use the money you are spending on the substrate heater
and get a CO2 system, or go with compact florescent lights. I would
go with no less than 2 wpg as that's a good number, and what I
consider the bare minimum for good plant growth. You just use the
size of the tank. Unless you want to put lights on the sump also.
Why do you want to stay away from CO2? My CO2 system was the second
best thing I did for my tank. First was the upgrade to AH Supply
kits.


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