Compact Florescent lighting for FW tank?

[ReefRaff]

I am redoing my 36 (I think) gallon tank. 36L X 12D X 20H. And I wanted to get some nice lights for it. I was looking at the Orbits and they seem Like nice lights, but pricey. I am also considering the corlife ones, and wondered if a 1X96W light would be good, Or should I get the 2 X96W? I don't know If in a Fw tank you would want to offset the lights like in a [acronym:cc50624f8e="Saltwater"]SW[/acronym:cc50624f8e] tank. i.e [acronym:cc50624f8e="Actinic lighting"]03[/acronym:cc50624f8e]'s first then Day lights hr later. If thats the way to do it then fine i'll get the dual, but 87 bucks sounds better than 176. with all that being said, I wasn't planning on a planted tank, but you know how that kind of thing goes.

[Jchillin]

Hey Tim...good to see you are interested. Fact is, with the wattage you are thinking of getting, it would put you at 2.6 [acronym:6b251c6d71="Watts Per Gallon"]wpg[/acronym:6b251c6d71]. This in [acronym:6b251c6d71="Freshwater"]FW[/acronym:6b251c6d71] is algae growing numbers.

So, if you have a couple of options:

1. If you want to do planted, the wattage is great but you would need to inject [acronym:6b251c6d71="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:6b251c6d71]. You could reduce the wattage to under 2wpg and do low-light low-maint.
2. Don't want plants? You can reduce the light even further, even under 1 [acronym:6b251c6d71="Watts Per Gallon"]wpg[/acronym:6b251c6d71].
3. The [acronym:6b251c6d71="Actinic lighting"]03[/acronym:6b251c6d71] bulbs are a personal choice. Depends on your tastes and the coloration of your livestock. ie: Most African and SA cichlids look marvelous under [acronym:6b251c6d71="Actinic lighting"]03[/acronym:6b251c6d71]. Some other species may not.

[acronym:6b251c6d71="Hope this helps (or) Happy to help"]HTH[/acronym:6b251c6d71]

[ReefRaff]

So just 1X96 W would be enough for a planted tank. Ok so If i did decide to do a planted tank, besides the co2 (which Im sure is a pretty penny) what else will i need. how do you plant a tank? do you use something other than gravel for the bottom? let's say a chicled tank. w/lots of rocks and slate. can I like morter rock piles to gether with something for the plants to grow out of? if that makes any sence

sorry for the stupid Q's. but a planted tank sounds intruiging.

[Hara]

I was actually looking at the t-5 freshwater unit that aquatraders has. It will be narrow enough to use two units, which will still be cheaper than the [acronym:9c9c9da520="Power compact fluorescent"]PC[/acronym:9c9c9da520] lighting

http://www.aquatraders.com/index.asp...PROD&ProdID=17

each unit being 42 watts...34.90 on sale right now.

[Apocalypse_Gold]

Plants will grow in normal gravel, but heavy root-feeders will require substrate fertilization. CaribSea Eco-complete is a popular substrate that will support root-feeders. They also make an African cichlid Eco-complete that buffers up the pH, but it doesn't claim to be for plants. Sand is popular too-Tahitian Moon, onyx & pool filter sand being a few of the most popular. The next issue is fertilization. There are plenty of threads about that with seachem Flourish and gregwatson.com's CSM+B the leaders. Certain plants will require higher levels of some nutrients.

[ReefRaff]

Do you think the t5's will be ok?

[Blazeherd2306]

If you just have one T5 like Hara showed, that would give you 1.13 [acronym:3964bcb4e3="Watts Per Gallon"]wpg[/acronym:3964bcb4e3] (42 watts divided by 37 gallons), which is good for low light plants and would not give you many problems with algae.

[Jchillin]

Great to hear your interested in planted tanks. Take a look here for some factoids on planted tanks.

For some idea of what a low-light planted tank can look like, take a look at my clicky's.

[ReefRaff]

http://www.championlighting.com/prod...cat=349&page=1

What about that for [acronym:52c8c9cff1="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:52c8c9cff1] injection? I can get a bottle of [acronym:52c8c9cff1="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:52c8c9cff1] at the welding house right?

[Jchillin]

Yes, but you will need a little more than those two items. Take a look [acronym:5ef03b22ba="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:5ef03b22ba] system