New 90 gallon ...lighting advice?

[happygirl65]

Hello all!
Well I have a question for you! I have a new 90 gallon tank on the way and I am thinking fully planted. I am hoping that I could switch all of the lights and CO2 from my other two tanks onto this one so....

If I did that the lights would be
2 x 65w power compact (currently 50/50 but will upgrade to 10,000k)
1X 96 w power compact 10,000 k

What do you think? This would give me 206 w of light with pc bulbs. Would this put me in the Med or med high light category? I am not sure what the calculation is for pc bulbs.

I am also thinking of using eco complete or the plant substrate from aquariumplants.com

 

[Purrbox]

That amount of light would probably put your aquarium somewhere between medium and medium high light. Only time will tell which it's going to act more like. Either way that's a nice amount of light for the aquarium.

 

[JustOneMore20]

I would also say that this is more medium light....especially with the tank being so tall. IME taller tanks require more wattage.

Since you have pressurized CO2, I'd add in 2 more 65w bulbs if you can fit them over the tank. IMO thats the way I'd go. Or I'd atleast have 260w (65x4).

 

[happygirl65]

I have my eye on a 4x 65w fixture. I am going to wait until I add the CO2 but I am wondering if one would have all 4 lights come on at once....or two each in series for different times of the day?

Or does it matter?

 

[Glenc]

In my tank I have the lights come on an hour apart, run them full all day, then they go off an hour apart. I do this mainly not to startle the fish at start up and shut down. I run a 10 hour period, however, I am running alot of light these days. Usually I run a 12 hour duration.

If you find you are having algea issues running all 4 lights at once, try running 2 of the lights for the first part of your time duration, have the other two bulbs kick on for 3 or 4 hours in the middle to simulate mid day sun, then have two of them them kick off for the rest of your lighting time period. Watch your tank and see how the plants react. They will tell you which is best. Good luck

 

[happygirl65]

That sounds like a good plan. I guess like everything else in the aquarium world...you just have to try stuff and see what works huh? Thanks for sharing your expertise! I like that plan.

 

[Glenc]

You got it happygirl65, advice is great and will give you some great guidelines to follow, but everyone's main tank ingredient, water, can be very different. Two people doing exactly the same thing in two different parts of the country an get very different results based on the chemical make up of the water they use. Get advice, try it out and see what works for you in your tank, the plants will tell you if your on the right track.Then post your results here so we all learn!