which light to get ...

[dertyharry420]

i have a 31 gallon tall tank and its 30" wide so theres either a 65wx1 or the 65wx2 so im looking at either 2.09 wpg to 4.1 wpg i would like to try the 4.1 but what would i need to do to make that work..? i have regular blue substrate...so i would prolly use plant tabs and liquid nutr. im not sure what do buy help...i want to plant it moderately

 

[malkore]

You'd absolutely have to inject CO2 at 4wpg. even at 2wpg, CO2 is going to benefit the plants in a big way and help control algae.

At 4wpg I'd also ditch the blue gravel and use Eco Complete, or Flourite...whichever you like the looks of more.

 

[dertyharry420]

see thats ibe problem i dont want to ditch the gravel cause i like the look and cause it would be a hassle....si might just do the 2wpg but what kinda co2 to use just the hagen ..? im not much of a diy person.

 

[travis simonson]

It sounds like you're not quite ready for a full-on super-high-light tank so I would recommend the single 65w fixture. If you think you might want to try 4 wpg later on I would recommend that you buy the double 65w fixture but only run a single bulb in it until you get the hang of things. High light is best approached gradually and, as Malkore says, with plenty of CO2

 

[cplawrence]

I'm glad you mentioned that Travis. I had been looking at upgrading the lighting on my 29 gal for a while, but I had been going back and forth on whether I wanted to do 1x65 or 2x65. As such, I hated to spend the money on 1x65 only to buy another fixture later. Is that fairly standard that the fixture will function with only one bulb?

 

[rich311k]

Mine has two switches. So no problem at all.

 

[workfortheman]

Great advice all around. At 2 wpg, you could spruce up that substrate with fourish tabs [ http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=4867&N=2004+113222], or some other substrate fertilizer.

Also, I would definitely say that CO2 will benefit you at 2wpg. It might sound like a pain, but DIY CO2 is kinda fun to construct, and very satisfying when you see the results. Once you decide to go to 4wpg, then you could invest in HP injection.

HTH

 

[cplawrence]

Mine has two switches. So no problem at all.

OK--I looked more closely at the lights sold on Big Al's and they have multiple switches and/or cords. It just never occured to me that that would be the case. Excellent!