2nd Light Fixture?
Now that I
think I have this planted tank stuff figured out, I feel it's time to upgrade my lighting, (yes, already, lol). I was thinking about simply purchasing another light fixture like the one I have, (only this time I would get the freshwater version). That is if Big Al's will ever get them back in stock! I would hate to purchase from a different source, since I was really impressed w/ Big Al's, but I may need to do that as they're out of both versions.
My plan for the new fixture would be to switch out the Colormax, (pink), bulb w/ the Actinic, (blue), bulb that came w/ the fixture I'm currently using. This would give me (2) 28w 6700k bulbs, (1) 28w 10000k bulb, and (1) Actinic 28w. This would bump me up from 56w to 84w of beneficial light and the Actinic bulb will give the tank a little color to offset the brightness of the bulbs.
Also, before anyone asks, I would have purchased 1 fixture w/ 4 bulbs from the beginning. However, I wasn't sure if a planted tank would work w/ the type of fish that I have in my tank and I didn't want to drop a lot of money into a fixture if I couldn't use it for plants.
For the most part, the plants are doing well, but I do have a few ornery guys in my tank. lol My Pleco, Tony, is being a little monster and knocking my Wisteria out of the gravel, (so I relocated it until it can get a chance to establish roots). Up until today, I thought he was the one nibbling on my plants, but my baby Clown Loach, Leo, was caught in the act. Little stinker!
But aside from a few nibbles and wiggles from my fish, it seems that having plants in there is going to work and another $40 fixture is within my budget.
I guess what I'm looking for is some advice on my lighting plan. Would 84w be sufficient enough in order to introduce Medium light plants? I only plan on adding a few more plants to my tank, (mainly foreground plants), and I'm hoping that by adding an additional 28w will give me more options.
TIA!