About 40 gallon lighting and co2

[adammak47]

I am going to buy a 40 gallon fish tank 36" x 18" x 16" and cover with a top glass. So my question is if 2x 39W T5 10000K lamp OR 2x 39W T5 6500K lamp give me enough lighting? Would you recommed 10000K or 6500K? 39w x 2 / 40 gallon = 1.95W/gallon. Does 1.95W/Gallon consider low light or medium light for a 16" height tank? Do I need co2 for that?

I am thinking to have a chain sword as a foreground. Do not have idea for the other plant yet.

Thank you in advance.

 

[mfdrookie516]

That would be high-ish light. I have a 40 breeder too, and I have a 2x39w T5HO on it. There's no way I'd do it without co2. I would either do 2x 10,000k or 1x 10,000k and 1x 6500k.

If you're interested, you can read through the link in my signature for my 40 breeder journal. It shows the trip I've taken from a bare tank to full of plants and fish.

 

[Jnam]

I like the second choice of mixed 1 x 10k and 1 by 6.5k
You will get some pop from the greens in your plants from the 10k and the 6.5k is on a better spectrum for growing your plants.
In a 40 CO2 will be helpfull when trying to grow anything quickly. Are you able to start out without water in the tank? As in substrate and plants with the tank not filled?

I did a dry start on my foreground plants and it worked wonders for getting it to really take root before flooding the tank, the best thing here is CO2 is not needed as the plant can pull it from the atmosphere.

Dry start also helps with algea breakouts and cycling the tank. Its like doing a fishless cycle.
What were you thinkking of using for substrate?

 

[adammak47]

I am thinking of using 2 bags of eco completed.

 

[mfdrookie516]

Eco complete is good... you can also get floramax which is pretty much the same thing as eco complete except it doesn't have the 'live bacteria' which makes it twice as expensive. It's made by the same company, and from the website, looks to be the same material.