How would you rate my lighting?

[Tacit Blues]

I have a 45 gallon tank with a 36" Finnex Planted+ that's sitting on the glass lid about 20" above the top of the substrate. I know that Finnex hasn't released real data on the Planted+, so I was wondering what you guys with more experience in planted tanks think this would qualify me for. I was trying to go for a low-ish medium lit tank, no CO2. And just so you know, the Anacharis and Bacopa both seem to be growing well, though the Bacopa is staying a pretty light green. Got some more plants on order that should be here by the end of the week, some Italian Val, dwarf sag and micro chain sword (just a small amount of both to try them out), and an Anubia nana.

 

[Tacit Blues]

Adding on to this another question--I currently have my lights set to run for about 3 hours in the morning and 4 hours in the evening, to keep the tank lit while I'm there looking at it but not when I'm gone. I've read that the photoperiod of plants and algae is different so a schedule like this is also helpful for algae control, but I don't know if there's any truth to that, and was wondering about getting some sort of low intensity light to run in the middle of the day so the fish aren't going through some sore of weird and unnatural two day a day light cycle... but then, I don't know if there's any truth to that idea, either.

 

[azmodan]

The Planted+ seems to be on the slightly weaker side of the Ray2, so par values should be at least comparable (just subtract a bit). I think it should work very well for what your goals are but I'd be sure to dose the appropriate amount of ferts and a pretty ample amount of daily Excel/glut. Excel will melt a few types of plants (such as Vals) but it's extremely useful and necessary for most other plants. Sounds like you got the planting under control but just in case I'd advise to plant pretty heavily right from the start if you can.


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