Lighting Issues

[BIGE4508]

I just recently bought a 56 gallon column tank from petsmart. I have a few live plants in there such as cobumba, ludwigia, jungle vines, crypts, and some grass looking plants. I also bought a light fixture to upgrade form the stock lighting which comes with one 6,700k T5 18 watt bulb and one T5 18 watt colormax bulb. I want to upgrade the lighting and I'm looking for the best possible results for my plants. My question is should I just buy another fixture with the same bulbs or should I get another fixture entirely? The fixture I have now just sits right on top of the glass top that came with the tank. Also, my fish are 4 fancy phantom tetras, 6 pristella tetras, 3 lemon tetras, 1 high fin blue ram, 1 yo yo loach, 2 cory cats (the ones that stay small). the dimmensions of my tank. It's 30" W x 18" D x 24" H

 

[Fdsh5]

The depth of the tank is what's going to get you. I have a 56 column tank and I have a 24x4 t5ho light on it. I had rotala and it would not grow on the bottom just on the top. Low and some medium plants will do great with the light set up. I have a Madagascar lace fern which needs medium light and I just had to trim it back. I seriously had leaves that were 30 inches long. If you don't upgrade the light only low light plants will grow slowly for you. Maybe somebody else has other experiences but that's my two cents.



After the trimming notice the lace fern growing in the back