plant lighting minimums

[skiltrip]

Just got a new very large swordplant in my 37 gallon tank. after browsing through the forum, I see lots of information about lighting being about 2-3 watts per gallon! I currently have a 20 watt bulb on my tank. from what i'm reading, my swordplant is a goner if i don't increase lighting.

i was looking around at things i can afford to do to increase lighting, and i came up with a few options...

The All-Glass double striplight. That will let me run 40 watts, and i could possibly use my other single striplight for a total of 60 watts altogether...

The other option is the All-Glass higher output model, which is 55 watts. and again, i could team it up with my current 20 watt light, for a total of 75 watts. although, this model is a little out of my pricerange

what's the minimum i could get away with. would the 40 watt light do ok?

- kip

p.s. I also read that with very higher lighting, you need a CO2 unit or something, and there's no way I want to get that crazy with it.

 

[Guest]

You really need 2 wpg. So get the 55 watt PC and use it. Or go to www.ahsupply.com and check out their retrofit kits.

 

[afFISHionado]

I started out my 29 gallon with an Amazon Sword and only a 20watt bulb. It lived and grew slowly for months, although the leaves got more narrow and became translucent. Then I added 39 more watts (DIM - Did It Myself) using CFL fixtures from Home Depot. From that point onward things changed a bit. I began doing CO2 injection with my new 59 watt lighting setup. In a couple months the leaves got broader and lost their fragile and translucent appearance. The swords, as well as most of my other plants began to thrive like never before. Pruning became part of my monthly maintainence. In short, given that your tank is larger and deeper -using a mere 20 watts may barely sustain them if at all, although it is possible they could adapt somewhat. It wouldn't be as fun or rewarding than if you were to have more light and see them grow like crazy. I would shoot for the 75 watts (at least) and consider some DIY CO2 injection (it's not so crazy - it's easy - just watch your pH carefully when starting out to get an idea of your buffering capacity and adjust as needed) especially if you can get your wattage up to 100 watts or so.