How many watts do i need?

[stephens0813]

I am looking at starting plants in my tank that require a medium high light. I found a fixture that puts out 48 watts. That would be 1.8 watts per gallon. I have a 26 bowfront. Would this be enough or would i need more?

Here is the link to the fixture i found.

Odyssea T5 High Output Lighting

[mfdrookie516]

That would be sufficient... But the fixture itself isn't the best from what I've read. The fixture itself looks cheap and the reviews I've read about odyssea fixtures are not good. I really like my fishneedit fixtures. Here's where you can see them: 2F/2Bulbs fixtures

[adadkins1]

I would think that would be great lighting for the majority of medium light plants, but at the bottom end of the spectrum for higher light plants. Just my opinion, but the only way to know for sure is to go for it.

[stephens0813]

Ok thank you for that link. It looks really nice. I was looking at dwarf hairgrass for a carpet type of look. Now I just need to talk the wife into getting the light (which hopefully won't be hard since she got her tiger barbs :p)

[mfdrookie516]

You'd be stretching it for any carpet. Are you going to inject co2? The majority of carpet plants require high light and co2 to actually carpet. DHG is a higher light plant from everything I've read, though I haven't gotten any yet...

[stephens0813]

I would be injecting co2 yes. So how many watts would be considered high lighting?

I looked at the link posted earlier and I found the same type but it has four bulbs instead that would be 96 watts. That should definitely be enough right? I'm just worried is there such a thing as too much light, and how could I figure out how long to leave the lights on?

[BigJim]

If you want to go to a high-light tank, look for a 4x24W T5HO fixture. You can tune the light level a bit by replacing 6700K bulbs with actinic bulbs.

[stephens0813]

If there such a thing as to much light? I want medium high light plants and some low light plants so if my tank is rated at a high light would it make low light plants grow faster or just flat out die?

[BigJim]

I've found java fern grows better in a low-light tank than it does in a high-light tank. Some plants grow bushier in lower light, others grow bushier in higher light. I don't know of any plants that would die in a high-light tank just because of the light levels.

[stephens0813]

O ok thanks