Is 96 watts too much without CO2?

[jm667]

I have been looking for some kind of lighting for my 50 gallon tank that is 36" long to put inside of a canopy or set on top of the glass top and build a canopy over. I came across this fixture 96 Watt Bright Kits
and that is a good price and I could mount that to the underside of the canopy. It would probably only be a couple inches above the top of the glass top so I don't know if that would get too hot, and also if that is too much light to not have CO2. What do you guys think?

 

[Purrbox]

You should be fine without CO2 since you're sticking under 2 WPG.

 

[fort384]

If it gets too hot, you can retro fit an AC powered computer fan into your hood to blow across the surface. These fans are cheap at radio shack (less than 10 bucks) and really make a big difference.

While CO2 is not required for this tank, you may seem some really large benefits from deciding to add it with the amount of light you are looking at. What kind of plants do you intend to put in the tank?

 

[jm667]

I haven't really decided what kinds of plants, but I was thinking something that is not too difficult to grow. Low or medium light plants are probably fine, but I am just thinking since the 30 watt fixture that came with the tank is not going to be enough for anything to grow probably, I'd rather get a fixture like this than spending a bunch on something that I can't put a canopy over.