Lighting questions?!

[Danf310]

Ok so I have been TRYING to figure out and understand how lighting works with aquatic plants. I have done extensive research and everybody has different and contradicting things to say. I just want to know what kind of lighting I have (high, medium, low etc.) and what are my options plant wise.

Currently I have a 20 gallon tall with two 18" strip bulbs, these are their specifications:

Lumens = 675
Watts = 15
Kelvin = 9325 degrees

Right now I have wisteria in the tank, as well as Anacharis, El nino fern, java fern and moss, a dwarf lily, and Christmas moss. I dose with flourish excel every week and unfortunately I have no co2 yet.. =/

I have been thinking of getting carpeting plants, is my light source sufficient enough if I were to install a co2 system?

 

[CorallineAlgae]

You're tank is low light but still ok for growing plants. I'd get bulbs that are in the 5500-6700K spectrum next time you need to replace them.

Carpeting plants will be hard to grow with those lights. If you can get a light fixture that uses two regular screw-in type bulbs and fit in some 20w+ CFLs and get a co2 setup you will be better equipped to grow a nice ground cover.