55gallon Proper Lighting

[Thomas Autry]

Hi. I'm new to this community. I have some questions that I hope can be answered. First I will tell a little about my tank. It's a 55gallon tall, came with hood with one (1) bulb fixture (paid $50 for it and just sanded and reinforced the stand with custom shelving) I'm just starting the cycling. Have two heaters for 300 watt total a Marineland Bio Filter 350, a power head for circulation. For substrate I used black sand topped with eco-complete brown-red gravel. Have pygmy chainswords, banana plants ludwigia and a fern, also a couple pieces of mopani with java moss tired to it. Having a hood with only 1 bulb fixture I put in a Aqueon 36" daylight 6.7k plant bulb. Would the lighting suffice? I also plan to add dwarf baby treats and some lava rocks. Any suggestions is welcome. Thanks.. I am also going to make a DIY co2 system using a paintball tank

 

[Xoakie]

I'm running a very similar setup to you, but I picked up a dual t5ho 48". I think I spent about $65-$70 for it. The bran I use is "Odessa".

I would suggest more lighting than u currently have for baby tears. I have not grown these but everything I read about them they may need more light than you currently have. And as far as the co2, unless you add more light, it isn't necessary in your current setup.

You will be adding more fuel to the tank with out enough engine to burn it up leaving a lot of excess fuel for algae outbreaks.