How Much Lighting For My Tank?

[frenchie]

I already asked these questions in my journal for the tank but figured they would be better adressed here. Sorry to anyone who has already read these questions.

I am in the process of cycling a new 29gallon tank and should be adding plants hopefully next week. The light that came with the tank is not nearly powerfull enough.

I have eco-complete as a substrate and already have liquid ferts. I would like to avoid co2 if possible but a diy settup is not entirely out of the question.

I originally was looking at a 1x65watt hood but lljdma06 had mentioned that may be a bit much for my settup. Would I be better off getting a new 20watt bulb for the current hood and then adding a 2x18watt hood for 56 total? What range should I be aiming for?

Also on a seperate note, my filter is on one end of the tank. Should I look into a powerhead for the other end and if so what size powerhead?

Thanks in advance,
Frenchie

 

[aaronnorth]

i wouldnt stick with 24w T5 or 48w T8.
Either way you wont need CO2.

Aim for 10x turnover in your tank (1200l/ph)

 

[lljdma06]

i wouldnt stick with 24w T5 or 48w T8.
Either way you wont need CO2.

Aim for 10x turnover in your tank (1200l/ph)

Aaron, the lighting sentence doesn't make any sense. If you saying you would stick with 24W T5 or 48WT8? Then the sentence makes sense. Or maybe I'm reading it wrong. Nope, you definitely have "wouldn't". Frenchie, why don't you just buy the Coralife I told you about in your journal, the 2x18 T5 fixture that is 30 inches. That on top of a glass cover will give you a pretty decent amount of light to grow low-moderate demanding plants and you won't need CO2 either. It would be 36W of T5 all in one setup and it doesn't break the bank. You'll then have a little more T5 power should you decide that you'd like to eventually go with DIY CO2 which is extremely easy to setup. Half of us already have spare equipment.

Yes, at least 10x turnover.

 

[aaronnorth]

i had to re-read my post 5 times over before i spotted the mistake lol.

yes, i meant i would stick with 24w T5 or 48w T8

 

[frenchie]

thanks guys. My filter is supposed to be 320gph but it still kinda seemes like one side of the tank doesn't circulate as much. I'd read in a couple of different threads that dead spots in the tank can lead to algae.

 

[SwordtailLover]

I have a powerhead in my 37 gallon which greatly helps with the circulation. It was relatively cheap too. Good idea if you have the money for it. : )