Lighting

[Jae1525]

Hello!!!

I am planting my tank which is mid fishless cycle and am wondering how much lighting I require to support my plants?

I currently have 1 aquaglo 42" 42 watt bulb in there. and my tank dimensions are:
48" long 15" wide and 17" deep.

Do I need another lighting unit?
I plan to have a medium planted tank.. not to many but enough to provide sufficient cover for the shyer fish.

Edit: My substrait it aprox 1inch deep sand and I currently have 12 plants of varied sizes.. mainly quite tall ones.

Thank you.

 

[Bangin]

You'll need more lighting for medium-high light plants. From the dimensions you've given, I'd say you have about (less than) 1 watt per gallon. That won't be enough for most plants.

Are the 12 plants currently growing well for you?

 

[Jae1525]

I just put them in about 2 hours ago!

I was considering another lighting unit for my canopy anyways cos I thought the aquarium looked a bit dim.
How many watts per galon is acceptable?

Thanks for your help Bangin.

 

[Bangin]

The general rule seems to be 2-3 watts per gallon will give you medium lighting. Three+ wpg is considered high lighting. What types of plants are in your tank?

 

[Jae1525]

Ahhhh ) Green ones and 2 reddish green ones.

I'm no expert with plants at all!!
I just chose the one that looked small, medium and large in size.

I'm such a plant amature!!

 

[Jae1525]

I'm thinkin that my tank is about 40gal after displacement so another light of 40w shud bring it up 2 2wpg?

 

[Bangin]

Yes, that upgrade will definitely benefit the plants.

 

[Colin_BC]

A general rule of thumb is any plants with red in them are high demanding. Most red plants require 2-3WPG or more. I've seen someone else here mention getting a canopy online that was 2x96W Fluoro's for a similar size tank. With a light setup like that, light will be no issue. At that point, CO2 would be a great addition. If you could find an extra 2x40W and fit all 3 on your tank, you'd be set for most any plant as well.

If you can identify your plants from their pictures, try looking at the picture index at Birstall.com or here at Tropica.com. Both those links will take you straight to the picture index.

Colin

 

[yhbae]

At what point do you suggest to add CO2? Does 2w/g light warrant extra CO2 injection?