major lighting confusion

[vrmmmpshhh]

hey guys, i have had my 51G (200litre) tank up and running for about 2 months now and everythign is perfect, i am up the the stage where i want my plants to grow as fast as possible, i have done the DIY CO2 with 2 2litre bottles and that is running into the internal filter where the impellor disperses it as hundreds of tiny little bubbles.

Now my problem is with lighting, the light that came with the tank is a 32" gro-lux 36W fluorescent, i know that is no where near enough but when i went shopping today even the specialist aquarium shops only had a 30w light which i dont thikn will be enough.

i have had enough with suggesitons so could someone TELL me what to do

sorry for the long post just want it perfect before the plants start dying

 

[cichlidmaster]

Moved to "How does your garden grow"

May get more replies here since it is plant oriented!!

CM

 

[Rose]

Here's the deal you need to find "compact florescent" lights. They will either be on line or at the LPS. They will be a bit spendy but they well worth the money.
As for bulbs you will have to figure that out for yourself. What works for my tanks won't nessisarily work for your tank. I do have 50/50 bulbs in my CF lights. If you want me to I'll post a couple of artilces up for ya from Karen Randal who is one of my heros in the plant world. Rose

 

[vrmmmpshhh]

wow yes please, compact flurescents are the lights that are kinda looped arent they? i was hoping for around 3watts/gallon or about 160 watts

 

[vrmmmpshhh]

ok today i went to the hardware store and the highest compact lighting that they had was 40 watts, another question i have is that the product claims that 40watts flurescent is similar to 100watts halogen, do i still use the 40watts.

will somethign like this work
the 36watt gro-lux and 2 of 40 watt compacts
that would be just over 2watts a gallon

3x40 watt compacts would be 3 watts /gallon but then id go broke with the electricity cost, power cost just rose 23% here in australia

 

[Rose]

Everything you ever wanted to know about plants and more HERE

Karen Randal- My planted tank hero. You will find just about everything under the sun here from her. Everything from lighting, plant species, filtration.....

Happy reading