Suggestions For Lighting A 90 G With No Co2 Addition

[Rudy00]

Hey

Im in the process of setting up a 90 gallon congo river biotope tank and i was wondering what type of lighting i should go with to grow some java ( not from the congo but the polypterus love it) and some anubias nana. The dimensions are 48 1/2 x 18 1/2 x 25 3/8 and i'm going with about 2" of sand as substrate. all of the plants will be tied/rooted to drift wood that i plan to make a wall with on the back of the tank along with some other pieces of wood that will have plants bound to them so they are a bit closer to the surface. I was wondering what kind of lighting i should be striving for to have decent plant growth -- on a side note i'm not using CO2 only fertilizing

any suggestions?

 

[Themuleous]

On a tank this size I would think 1 to 1.5 WPG would be plenty enough, over that and you may find you need to add CO2.

Sam

 

[pseud]

I agree with Sam.

But, I'd recommend that you consider saving yourself money in the long run by opting for around 2wpg, (somewhere around 180w lighting system), and injecting DIY CO2. I can almost guarantee you're going to want to upgrade in a few months time.

 

[Waterloo Kid]

I grow Anubias Nana and Barteri in my Juwel Rio 400 which is a similar size to your tank. I have the standard 80W of lighting at the moment and my Anubias grow well. A new leaf every other week or so. My problem is that they are covered with algae but that's a different story!

WK

 

[Themuleous]

Haha that's a good point pseud and if you get an overtank one you can normally turn the bulbs off independently that you can have lower light for the first few months and just turn them on when you're ready to upgrade.

Sam

 

[pseud]

Yup, and even if you can't switch the bulbs off individually... just remove the extras