New Tank Lighting Question

For all you aquarium plant experts:
I'm setting up a new 75gal planted tank. I understand that 2-3 watts per
gallon is what to shoot for. The store bought the tank from is suggesting
that I go with something called a compact fluorescent smart light with two
bulbs equaling about 130 watts. He says that 2-3 watts per gallon is not
necessary and that there are many other variables to consider when deciding
upon lighting needs. He also said that I would probably get an algae
explosion with so much light.

Any other opinions before I make a decision?

In article ,
ove says...
For all you aquarium plant experts:
I'm setting up a new 75gal planted tank. I understand that 2-3 watts per
gallon is what to shoot for. The store bought the tank from is suggesting
that I go with something called a compact fluorescent smart light with two
bulbs equaling about 130 watts. He says that 2-3 watts per gallon is not
necessary and that there are many other variables to consider when deciding
upon lighting needs. He also said that I would probably get an algae
explosion with so much light.

Any other opinions before I make a decision?



There are many factors including what type of plants you want to grow,
if you want to bother with co2 injection, what kind of fish you want and
so forth. This newsgroup is a wealth of information and opinion and I'd
suggest you spend a while reading related threads on google. My own
personal experience is with a 130 watt fixture above a 55 gal. and I
think that's less than I would prefer (e.g., consider how deep the tank
is and your need for light to reach the bottom in your assessment).
Also consider cost in the overall picture (you probably will need to
replace the bulbs every 8 months or so) FWIW I have a 65 watt smartlight
above a 20 gallon with less algae than the larger tank. After you've
considered what you want for the tank as a whole then made the
appropriate lighting decision, you might want to shop online from
someplace like hellolights.com--it's usually cheaper than purchasing in
an LFS and you've got a better selection of bulbs, etc. (personally, I'm
going to shift the 20 to a 6,700K bulb instead of replacing the
smartlight).

On Thu, 14 Aug 2003 03:07:32 GMT, "Pokey"
wrote:

For all you aquarium plant experts:
I'm setting up a new 75gal planted tank. I understand that 2-3 watts per
gallon is what to shoot for. The store bought the tank from is suggesting
that I go with something called a compact fluorescent smart light with two
bulbs equaling about 130 watts. He says that 2-3 watts per gallon is not

130 watts of CF will be pretty good, probably comparable to 4 standard
T-12 tubes, due to the increased efficiency of the CF, assuming the CF
has good reflectors, etc.

necessary and that there are many other variables to consider when deciding
upon lighting needs. He also said that I would probably get an algae
explosion with so much light.

If you just add 2-3 watts per gallon and no CO2, and not many plants,
then you probably would. But, if you plant the tank fairly heavily,
and inject CO2, then 2-3 watts would result in lots of fast growing
healthy plants.



Chuck Gadd
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua

On Wed, 13 Aug 2003 23:56:36 -0400, willis stanley
wrote:

With CF bulbs you really don't need to replace them till they burn
out. At least on a plant tank.

There are many factors including what type of plants you want to grow,
if you want to bother with co2 injection, what kind of fish you want and
so forth. This newsgroup is a wealth of information and opinion and I'd
suggest you spend a while reading related threads on google. My own
personal experience is with a 130 watt fixture above a 55 gal. and I
think that's less than I would prefer (e.g., consider how deep the tank
is and your need for light to reach the bottom in your assessment).
Also consider cost in the overall picture (you probably will need to
replace the bulbs every 8 months or so) FWIW I have a 65 watt smartlight
above a 20 gallon with less algae than the larger tank. After you've
considered what you want for the tank as a whole then made the
appropriate lighting decision, you might want to shop online from
someplace like hellolights.com--it's usually cheaper than purchasing in
an LFS and you've got a better selection of bulbs, etc. (personally, I'm
going to shift the 20 to a 6,700K bulb instead of replacing the
smartlight).


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