Advice on lighting for a 75 gallon tank

With it being pc lighting I think you could be OK... I have a 75 with 4x65
watts and co2 that I actually only run 4x65 for about 6 hours in the middle
of a 12 hour light cycle. My glosso (loves lots of light) seems to hug the
gravel pretty well and spreads very fast. Which to me is at least somewhat
of an indication of how well the lighting is working. I say give it a shot
and then if you aren't happy with how the plants are doing add more light...

Ron

"Matt" wrote in message
...

I'm going to be setting up a 75 gallon tank within the next 2 weeks and have
a question about lighting. I have a 110 watt compact florescent bulbs (2x55
watts). Will that be enough light for my tank? The plants that i will have
in it will be;

1. Marsilea quadrifolia
2. Radican Marbled Queen Sword
3. Amazon Sword
4. Anubias nana
5. Anacharis(Egeria densa)


And I'm thinking about adding some Micro Sword (Lilaeopsis novae-zelandiae)
and some Val.


Will 110 watts be enough for these plants? If not how much light would you
suggest? I want a low-tech tank, no CO2. Not ready to try that yet, have
only been trying plants a few months, maybe later.

I started out with 130 watts over my 75 gallon tank, and it was enough for just
about everything except Lilaeopsis. If you want to grow that, you need a ton
of light.

One problem I ran into, and the reason I eventually put more light over the
tank, was that one light strip is kind of narrow for a 75 gallon tank. I had
to remember to constantly move the light strip around on top of the tank, or
the plants would start to lean visibly toward the light.


Leigh

http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/halloween/881/

"LeighMo" wrote in message
...
I started out with 130 watts over my 75 gallon tank, and it was enough for
just
about everything except Lilaeopsis. If you want to grow that, you need a
ton
of light.

One problem I ran into, and the reason I eventually put more light over
the
tank, was that one light strip is kind of narrow for a 75 gallon tank.


If I add another 110 watt strip to the tank, that will bring the total watts
up to 220, almost 3 watts per gallon. With that much light will I need to
use CO2 on the tank?

If I add another 110 watt strip to the tank, that will bring the total watts
up to 220, almost 3 watts per gallon. With that much light will I need to
use CO2 on the tank?


Yes, I would recommend using CO2 with that much light. And with such a large
tank, I'd get a compressed CO2 system.


Leigh

http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/halloween/881/

OK, any advice on picking and setting up a compressed CO2 system? I'll be
picking up the tank next weekend so I'll have the time to set it up and
start cycling it.

First, consider a no-cycle setup:

http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_newtank.htm

Second, I forgot to mention...even if you go with the higher light, it may not
be enough to grow Lilaeopsis well. It's a difficult plant. Some people have
no trouble with it; others find it impossible. For a tank as deep as a 75
gallon, over 4 wpg of light seems to be optimal.

If you still want a CO2 system, check out this page:

http://www.dlink.org/aqua/CO2.html


Leigh

http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/halloween/881/