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Re: 110g tank lighting for John Schmaus

> 	I'm resetting up a plant tank that I moved to the basement since
> 	it was warping the floor upstairs.  Dimensions are 4.5'l x 2'w x2'd,
> 	which translates to 135, although the effective capacity is more
> 	like 110 I'd guess.  Anyway the surface area is 4.5' x 2', which
> 	is all that matters since we no longer need to worry about depth
> 	for lighting :).

Well, the volume of the tank is important since the bigger the tank, the
more plants you can put in it. More plants need more light. OTOH, if the
tank is only filled with low growing Crypts (i.e. C wendtii) then the
substrate surface area would be the deciding factor. With a 2' tank, I
think you are going to take advantage of some larger plants. ;-)

> 	Previously I had 6 4' fluorescent bulbs (mixture of Tritons and Vita
> 	Lites = 240 watts) and had success with some of the easier plants.
> 	You know, various Swords, Valisneria, and such.
> 
> 	I read the Optimum Aquarium and did everything except the undergravel
> 	heating and CO2 injection.  OK, I didn't do the laterite completely
> 	as recommended, either.  But the results were satisfying, except
> 	I was never able to grow some of the more light intensive plants.
> 	So, I'm thinking of adding another 2 fluorescent lights to the setup,
> 	for a total of 320 watts, and getting rid of the glass top.  All
> 	bulbs have the Triton "Brite Lite" reflectors (which are ridiculously
> 	expensive, too, but enough whining).
> 
> 	Is this way too much light?  I'm asking because The Optimum Aquarium
> 	recommends something like .5W/l for fluorescents, which in my case
> 	translates to about 200 watts!  Plus they recommend only 4 4' bulbs
> 	for a 130cm.65cm.50cm tank, which is pretty close to mine, surface
> 	area wise (gotta believe the larger dimesnsion is width, not depth).
> 	They also recommend halogen for depths greater than -- I forget -- 18"
> 	or something, but they're probably just trying to sell DuplaSun
> 	lighting.
> 
> 	Any thoughts on this -- I mean having 8 bulbs on a 135 that's 2 feet
> 	deep?

It really depends John on the plants you want. If you're going after red
plants like Ludwigia then you want a little more light and what you're 
suggesting sounds good. For Cabomba, my feeling is you'd need more but
we haven't had much feedback from Cabomba growers. Cabomba pyhuiensis
(the red one) is doing ok (except for string algae) in my 49g with 250w
MH light. It is too much light however for Crypts and E amazonicus which
tend to get brush algae; I'm providing shading with Salvinia and a large
H difformis and they seem to be doing better that way. Touchy for algae
though; watch the CO2 concentration.

 Steve Pushak - spush at hcsd_hac.com - Vancouver, BC, Canada

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