Upgrading lighting
 

I am planning on adding in some low maintenance plants into one of my tanks and need to upgrade the lighting, but I am not sure what would be best without overkill. The set-up right now is two 36" fluorescent lights that are 30 watts each and are 3100K. My tank is a corner bowfront that is about 22" deep. I am planning on easy plants that don't require substrate or CO2. The more I look into bulbs, the more types I find and I can't decide on which to get. Any input?

Aqua-lux, FloraSun, FloraLux(all brand names) are good plant lights for your requirements. All will do the job.

http://woo.gotdns.com/Aquarium/Lighting.htm

This will get you in the right direction as far as what is the right amount and what might be overkill. I would say moderate light for your tank will meet your needs.

that is a great site

unfortunately it has me rethinking my lighting strategy.

i think I might have went overkill, so I will have to only do 1 light on for now

I think understand what it is saying, but if I have a 50 tall (36 long, 12 deep, 36 tall) and I want to get to moderate light at the most (no co2 for me) and do low to moderate plants.......i am getting a dual 96 watt Compact Flo hood I would only want 1 of the bulbs to be on at a time in order to get that moderate lighting?

can someone clear this up for me?

Moderate compact flourescent would be 61 watts for a normal height tank.
Add 25% 3 times as it is 12 inches taller than 24".

61*.25=5.25 3*5.25+61=76.75
61*1.25=76.25 76.25*1.25=95.3125 95.3125*1.25=119.14

Unfortunately I don't have the "correct" answer for exactly what is "moderate" light for your tall of a tank.

The best thing you can do is experiment. If money is not an issue, try doing this. Get 2 full spectrum bulbs, one actinic full spectrum 50/50 bulb, and one full actinic bulb.

Start with 1 full spectrum bulb and the 50/50 bulb. If it isn't enough, switch out to the full spectrum bulb. If you get too much algae, switch to the full actininc bulb with a full spectrum bulb.

If money is an issue, go with one full spectrum bulb and one 50/50. Is what I would do. Then I would have some Flourish Excel on hand just in case I started seeing some algae problems.

Actinic does not count toward your total wattage/lumens but it does count for spectrum and I know many plant keepers who swear by it for lush thick growth and better color than not using it.

thanks for the help with this fish.

money is an issue, so I think I will follow your second suggestion.

I only have low to medium in the tank now so we will see.