1st attempt at a full planted tank !

Imacat said:

I would like to have moderate light in my tank. I have a 50 gallon tank(4 feet long).
It has stock light fixtures.

Light bulb- Aqueon 8k full spectrum daylight , 15W 120V 18inch
24'' florescent aquarium reflector, 120 volt,19 watt,60 hz

Do I need to buy a whole new setup or just a bulb ? I cant find anything online,i'm assuming I am just not using the the correct words.

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I use 6500k 4' shop lights on my 4' long tanks. you could checkjout home depot/lowes.

see: Lithonia Lighting 2-Light White T12 Fluorescent Shoplight-1233 SHOPLIGHT at The Home Depot

and
Commercial Electric Basic 2-Lamp Hanging Fluorescent White ShopLight-CESL401-06 at The Home Depot


I believe the second one has an electronic ballast. FWIW

my .02

Imacat said:

So if i go with a new light fixture, I see a 4 foot long hanging florescent light t8, If I have 100 watts of light 2 WPG(IK it not a good rule now) would I NEED CO2 injection because of the high watts/lighting??

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2 tubes of 40watts is 80 watts for 1.6 wpg.

If you use 2 fixtures of the 32 w t-8 tubes that would be 4x32=128 watts.

(use 6500k tubes also)

I have used those levels and not used co2.

I also (althought you can) do not use the hanging feature. I just placed the fixtures on plastic 1/4 square grids (egg crate) sold as lighting diffusers for dropped ceilings. Or just a couple of 2x4's at the ends. Or just attached to an existing hood.

for substrate I used 1" peat moss with 1" of play sand on top to trap in the peat moss. I also use a red baked clay (pc select) from pro choice on top of those.

I found the peat moss prevents kh and gh build up and neon tetras (and probably others) did much better that just a straight sand substrate. gh and kh rose to very high levels with just sand.

I also use no mechanical filtration or circulation of do no water changes. Just replace evaporative water with straight untreated tap.


my .02