Lighting for my tank

[SnowAngel2214]

Hi there, I've been reading up about the correct parameters for growing plants and have a few questions. I currently have two 15 watt bulbs, one is a life-glo2 and the other is a flora-glo (6,700K and 2,800K). All plant have been supplemented with iron, and a 0.15-0-0 fertilizer.

1) The hood on my tank says 50 watts and is a dual bulb hood. Does this mean the total of the two bulbs is to be 50 watts or 50 watts per bulb resulting in a total of 100 watts?

2) Is a total of 50 watts adequate for my plants (java fern, amazon sword, and several types of grass) to thrive in a 36 gallon tank or do I need a different hood? This would be 1.389 watts per gallon which according to what I've been reading is on the low side.

3) The current CO2 infuser I am using is Nutrafin natural fermentation with the bubble ladder thing. Is this supplying enough CO2 for a 36 gallon tank or should I upgrade to an automatic infuser in the future?

I'm thinking that my light output needs to be increased, especially since I have my eye on some high light plants. Any suggestions or comments would be very much appreciated. Thanks much!

[sardesign]

with a 36 gallon tank and only 50 watts of lighting, you can grow low-light level plants. CO2 is still useful because the plants will still use it to absorb nutrients. you will experience slow growth with this setup. the downside is you won't be able to grow most grass... most of that stuff needs high lighting [for your tank about 100+ watts]. The amazon swords will still grow but it will be slow. If the leaves yellow, make sure there is enough iron.

fyi: ignore watts per gallon... as there is a minimum limitation on lighting for plants to grow properly.

check out www.rexgrigg.com or www.barrreport.com for some lighting and planting info

[SnowAngel2214]

Alright these are some sweet websites, thanks for the response. I am having difficulty figuring out the surface area on my bowfront aquarium though, any math gurus? What I would like is in between a medium and a high light environment, but in order to determine how much light, I need the surface area.... The two sides are 23" x 20" x 20" , the front is 38" x 20" x 20" and the top and bottom each have the dimensions of 38" x 23" x 23". I know what I'll be doing for the next few hours.

[SnowAngel2214]

So I have about 16.5 lux per square inch. Thanks for the sites. I'm gonna get more light.