400 Watts Or 600 Watts?

[Jamie]

Lighting for my 150g (soon to be planted tank) which is 5'longx2'x2'.....I was pretty much sold on a 60" Custom Sealife 4 X 96W PC Retrofit for my canopy but now I'm pretty sure I'll be ordering from ahsupply.com. I like their reflectors much better and since I have a not so common tank length- it'll be easier to customize. Right now they are on vacation so I have a few days to decide what I am going to order. I already purchased a pressurized CO2 system. With a higher CO2 supplement I know that my light intensity should be higher also- are 4 bulbs creating 384W, 2.56W/Gal enough or should I go with the 6 bulbs for 576W and 3.84W/Gal. My tank is plenty wide enough regarding space for all of the bulbs. I have read from OrionGirl that the viscious cycle begins as more CO2 = more light = more fertilizer = more CO2 = .........etc. I'd like to have a good/sufficient balance from the get go. Thanks fo any help/suggestions- Jamie

PS Does anyone have any experience with AHSupply's bulbs- They don't sport a brand name and are considerably less expensive than many of their competitors, ie for 96W PC bulbs, $32 vs $42-45 per bulb.

[Pink Pat]

Jamie,

400w wil give you 2.67wpg. 600w will give you 4wpg.

If you are new to planted aquaria you will find 4wpg to be very demanding of you. 4wpg is considered to be 'high' light and aquariums have a tendency to 'run' on an 'edge'. They leave little room for error, even to the experienced aquarist.

IMO there are few plants that you can't grow under the lesser lighting conditions. If nothing else you can upgrade the lighting later, but I would suggest that you can get by rather well on 400w.

Have you worked out what you will do for C02 and fertilizer supplementation?

PP

[Jamie]

All I know of CO2 and fertilizer is from what I've read here. I imagine I will be setting my CO2 up at about 20ppm. Seems to be the general consensus. I purchased the milwaukie s122 pH/CO2 Controller with my regulator kit. I'm hoping it will regulate the dosing for me. I think from what I've read a pH of 6.8 is good (based on carbonate hardness?). As far as fertilizers go I've been reading a lot of threads about them- nanahachi's sticky was very helpful- It seems like I will be able to buy bulk for low $. In regards to dosing, for a 150g tank, I'm not entirely sure-I bought a kit AQI for pH, GH, KH, Nitrate and Nitrites, but how are you supposed to keep track of FE, K, PO4?

[Jamie]

Also, I rounded up to 400 and 600W. I'll be using PC 96W bulbs- either 4 or 6 depending on what I find out here.

[cpr4cpu]

IME, 4 watts per gallon is okay so long as you can establish a routine for fertilizing and care. Plants will grow very well in 4 watts, but to start I would recommend 2 watts per gallon. If you can afford the fixture, get the larger fixture but don't load it with all the bulbs. Get 2 of the 2x96 and only use 2 bulbs until you are comforatbale with dosing.

As for advice, Plantbrain is a master, and Chuck's PLanted Aqauria page found here (http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/articles.htm) is a great tool for calculating CO2 based on pH and KH, as well as mixing your own ferts from bulk powders.

I visit the plantgeeks which is a forum dedicated entirely to just aquatic plants, you might also find some help there.

[punch]

I would go with more light, I have a 65 gal. with 2 96's and I was a little short on light due to the depth of my tank. It is also 24" deep. I have bought from ah supply, if you don't mind making your own conapy there the way to go.