Light recommendations?

[clownfish]

I've recently added some live plants to my tank (with the intention of adding more) and I'm wondering what lighting I should use?

I'll describe my situation...

33 gallon tank
3 neons, 3 sunset wag platys and a pink kisser, plan to add more small fish when the tank gets a little older
3 large pieces of bogwood for shelter
store-bought gravel
2 cabomba plants next to a piece of bogwood
2 other plants (not 100% on the species) in centre of tank
Fluval 304 filter
no air pumps
Currently using Aqua-Glo fluorescent light.

The tank is located in a room with only one window. It's in direct line with the window, about 10ft away but the window is behind a tree so there isn't a lot of direct light.

What steps should I take to ensure a healthy aquarium? It's been running for 4 weeks and had a short and accelerated fishless cycle beforehand. Also, when should I add more plants? Is it important to time this?

Thank you! :D

[125gJoe]

First, I'm against any direct sunlight for aquariums. Some will say they have no problems with direct sunlight and the potential algae problems.

When starting a live planted tank, plant heavily! This will help prevent algae outbreaks.

I prefer Compact Flourescents from Custom SeaLife. 5500K to 6700K is good for planted tanks. Someone recently mentioned a 9325K light (I think), that looked good. I had 10,000K's and returned them. That light washed out all the colors.... Uugh..

[superjohnny]

You can add plants whenever you want. It's not like fish which you add slowly because fish add waste that turns to amonia and then nitrite. Adding fish slowly gives the tank time to build up the nitrite consuming bacteria. With plants there is no waste so you don't have to worry about it. Plants use the amonia as fertilizer so planted tanks have a much shorter cycle time than non-planted tanks.

This is my understanding, someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

Also, I liked my 8,800k lights better than the 6,700k light I have now. The 6,700 looks too white to me. I think the color temperature of the light you use is really a matter of personal preference.

For plants you may want to stick with low light plants until you upgrade your lighting. Crypts, anubias, java fern and java moss are all good low-light plants and should do ok in > 2watts per gallon.