Is a 40 watt bulb enough for a 72g tank?

[NJ Devils Fan]

I just picked up my light and hood from my LFS today(because they gave my dad the wrong one last week) and when I got home, I saw that it was 40 watts. Is that enough?

[Dabbler II]

It all depends on what you want to do. If it is a fish only tank it should be fine.....but if you want to put live plants in you are under powered. I have a 15 watt LIFE-GLO FLORESCENT on my 20 gal fish only/ q-tank and I have 160 watts on my 120 gal lightly planted tank ( I might have to add a few more watts to this one):D

[NJ Devils Fan]

Yea, I'm going to have some live plants, not a lot though.

[Dabbler II]

You should look at 1-2 watts per gal for low light plants.

[NJ Devils Fan]

Oh yea, almost forgot, on the box, there was a sticker that said that it was a new electronic ballast. It said that it uses 12%-17% less energy and outputts 10%-22% more light.

[Dabbler II]

It may be more efficient but you can only get 40 watts of light out of a 40 watt bulb :D
You can get different bulbs with different light temptures for a different spectrums

[NJ Devils Fan]

Why would they give such a low watt bulb?

[quick061]

40w is pretty standard for linear floursenct lights. i just made a hood for mine at the shop i work at that has 4x40w from an old shop light. if there's room in the hood go down and buy a ~10 buck shop light, rip the bulb holders and balast out and stick it in your hood. i just couldn't see spending that much money on something i could make myself, especially the only thing that cost me was spray paint since i used all the wood/wiring/etc. from my work.