Help with lighting for a 120 gallon

[Westwood]

Hi, this is my first post here but I'm hoping I can get some input on my current tank setup and what I can do to improve it. Right now I have a 120 gallon which is 60L x 19D x 26H, and I am using eco-complete planted aquarium substrate. I have had very good luck growing amazon sword plants in my other smaller tanks (20 gallons) and have moved two of them over to my big tank.

My main question is lighting. Right now I only have the two 24" bulbs which came with the tank and two 18" bulbs which I took off of my 55 gallon. All of these are full spectrum bulbs, the same as I used in my 20 gallons. Total wattage on this tank only comes to 70W, so I am looking to increase this amount in order to keep my sword plants growing well. I am on somewhat of a budget, so I was thinking of ordering two of the twin tube 30" strip lights from big als to go along with the two 24" bulbs which came with the tank. Would the six 24" bulbs (20W each) be sufficient lighting for this tank? Or is there another type of setup you would recommend? Thank you for any input, it is greatly appreciated.

Here's a pic of the tank so far:
http://img23.photobucket.com/albums/v70/westwood/fish/103_0314.jpg

[karfixer]

You'll probably need 240-300W, I don't think 120W is gonna cut it with a 26" tall tank, even with good reflectors.

[djlen]

Welcome to the board!!!

The first question I'd ask is, what do you want to do with this tank? In other words, do you want to light it so that it will grow just about anything, and eventually add CO2, and do the whole nutrients dosing thing?
Or do you just want a low/med. lighting situation which will require little maintenance, but will be capable of growing lower/medium type plants?
Much of these choices revolve around the amount of time and money you want to devote to the tank.
The point you're at now is a good time to ask yourself these questions.

Len

[Westwood]

Basically I would like to have a setup which will be able to sustain the sword plants I have now. I'm not looking to make a fully planted tank, but I love the way the amazon swords look. So I guess I am basically looking to create a setting to grow low/medium light plants.

[djlen]

In that case, I would opt for 2.5 - 3.0 watts/gal. of Compact Fluorescent lighting. You are probably going to need that much because of the depth of the tank.
You can probably retro-fit your existing hoods with with CF at less cost than buying units from a retail outlet.
Check out prices here: www.ahsupply.com and/or call the 800 number on the site and explain what you want to Kim and he will advise you how to proceed at the best cost to you. He's very fair and honest, and won't steer you wrong. Then you can compare what you'd get there as opposed to from a retail outlet.
I don't have much confidence in the reflectors that come with many of the strip lights available out there. AH's reflectors are at least a grade above the flat ones elsewhere on the market.

Len