Plants and lighting

With 5w/gal your going to need CO2!! Get some light lovers. Most stem plants are light lovers (Hygro, Ludwidgia, bocopa, Micranthia, ect). But with that much light they going to pull all carbon out of water.

The wpg rule of thumb falls apart on small tanks like 5g because plants still need the same amount of light to saturate photosynthesis. However, that's still a goodly amount of light, and a shallow tank.

It's more for the latter that I would suggest against tall, fast growing stems. Work with some shorter sword plants and plants typically categorized as "mid-ground" plants. Check out www.plantgeek.net and have a look through their plant guide. You can search by aquascape placement to help eliminate those that would be too tall to start with.

OPPS!! Did not see you only had 5.5gals. Get some dwarf swords, val or sag. A good mix of these three would make a good sight.

For a 10 gallon tank, what would be ideal w/gal then? I have a single 20" bulb, but I'm starting to wonder if that's enough.

What's the wattage on the tube?

Len