Not Enough Aquatic Plant Lighting

Riso-chan said:

Okay, I have two Eclipse 17" flourescent daylight tubes, 17 watts each on a 55g tank with cabombas, moneywarts, sword grass?, and anubias. I know by the rule 2-3 watts per gal that's not enough. Can any one tell me an inexpensive brand of bulb and fixture I could find at wal-mart, home depot, lowe's, etc.?
I've had my plants for roughly week or so now and they look to be alright, but I'm still starting to worry.

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How much are you willing to spend, and are you planning on going with the 2 watts per gallon rule or 3 watts per gallon rule?

For a 55 gallon, id suggest this............2 x 96 watt Bright Kit

http://www.ahsupply.com/96watt.htm

It would give you around 192 watts total, which equates to around 3.4 watts per gallon! Total cost would be around 128 US dollars plus taxes which includes shipping. Now you would have to build a box, but that if you are somewhat a handy man can be built for probabl no more then 10-20 bucks. Again though, depends on how much your willing to spend.

Im actually ordering a 4x55 watt set-up for my 72 gallon!

Riso-chan said:

Won't all that light kill fish? By the way I'm trying to be cost effecient, don't have much money.

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No it wont kill the fish, lol.

I understand the money situation, but how much do you want too spend? Also electricity cost will be high if you run a lot of lighting....which is what i think your getting at?

The fish won't mind at all. You'll want to acclimate them to it, so they're not shocked (maybe get some floating plants so they've got a shady spot to retreat to if needed), but unless they're fish that really prefer lower light levels, they won't care. I've got 302W of PC light on my 65g tank now (4.6WPG) and the fish are acting as happy as little clams
If your tank is a standard 48" 55g, shoplights will run the length of the tank. Two dual-bulb shoplights would give you 160W of light (~3WPG) for about $25. They're not very attractive - if that's a concern, you could buy wood from HD, and put together a hood that would hide the fixtures. It probably wouldn't cost much at all, and there are lots of DIY aquarium hood plans online.
I recommend PC lighting over regular (NO) fluorescent, but that's not to say that good old T12s won't do a great job; you just get more bang for your buck with PC.

I'd go with 'daylight' bulbs rather than 'cool white' - something that approximates daylight will be more pleasing to the eye and have a better spectrum for plant growth.

You can disinfect plants in a (very) mild bleach solution - just be careful to only leave them in it for 2 minutes max. You can also use alum in place of bleach.

I'm glad you found a solution, good luck with dad

If one has 3 wpg or more, he or she has to add CO2, probably injected, and fertilize. If that isn't done, fighting algae infestations will be a constant battle and the plants won't do well - they will be stimulated by the light but not have enough nutrients to supported their growth.

Does anyone agree or disagree with this?

Bill