lighting confusion

[karulyne]

Hi...I'm a bit new to fish keeping, and I was thinking of adding some lighting to my tank (29 gallon) so I could add some plants (not sure what type yet, but likely something hardy). I currently have one fluorescent bulb over the tank, I think its the basic type (I bought the tank used) you can buy, but looking online at the different lighting options I am completely overwhelmed and not really sure how to even add lighting. The cover thingy for the tank just has one glass area that the light strip covers... if I got more lighting would I have to replace the top that the light rests on? Or get rid of the old lighting strip? What I have know is pretty old and kind of dim, so I figure I probably will have to replace it anyway. What sort of strength of lighting should I get, I don't want to overheat the tank or overlight the plants (if that is possible?) but I'd like it to be bright enough to make most plants happy and be able to see the fish...Anyway, any help would be appreciated.

[Kasakato]

Plant and lights go hand in hand. Lighting is measured in Watts Per Gallon (WPG). To get your WPG, take the total wattage of your lights and divide by your tank size. So lets say I have a 20g tank, and 40w of light. 40/20=2WPG. All most all plants need 1.5WPG min. There are some that go lower but IME they are harder. For a beginner get at least 2WPG. There are 3 main categories for WPG. 1-2 is low, 2-4 is med, 4+ is high. There is also CO2 which can be used at any rate, but is a must for 3WPG+. Over at www.plantgeek.com they have a plant guide with plants for low, med, and high. In general lower light plants with 2+WPG is easy. You first need to decide if you want low, med, or high light plants.