100g lighting suggestions

[mryoso]

Any suggestions on how to light a 100g tank?

its a 72x18x18 tank ( 1/4 inch glass!!! )

i have severely limited options

1) can only use 4 ft long daylight bulbs ( cost/availability reasons )

2) i dont even know if the plants they are selling here in the philippines are true aquatic plants. the following plants are available for me: some type of crypts, maybe some type of java fern, cambomba carolina. amazon sword, although i doubt its really an amazon sword... an algae look-a-like of the java moss. ill add more to the list soon if i can verify that they are true aquatic plants!

3) mouting the lights will be a problem since i have two powerhead/overhead filters occupying about 1/3 of the 18 inch top.

4) i do not want the whole tank planted, i just basically want a few plants around and do not want the "lush" look that most ppl go for but i dont want my plants to die after a few weeks though! lol!

5) if possible, no CO2 coz i have no money! hehe


thank you!

 

[mryoso]

picture of the tank.

i plan on putting the plants near the center. or on each side of the aquarium where there are no rocks, or pots

although you dont see many fish it has the ff:

1) 4 4-inch carps
2) 20 serpae tetras
3) 20 swordtails
4) 10 rummy nose tetras ( got to love this fish! )
5) 2 split tail rasboras ( 2 died last night )
6) 2 speckled corydoras ( barely visible )
7) 1 gold fish ( very small )
8) 1 little crab i caught from a local stream years ago ( i only see it 2x a year! )
9) 2 angels

i know its a mess, please dont flame me on this. we really have not much stuff available here for us to use, ie test kits, quality fish stocks, heaters, even canister filters..etc..

 

[mryoso]

the two top filters i was talking about.

and the strip of light which came with the tank. it has a 4ft 38 watt light in it.

 

[mryoso]

a 13 watt and 28 watt powerhead and at the same time pump for the overhead filter.

will these cause so much CO2 loss?


thanks!

 

[TomFromStLouis]

As to CO2 loss, if you are not adding CO2, the water should have an equilibrium CO2 in balance with the air, so agitation and circulation should not affect that amount either way. I am not sure what the problem is for lighting, just grab some 4' bulbs with a spectrum around 5500 to 6700 and go to town. For low to medium light plants, maybe a 1 - 2 watts per gallon, so 3 to 5 40 watt lamps would work.

 

[mryoso]

Thanks for the reply.

hmm, how would i arrange the bulbs ( assumming i get at least 5 ) on top of the tank?

if u look at the second picture i have two overhead filters taking almost 1/2 of the tanks top and about 1/3 of its width...

also would i need to light the entire tank if i only want plants to grow in specific areas? ( some faqs in the internet say that although uneven areas of lighting may look good its better to have uniform lighting, but they dont explain why...)

Thanks for the help!

 

[Sumpin'fishy]

Since you are limited in space, just stuff two or so double striplights (as many as you can get) and stick with the lower light plants, and maybe some floaters. Even if half the space is taken up, 8"-10" is plenty of room for at least 2 double strip lights. I, too, don't really see what the question is. Add as much as possible (which won't be much) and run with it!