How many WPG before CO2 injection is necessary?

[Fresh04]

I've been asked to set up a 10g tank for someone. They want it to have live plants, but also relatively low maintenance (preferably free of dealing with CO2... ) The standard strip light is 15 watts. That would make it 1.5 wpg. I have seen cf strips with 28 watts, and so on. My question is, at what point will your WPG dictate that you need to add CO2 injection to keep down the algae, etc?

 

[djlen]

I would plant it heavily and see how they like the growth and color.
For that tank 2.0 - 2.5 watts/gal. would be max. without CO2 and with heavy plant mass.
Try the 1.5 and see how it works out. You can produce a nicely planted tank at that wattage with the right plants.

Len