lighting?

[Firebelly__girl]

Ive read tanks should have 10-14 hours of light a day...does this mean, I would have to turn the lights on in the morning (around 7) and not turn it off untill it gets dark? The tank I have is in the basement, so theres no other lighting that gets to it. Could I leave it off during the day, and leave it on all night instead? Im just up a lot more at night and I would enjoy it in the night hours more than the hours when im not home. Also what wattage would you get for a 55 gallon? The standard hood has 2 bulb holders (obviously lol) so would i have to get two 50watts to make it 100 total, making it almost 2wpg? Or should i do more than 50watts? Just for an average of most plants...

 

[UCF-Planted]

The plants don't really care what time the lights are on, as long as they are on a fairly regular cycle. Especially in a dark basement, reversed lighting shouldn't be a problem. I have all my tanks on timers so I don't have to fuss with turning them on and off, and all are on different schedules from the sun and each other .

If you want to upgrade lighting and do higher growth plants you have to look at doing fertilizers, CO2, and the slight tweaking needed to keep everything in check all the time. I highly recommend Rex Grigg's site as a starter to learn more about starting a planted tank.

 

[geofied]

UCF-Planted is right about the lighting schedule, just keep it relatively consistant. I'm a night-owl too, so I have my tanks on a roughly 10am-12am schedule. I use timers for some of them, others are just routine. I use LED flashlights to look in my tanks after the lights go out, and others use similar for "moonlight" in their tanks. This is often better for observing livestock that are more active in the dark anyway, it feels a little clandestine.

About 2watts/gallon would be a good way to start, I've had some good growth in tanks with that range of lighting and no CO2 or additional ferts(other than fish food or poop). Don't expect much to grow overnight however, be patient.

 

[Mgamer20o0]

figure what works the best for you and get a timer. that way you dont forget to turn them off or on.

 

[Rex Grigg]

You can't just go out and buy higher wattage bulbs.

To start with you will not find 24" 50 watt fluorescent bulbs.

Best thing IMHO to do is head over to www.ahsupply.com and get a 2x55 watt upgrade kit.