lighting?

[Shekoi]

i have a 25W sun-glo bulb in my 45g it's about 0.5wpg, i've been told that around 2wpg is better???

should i get a second bulb?
can i add a second connection to my light i allready have, or should i buy new light kit?
and what about second bulb, should i get the same one or add a different one with different light range????

thanks for any ideas and advise!

 

[happychem]

Are you planning on growing plants? If not, then the wpg rule of thumb is redundant.

 

[Shekoi]

i do have plants in the tank, i was planning on getting some res leaves, which need higher light i was told?

also people have mentioned that my tank looks dark.

http://img45.photobucket.com/albums/v138/shekoi/My setups/new_tank_003.jpg

would increase light affect my fish, plants already have and tmperature?

 

[happychem]

Wow! that does look dark. On the other hand, it looks like you've got the room lights on, which can make it tough to tell.

Yeah, I'd say you need more light. You probably want to aim for at least 1-1.5wpg. But if you want to add red leaved plants, you're going to need to start thinking higher light.

With higher light, comes the need for CO2, as well as increasing the level of difficulty of the tank. You'll get into things like fert dosing and balancing nutrients. It's really not that hard if you take your time, think about what's going on and let your tank tell you what it needs. Oh, and of course take advantage of the knowedgeable people in the planted tank section, where this post belongs.

Let's see if a mod will move this over.