tony

hi, i am getting a new 55 gallon tank. i have read about lighting requirements for planted tanks and i have decided that i want to have between 3-4 watts per gallon in my new tank. the tank will be planted with plants that require moderate lighting and maybe one or two plants that need strong light (if i can get away with that). i want to plant the tank mediumly dense with plants. i have looked at fixtures and they are far too expensive. so my dad and i are going to build a stand and fixture. we want to use 6 32-watt florescent bulbs that all have a color of 5000 k. that would give us 192 watts of light total and about 3.5 watts per gallon. does this sound good am i using the correct light color are the watts per gallon sufficient can i get away with putting some strong-light-demanding plants in this tank thank you, tony

p.s. what about co2 injections are these necessary the tank will eventually be stocked to it's full capacity with fish so will i need extra co2 for the plants

HatchetHaven

Read, read read and read some more! A planted tank is DIFFICULT to set up and get your head round - I'm doing it as well! www.PlantedTank.net is a really great place to start reading (And a good place to post your questions - FishLore doesn't have many planted tank gurus but Planted tank hosts millions!), www.Tropica.com and www.PlantGeek.com are good plant databases.

Look into fertilizing the tank as well - you'll be happy you did.
Yes, CO2 will be necessary, but since I'm still a bit of a planted tank newbie I don't know exactly how much you'd need.