David593

I had to replace the lights on my 55 gallon as the ones it came with were on the verge of dying (got the hood used). The hooding only hold 1 bulb and there are two hoods on the tank. (one for each half)

We went to the LFS to get some new lights. The owners and workers there are very educated and seem to know what they are doing. The have a discus show tank and many saltwater show tanks, including a stingray laggo type deal, like in an aquarium! When we asked him about lights, he first asked us what size tank and if we wanted plants. I wanted plants and we also told him the tank was 55 gallons. He said that these were OK for the tank.

TROPIC SUN 5500K Daylight (15 watts) flourescent lighting.

I thought you needed at least 2 watts p[er gallon, and theses only offer 30watts for the whole tank! Thats not even one watt per gallon. Though, he said that these light were suficient as they imitated real sunlight and that 5500K was ok.

Is this right? I would really like plants but can not afford to get new hooding at the moment

Jonah

I am no plant expert but I run a 35w 10000k white fluro 6 hours a day in both and then switch to a blue 'moonlight' tube after that in my 60gal and low voltage spots in the 20gal my plants are thriving.

mathas

You do not need 2 WPG. The more light you can provide, the more options you have with regards to your plants, but there's no set requirement. With the amount of lighting you have, you would probably need to stick to low light plants, such as the ones on this list.

And to be clear, it's not the bulbs that only give you 30W, it's the fixtures. The 15W rating on each bulb indicates how much power they can handle without damage, but the power itself comes from the fixtures. If you want more wattage, you will have to upgrade more than just the bulbs.

David593

Thanks.

I just needed to know if with this lighting I will be able to have some plants like; java fern, anubias, water sprite, and amazon sword? can I have these plants?

Also, I have two big windows in my room that let in a good bit of natural sunlight, during most of the day.

David593

Oh and i was wondering, do the following need fertilizer to grow. I would rather not have to continually buy some:

Amazon Sword
Anubias
Anacharis
Dwarf Hairgrass
Java Fern/Moss

Also I have regular aquarium gravel. It is smooth and natural, no coatings. Is this ok?