RexBrown

Hello,
This is my first post on Fishlore!
Over the last year, I have gone in order from a beta bowl, to a 10g, to a 40g, and now I have a 100g. I'm surrounded by fish.

My 100 gallon aquarium is new to me, as I bought it used. It is a setup that has been running for over a year. One thing it lacked when I bought it was lighting. After doing some reading on lighting, I decided to use 48 inch T-8 bulbs. I purchased a two bulb ballast with reflector from the hardware store and mounted it to the underside of the canopy.

Now I find myself, not exactly sure on what combination of bulbs to purchase. I want a planted aquarium and I want the fish to look good. It is a community tank and I have moved some rainbowfish from my 40 gallon over, so there are some colorful fish in there.

Does anyone have any recommendations on what bulbs I should purchase for healthy plant growth and to bring out the color of the fish?

I really appreciate any feedback you can offer.

Llama

General rule of thumb for plants is 2Watts/Gallon (though you can do with much less)

So you'd need 200 W worth of bulbs. This is the rule of thumb for normal white bulbs.

Obviously if you buy pink/purple bulbs you can go with less, since those will have the wavelenghts that plants actually need.

Drew 43920

Here is a start. Good luck.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/ar...4&category=586