planning a 45 gallon, low tech, heavily planted

so i'm looking around and stubbled upon ahsupply.com.

I'm considering either a 2x55w or perhaps a single 96w. the 96w seems like it will be a tight fight for my 45gallon. I think the 96w however would allow me to "easily" add another 96w in the future should i decide to go w/ a co2 system and it seems like the 96 will go end to end and be a better option.

thoughts?

scapegoatw said:

so i'm looking around and stubbled upon ahsupply.com.

I'm considering either a 2x55w or perhaps a single 96w. the 96w seems like it will be a tight fight for my 45gallon. I think the 96w however would allow me to "easily" add another 96w in the future should i decide to go w/ a co2 system and it seems like the 96 will go end to end and be a better option.

thoughts?

Click to expand...

A single AH Supply light on top of a 18 inch high tank should give you just about the perfect light - low medium, around 50 micromols of PAR. Those are great light kits, and you can slightly spread the reflector a bit to spread out the light even more. The only difference between using the 96 watt and the 55 watt kits is the coverage of the ends of the tank.

thanks hoppy. i was leaning more towards the 96 for that reason.

however, at this point i am considering a 55 gallon from petco... the $1/gallon plus a friend's employee discount makes it a very tempting buy. i think the 96 will still be enough, but with a foot extra width i'm going to lose that light on the sides.

and you said 18, the 45 is listed as 21". i assume you're referring to the height of water between the top of the substrate and top of the water?

I'm not sure where I got the 18" height. If it is 21 inches it is still a good light level, but is high in the low light range. If I wanted to light a 55 gallon tank with AH Supply lights I think I would use two 55 watt kits, mounted end to end. The brace across the top probably shades about the same amount of light as the gap would be between the 55 watt kits.

really appreciate your insight hoppy. even with just "somewhat" browsing the forum you stand out as the "go to light person" haha

I'm sticking with the 45 for now. after talking it out, despite the 55 gallon being an amazing deal w/ petco's sale, i want a larger tank. it's wasted money... i'd loooove a 110 gallon to go behind the basement bar, so it doesn't make sense to buy another tank that i'd replace in a heartbeat for a 110g deal :/

so i'm going to stick with the 45 and order the 96w to retrofit the current light i have. I'll probably end up keeping the 21w aquaglo that i have in the second plastic canopy for additional light up front.

now... to decide on what plants exactly, and what fish... i'm a fan of loaches (now that i know what they are, haha) but that seems like a lot of bottom feeders