need help thanks

[thomas.h]

hi newbie here.
wish to start out a 2ft tank
how do i calculate if my light is powerful enuff?

i hv a 3ft light of 30w
is it strong enuff?

also i tried adding a thin layer of base fert
and then abt 1cm of lapis sand on top of it.
i slowly added water but
e fert is everywhere..

did i do smth wrong?

thanks alot!

[|squee|]

How powerful your lights must be depends on what plants you want to keep.

A 30W light for a 2 feet might not be enough if you are planning to grow plants that need high light.

Right now what you can do for the base fert is, draw out all the water, let the remaining substrate settle down, add a fresh new layer of Lapis sand to a level of at least 5.5cm.

Then, put a peice of newspaper over the substrate, and slowly add water in, taking care not to mess up the substrate at all.

Just one last peice of advice: reading up alot on planted tanks helps much much more.

[budak]

You could do worse than read the sticky threads on this forum to learn about the basics of planted tanks. And make full use of the site's calculators and Aquatic FAQs.