lighting question

[spilopterus]

I am about to start a planted tank for one of my friends in his archi studio. So selling to him my 1.5 ft tank.

Thing is, I remember vaguely the smaller then tank, the less watts per gallon is needed right?

So should I be going with a single 36W light or 2X36W light?

By the way, I'm thinking of doing a simple landscape, A red lotus off centre, surrounded by windelov and the rest with glosso carpet.

You think I need base fert for this? Or just go with those root fert ike jobe sticks?

[Simon]

its easier to use the watt per gal rule, as for base fert.. depend on the choice of plants u wanna use

[bclee]

Is there going to be anybody taking care of the tank regularly? Adding fertilisers, pruning, feeding etc... Do you intending to inject CO2?

If not, go for lower light. Otherwise, may become an algae tank instead.

Personally, I have ran a 2-ft with only 30W. No problem.

BC

[spilopterus]

glosso and red lotus, grow them with 30W above the tank good enough? Is that a confirmed yes?

Well, I think I should be around to help him out if anything ever happens. It's in the NUS archi studio, so its a short walk there for me whenever I got school I guess.

The good thing is that the water will be cool. Its air con all the time.

With plants like windelov, red lotus and glosso, i think trimming is at a min. Except for weekly fert.

[bclee]

Sorry. I think I have to tell you what plants I had for the 30W tank.

E. tenellus
Vallisneria
Elatines triandra
Hygrophila deformis
Hygrophila strita
Bacopa caroliniana
Hydrocotyle leucoephala

No harm to try it out and adjust accordingly later.

BC

[juggler]

For lighting, you may like to check out these two websites:

Lighting in Amano Aquaria
Aquarium Calculator

[vinz]

Juggler,

You have such wonderful links!!! []

Anyway, each of the sites above seem to diverge when it comes to bigger tanks. (I didn't check for smaller, though). The first put my 6 foot to require 200+++ Watts , the other at a staggling 600+++ Watts for bright plants. [:0]

[spilopterus]

You think I am being too adventurous by giving him glosso to grow. But small tank, DIY CO2. What can fail? Oh well, if it fails, e.tenellus then. You think windelov will suffer under the bright lights?

By the way, any good sites to recommend for small tanks? And for those with small tanks, smaller than 1.5ft, let me see your pics if you got any!!

[juggler]

For inspiration, why not take a look at the entries submitted for 2001 AGA international aquascaping competition ?