40w enough?

[Bol]

Probably not -- or, more to the point, you can get around it.

This is sort of tough to explain without a picutre, but if you have the same 'standard' All-Glass strip light that I do, then you'll notice, if you look underneath it, that the reflector comes straight down in the back, and the back inch or so is "all reflector". Let's see if this works. Hopefully, this will be a diagram of how it looks if you looked at a section, from the side of the strip.

|...................\
|         :.......\  \
|         :        \  \
|         :   bulb  \  \
|.........:          \--\

 back                  front

If your light looks like that, then you'll find (at least I do) that if the back of the light sits on the plastic hinge part a little bit, you won't block much (if any) light, and the hinge won't get warm.

 

[panboy]

that makes sense, thanks


so im thinking of getting a 2 bulb strip from homedepot, T12.
which would be a total of 90watts, or 1.9 wpg, which i think would be plenty.

any CO2 necessary for 1.9 wpg?

 

[Bol]

Probably not necessary. Would most likely help, though.

I did the exact same upgrade two weeks ago now, with no CO2. I do, however, dose with Flourish Excel (another source of carbon) almost every day. Plants seem to be enjoying the extra light, and are looking healthier, and the only "bad" side effect I've seen so far is a little more green spot algae on the tank walls.

Of course, it has only been two weeks, so who knows.

 

[Sanj]

I think co2 would be worth it. You would definatley see a difference. co2 does not have to be expensive either. Sugar and yeast solution used to last be about two weeks, then id mix up some more. I have gone high tech now because my tanks are much larger.