Do I have enough light coverage?

[Tangerinefizz]

Hello everyone. Sorry for the nooblar question but it's something I've always wondered about frankly... I currently have a 35 gal tank, which has a hood on it for a 20 gal. The ends of the tank which aren't covered by the hood are covered with glass which my dad custom fitted years ago for it. (we had a 20g which broke, we got the 35 on sale (tank only) and then didn't buy a proper hood for it.

I've had the tank for the past 12 years in which I've only just started using live plants in the last 2. I have good results and bad results. The good results you will see below in the pic hopefully. I am able to keep the amazon swords and whatever that other plant is successfully, but some of the other plants I buy die off.

Basically my question is this. The middle of the tank gets full light, with the sides (4'') not having direct coverage by a bulb.

Is this OK? See how the light is directly in the middle mostly and then the sides are a tad "shadowy"? (please excuse the mess as well, we haven't finished the construction around the tank)

 

[pseud]

My novice advice, since I'm new to lighting and planted tanks myself, is probably not.

Chances are with a 20 gallon hood you only have a 20 watt lamp in there. In a 35 gallon tank that's less than 1 watt per gallon. You really should be aiming for up to about 4 or 5 watts per gallon (WPG). Some plants need HIGH, others low. To play it safe, you probably want at least 2 or 3 WPGs.