Planted 55g?

[cuticom]

Well I'm hoping to get some new lights for a 55g so I can go a bit further with the plants. I don't want heaps of extra equipment, CO2 dosing etc, I ahve enough of that with my marine tanks and the 55 is my 'simple' tank LOL.

I just want it to be filled with some nice plants, nothing too hard to keep, so it looks kind of jungly, and provides better cover for the fish.

This is the tank now... The light is a hood from the Aqua one 500, only one light is working. The plants ahve been quite happily growing under the 11w PC light for months, just not very fast

Could anyone give me an opinion on what sort of lighting I need? i'm used to the marine tanks where you generally need 4+ w per gallon, and I'm sure thats lower for freshwater, I don't wnat to have to dose chemicals either....

So the lights I'm looking at are

2 x 54w T5 H/O lighting with individual reflectors
http/www.guppysaquariumproducts.com.au/f...ht/prod_14.html

4 x 39w neon T5 H/O lighting, individual reflectors
http/www.guppysaquariumproducts.com.au/f...4ft/prod_1.html

4 x 36w PC lighting 90cm long
http/www.guppysaquariumproducts.com.au/f...t/prod_129.html

8 x 54w T5 H/O lighting, individual reflectors
http/www.guppysaquariumproducts.com.au/f...t/prod_307.html

4 x 54w T5 H/O lighting, individual reflectors
http/www.guppysaquariumproducts.com.au/f...g/prod_229.html

3 x 54w T5 H/O lighting, individual reflectors
http/www.guppysaquariumproducts.com.au/f...0/prod_260.html

Which would work best? Any info on the sort of wattage I'd be looking for is appreciated, the tank is a standard four foot 55g tank...

 

[Mikaila31]

Well if you are not doing CO2, then I feel all those lights will be too much for your tank. You will want between 1-2 wpg for lighting, and probably less with the T5 H/O lighting. You can still use some of those lights, but you would only be able to run half the lights at a time.

 

[cuticom]

So the unit with just the two tubes? I'm not going near T8, I don't like them at all, thats more from keeping marines then anything else, but their the same price as T5's and just don't seem worth it.

The tank is fairly heavily stocked as well, it's at its maximum stocking capacity...