What lighting to use?

[mtdewlover]

I'm setting up a 55 gallon tank with plants of course. As well as my African Cichlids. I'm not rich and the lights off of AH Supply and places like that seem so expenisive. Is there any other way I can get lighting with spending my life savings?

 

[aquamanis]

Hi mtdewlover, the thing to remember here is no matter what lighting system you choose, you are aiming at 2-3 watts per gallon for good plant growth (this is a minimum since you want to inject CO2). So around 120-150watts should surfice. I,m assuming your tank is around 4-5 feet long? You could use 3 x 40 watt T8 tubes. (I would have 1 x grolux 3500k, 1 x daylight 5000k, 1 x tropical 10000k.) I don,t know about where you are but for me this would be the cheapest setup I could find. I picked up a 2 tube 4 foot fitting for $45 from my LFS. Its the tubes that cost the money. You can save on the daylight but the growlux and the tropical cost a bit more. Or if you are on a real tight budget use 3 phillips daylights 5000k untill you can afford special plant tubes.