Basic lighting question

[Chinaman]

Hi,

Am I actually too cheap to hope that an ordinary single cool white fluorescent
tube could support low light plants such as the java fern and the likes? They are tied to a couple large driftwoods.  And my plants are rotting away....

It's my 90G discus tank and I have a single light canopy and one fluorescnet tube.

What do you think?


Cheers,

Sam

[babblefish1960]

Well, cheapness notwithstanding, you have less than 1/2 watt per gallon right now, a little too low.
There is nothing wrong with cool white bulbs, they are fine for plants, there is certainly enough documentation to support this, and a number of us experimented and all had great results, you may want to add another bulb though to get closer to 1 watt per gallon, it is a deeper tank.
Alternatively, you could elevate the plants closer to the light and achieve the same results.