Lighting Question!!!

[Aquafish]

I have some Qs about lighting for my 72 gal bowfront tank.

I want to do a planted discus tank. I need to know how many watts I need for my plants to do well. So far, I have lots of Swords...I will be looking into more with the plants I want in the tank.

I have purchased eco complete and some flourite red. I am going to try out some seachem products as the guys from BA Kanata reccomended. Its Seachem Flourish, Iron and Excel. Should I be purchasing a CO2 injection kit???

So main thing right now is wattage???

Anyone have reccomendations as to where to purchase lighting??? I have looked at BA online, J & L Aquatics, petsandponds.com

Let me know...THANKS:)

[clouxles]

I used eBay to buy my lights from

http://cgi.ebay.ca/48-Power-Compact-Hood-LIGHT-AQUARIUM-lunar-4-65-hood_W0QQitemZ7749562551QQcategoryZ3212QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I purchaed 2 of these, haggle on the shipping, it sometimes works. Fans are a little noisy but I am very satisified. Around 400.00 (CDN) for 520 watts. Nice with the moonlights. And the bulbs they ship are name brands.

I also have to Jebo setups and i DO NOT recommend them. I already have to replace the ballast after a year.

CO2 --- and a monitor with a big tankand lots of light is a good idea.

[Seanc]

whith that much light i would stongly sujest geting co2, and also with the discus, you should get a Ph monitor. also If you want to keep you prices down, you can go DIY, T5 VHO, to get good wattage. BD might still have some T5 balasts.

[BigDaddy]

If you want to have a planted tank with discus, I recommend NOT going with a high light tank.

CO2 injection plays with the pH.  Adding ferts to the water column plays with the pH.  The discus won't appreciate you playing with the water chemistry until you figure out what works to keep algae at bay.

Go for medium light at the best.  That would be around the 2 watt per gallon range.  Then get some nice broad leaf plants like swords and giant hygro to fill up the tank space.

Just my two cents

[babblefish1960]

Those are very shiny pennies Big Daddy, I currently run 160-watts over my 90 g. and I feel it is too bright for the discus, and in an effort to combat the algae, I reduced the hours that they're on.

I have two ballasts on separate timers, so that I can reduce that instant daylight feeling, and I was wondering what your thoughts are regarding putting the canister filter on a timer, so it shuts down for an hour or two at peak CO2 absorption time (midday)

I hate the hair algae, but the rest of it is manageable. Given that the discus are sensitive about the water column, I refuse to do anything other than let what can grow, grow, and if it isn't enough light, well... I'll live without that particular plant.

It has been okay to have lower lighting for most plants, as they merely grow more slowly. Except for the 90 g., everything else runs around 1 1/2-watts per gallon. This seems adequate.

I experimented some years ago with cheap flourescents, and found that in the long run, ordinary cool white tubes, (40-watt, not 32-watt), mixed in with aquarium specific tubes, actually produced much better growth in my plants.

A friend we all know, Heinz, made the same findings, and he has always had beautiful plants at the auctions.

I suppose BD's 2 cents, my 2 cents and another for a mention makes this a plug nickel.

[Aquafish]

Thanks for your responses.

I really appreciate the help!