Lighting for my plants....

[Dana and Jay]

Just accuired 1 Brazillian Swored and 1 Dwarf Saggitaria and I have determined that my light tube is annywhere between 9 and 12 watts? My question is.... what duration of light do these plants require to thrive, they are not planted, they remain in there pots, as advised by the local fish dude at the pet shop.

Thanx

[DUSTIN323]

The Brazilian sword needs atleast 3WPG & the Dwarf Sagittaria needs 2+WPG. I hear that sword isn't actually a plant that should be fully submerged but is done alot. Do you know about watts per gallons? If not you divide the watts by the gallons, like a 40watt bulb over a 20g tank would be 2WPG. How big is your tank and what type of lightiing do you have and I'll tell you how many watts the bulb has and how many WPGs your tank has.

[Dana and Jay]

29g tank, w/ im guessing an 11 w flourescent tube. Both plants are fully submerged.


EDIT: just found the label on the tube, says its 17w)

[DUSTIN323]

Ok then your light should be 30" long and they have 20 watts. That'd be putting you at under 1WPG like .6. I would probally get a Power Compact lighting system not much at bigalsonline.com or a triple light fixture, but the power compact would be the best option in my opinon for that size of tank and the plants you have a little over 2WPG with a tiple flourescent and about 2.2WPG depending on the power compact light you got.
Here's a thoughts:
Power Compact- http://bigalsonline.com/catalog/prod...d1=1843;pcid2=

[Dana and Jay]

Thank you for your reply. We have a 30" hood, is there anny way that we can just purchase the bulb ONLY? Will the hood compate with any wattage bulb as long as it fits.?

[DUSTIN323]

You can't put a power compact bulb in a standard flourescent fixture. Yes you can put any light over your tank as long as it fits(really even if it's smaller or longer)

[Damon]

You have a cpl of options here. Swords grow just fine submerged.
For a 30 inch fixture you can go with this one..........
http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/...d1=1843;pcid2=
This fixture will provide good lighting, but dark corners in your tank. While its not 2 wpg, the lumens (which is more important than watts), will be more than adequate.

http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/...d1=1843;pcid2=

2 of these is IMO, the best idea. Provides good lighting, and great spread, plus you can stagger the times they come on with 2 timers for a sunrise/sunset effect. Price is about the same also.

They don't make 30 inch triple tube fixture to my knowledge.

Keep in mind with the second option, you will run one fixture for 10 hrs (like 11:00am to 9:00pm. You run the second from 1:00pm to 4:00pm. Running it anymore could lead to algae without Co2.

The first option will not have this setback but will not allow for upgrading either.