# lighting



## myles (Feb 27, 2005)

Im currently in the pocess of building my 360g plywood tank 24x36x96 and I would love to have a planted tank, not a huge number of plants but a few. i was looking at soem of the compact florecent strips and wonderd , do u think i could get away with a 72" 384w strip? i mena thats only a little more then 1wpg but if u put the plants near it would it be enough or would i acualy have 2 spring for maby 2 of these, and if so if there like soemthign els i coudl do like jsut buy a cuple huge bulbs from a hydrocponic store or somthing cuz one alone is fairly pricey itself plsu im in canada and the prices here already blow haha. thanx alot


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## $MirF (Jul 2, 2005)

myles said:


> Im currently in the pocess of building my 360g plywood tank 24x36x96 and I would love to have a planted tank, not a huge number of plants but a few. i was looking at soem of the compact florecent strips and wonderd , do u think i could get away with a 72" 384w strip? i mena thats only a little more then 1wpg but if u put the plants near it would it be enough or would i acualy have 2 spring for maby 2 of these, and if so if there like soemthign els i coudl do like jsut buy a cuple huge bulbs from a hydrocponic store or somthing cuz one alone is fairly pricey itself plsu im in canada and the prices here already blow haha. thanx alot
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> ...


i think it would depend on what type of plant u are gona put in. u got details on the building of ur plywood tank?? i have been planning to build one, got any tips? im in vancouver bc


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## myles (Feb 27, 2005)

hey their,umm the palnts im thnikign of are fairly simple ones, jsut green plants like swords, java fern and moss, vals, and maby jsut the odd other thing but all the planst im lookign at are quite similer to that, im picking the more simple plants to look after. umm advice on the pywood tank, im not really sure, this is my first attempt to do it, iv justr been pm b.rogers, for advice. i would pm him for advice he makes loads of them







I sure hope mine dosnt explode in my basment, il be keeping my fingers crossed hahaha. I live near u to acualy i live in victoria B.C. if mine turns out well i will let u all kno for sure tho, and post some pics


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## spree_rider (Mar 20, 2004)

if you center your light above your plants with a good reflector you need less wpg, because most of the unplanted gallons are going to be unlit remember wpg is just a rough guide. 
nice to see lots of people from bc posting, i myself am from port alberni, just a bit north of victoria. 
James


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## myles (Feb 27, 2005)

hey good to meet ya, im also happy to see ppl with a serious intrest of this in the area







. by refelctors do u mena like angled glass becide the bulbs to create a more intence beam?


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## Bawb2u (May 27, 2004)

You don't need to light your entire tank to raise plants, only the places where the plants are, if you get what I mean. You could have clumps of plants with pendants or strips over them and unlit spots with no plants for open swimming area. Sort of like sunlight coming through a heavy leaf canopy, only beams hit the water not a total uniform light. I see so many people that are mentally locked into the "I need x amount of watts because my tank is x amount of gallons" when in reality you ONLY need the light where the plants are. Granted if you have your entire bottom covered in plants you'd need to light the whole tank but spotlit planted areas will work fine and actually look more natural than one huge glowingly lit tank.


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## myles (Feb 27, 2005)

oh awsom! that sonds good and soudns like a neat effect of light aswel. thank u very much il try and do that


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