# Planting 38g, recommended lighting?



## CloneME (Feb 24, 2006)

I am trying to get back into plants again. I have a 38 gallon in my bedroom that recently had an elong in it that well decided to take a carpet ride that didn't end up so well. So it sat empty for a couple weeks and I decided to try to plant it. It has a play sand substrate. I still have tons of ferts from when I used to have my 125 planted, so I am not worried about keeping my plants supplied with ferts. I went to my lfs yesterday and picked up a few plants. Got some nice crypts, some dwarf sag, and some java moss. Right now all I have is a strip light above it. So I am trying to pick a light fixture that will allow me to grow some of the plants I bought and a few other low/medium light plants. I am trying to avoid co2 so I don't want to go with too much light. I thought about picking up this fixture

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod...amp;pcatid=9871

Would this be sufficient or should I go with something else?
Thanks
Biz


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## ryanimpreza (Jul 19, 2006)

more then sufficient.


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## CloneME (Feb 24, 2006)

Thanks it comes with a 50/50 6700K bulb. Should I upgrade to a different bulb or would this be sufficient. Also I guess I do have an odyssea 48" power compact I could buy bulbs for. Any recommendations on certain bulbs to buy?
Biz


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## waldron (Jan 15, 2007)

i had a planted tank before and i just used a shop light with a basic plant/aquarium light from the home depot


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## CloneME (Feb 24, 2006)

That is what I currently have over my 125, looking to go with a little better light setup for this 38g though. I plan on having it for a while so I would like to get something nice.
Thanks though
Biz


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## waldron (Jan 15, 2007)

Biznas Man said:


> That is what I currently have over my 125, looking to go with a little better light setup for this 38g though. I plan on having it for a while so I would like to get something nice.
> Thanks though
> Biz


 no problem,


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## CloneME (Feb 24, 2006)

I decided to go with a fixture similar to the one I mentioned earlier except it has two 96w bulbs instead of just one. I think I should have more than enough lighting now. Here's a link to the page if you wanna check it out.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod...mp;pcatid=13733

Thanks for the advice guys
Biz


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## JoeDizzleMPLS (Nov 5, 2007)

looks good, but you're gonna want to swap out that actinic bulb for something else, maybe a 6700k or 10000k, actinics do nothing for plants.


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## maknwar (Jul 16, 2007)

Wow thats gonna be a lot of light. Hope you got pressurized co2 with that.


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## CloneME (Feb 24, 2006)

Ya I know it will be a lot of light, but I figure its time to step out of the kiddy pool and plunge into the deep end. I have grown low light and medium lighted plants susccessfully before. Guess its time to step it up a notch and go into the dreaded world of pressurized co2. I need to start doing some shopping on ebay.
Biz


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