Does anyone have any ideas for a fairly cheap lighting system that would work on my tank that is 48" long and 13" wide(55 gallon) which already has a canopy with 2 15 wat flourecent bulbs from what i have read you need more than that for a lot of plants to grow well. It only has .55 wats per gallon of water i have read that the minimum is around 1.5 to 2 wpg can anyone help

id just go for another starter and full length tube. they will crank the watts in your tank up by atleast 30w. this is about enought for most hardy aquarium plants

where would i put this bc the two other lights take put all of the space for lighting on the top

exactly the problem. th amount of lighting you have at the moment im sure is fine for java fern, java moss,anubias and other easy plants

just google hardy tropical aquarium plants and this is well worth a read for the novice http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.u...article_id=254

aren't 15W tubes only 18" long?most 48" tubes[t8]are 36W each so id try to go for at least another 2 15W but instead of adding x2 whites why not add x1 white + x1 blue attinic

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I expect with a 48" tank you can have 30w tubes the bulbs are around 3ft. I would try and get two double light unit starters and run 4 x 30w this will give you just over 2wpg which is ok for a good deal of plants. Still couldnt grow red leafed plants under that though. Need to pay some attention to the spectrum of the bulbs as well and may be worth doing some reading up on

What do yall think about putting one of these on each side of the tank

http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/prod/209210/product.web

What i would do is!.... go to b&q, get two light tube fittings, they're about 15 quid each. buy some grolux tubes or whatever. stick them two together with glue, build a surround out of a square piece of wood cut into shape, like a lampshade.

then get some chain and hooks and hang it from the ceiling.

This is what my cousin did with a 3 footer that i gave him and it looks brillint, use some paint etc, bobs your uncle!

theres a german co/ on ebay that do good quality luminaires t5 + t8 the buy now prices are ok but if you bid you can get a very good bargain the co is EQJ TRADING...go to the auction link at top of page,click on lighting, search through items youll find em

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