lighting

[pumbus]

I have a 90G that i'm looking to stock with some live plants,

will the double tube 4' flouresent light be enough,I have to get new bulbs beceause i think thats the reason for my plants dieing before,what is a good bulb to get and about how much will they be,something half cheap,i'm thinking the tubes that kents have for for plants,
In the tank will be a breeding pair of walking cats,

 

[WyldFya]

Can't answer the question without knowing what kind of plants. Unless they are anubias, java fern or java moss, it is likely that they will not survive. For a tank that size I would be looking at a coralife freshwater compact florescent light fixture. Where your double strip is probably around 50W, the coralife is at 130W. Which is still really low. For most plants you will need more lighting, but low light plants like anubia, java moss/fern, water sprite, and amazon swords can withstand low lighting. If you want to keep any plants with red in them, or even orange you will be looking at around 4-5 or more wpg, which for a 90 would be 360W-450W.

Your plants may be dying for a few reasons, do you fertilize the tank, what kind of substrate, what are the params, how often do you do w/c and do you gravel vac?

 

[HarleyK]

Howdy,

IMO, the 90 gal is borderline to requiring power compacts. You may be able to do with 4 regular fluorescent light strips, I had pretty good luck with that on my 80 gal. Just in case $$$ is too tight for a major upgrade. Four fluorescent bulbs will certainly be enough for anything Cryptocoryne, Echinodorus or what Wyld mentioned.

HarleyK

 

[pumbus]

i'm not looking for anything too crazy,just some basic plants that will fill out the tank,they have to be hardy beceause chances are that they are gonna be uprooted every now and then,i really like amazon swords,also if anybody has any ideas on how i should lay out the tank would be greatly appreachiated ,there has to be enough room for a cave about 25cm's or so in diameter for the cats,but i may rig something up so i can have plants on top of the cave

 

[WyldFya]

If the cave is made of rock or wood java fern, java moss, and anubias will attach pretty easily. I would just upgrade to the PC hood. IME amazon swords do really poorly under anything less than 1wpg. Since you have the double tube 48" strip, try getting a 24" coralife PC hood, should be around $52-75, that will jump you 65 watts. Which is more than a double T8 set will get you.

 

[pumbus]

i might be able to get another single tube 4' light