is there anyway to have sufficient lighting for a 75 gallon freshwater tank with low to mod. lighting plants for under or around 100 bucks?
planted on a budget.
- Thread starter suprakid95
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www.aquatraders.com will come close. I would suggest one of their t5 units for such a goal. GL...let me know if that works out for you.
i went to home depot for the lights but as far as i am informed i need about 3 watts per gallon and the shoplights even with 4 fixtures were 40 watt each...thats still not enough for a 75g?
A lot of people who have complete "non-budgeted" tanks dont have the high 3-4 watts per gallon (which is somewhat antiquated anyways) that is "required" for high end plants. Its more about meeting the plants in the middle.
If you have good substrate, good co2, and quality light, you dont need as much of any one single component. Many people with the HO bulbs are using 2-3 wpg without any problems, and dense fast growth.
That being said with you wanting to save money...I dont know what we are going to do. Its best to have co2. It just is. There are some problems associated with it, and it has a start up cost, but no matter what happens you are going to want it sooner or later in your planted tank. Might be better to save a little money for some fixtures and a co2 system, and then set up your system when you are fully ready.
If you have good substrate, good co2, and quality light, you dont need as much of any one single component. Many people with the HO bulbs are using 2-3 wpg without any problems, and dense fast growth.
That being said with you wanting to save money...I dont know what we are going to do. Its best to have co2. It just is. There are some problems associated with it, and it has a start up cost, but no matter what happens you are going to want it sooner or later in your planted tank. Might be better to save a little money for some fixtures and a co2 system, and then set up your system when you are fully ready.
i have the money to do it right i just need to start controlling how much i spend on my fish lol so i decided to start going on a budget. i think http://shop.aquatraders.com/Odyssea-48in-4x54W-T5-HO-Light-Fixture-Pro-Series-p/52211.htm will be more then ample lighting for what i want, im going to have one solitary fish (black rhom 2 inch) maybe a snail or two that isnt plant hungry, one or two pieces of drift wood maybe with some java moss on it and easy to maintain plants nothing fancy. and i dont want so many plants that you cant see the fish just enough for the fish to feel comfortable. so that being said is a co2 system necessary?
i'd stick with normal output bulbs for a low tech tank. get some 4ft shop lights from lowes/home depot, get the right bulbs and call it a day! cant get any cheaper than that!
Agreed. My friend had a nice low-tech tank with that, but spent a lot of money on excel...and now he has co2 a little less than a year later. You have to think long term with these tanks I guess.