[Wet Thumb Forum]-Lighting for 24" square planted aquarium

[vandermark5]

Hi,

I am thinking of setting up a 24" x 24" x 18" planted aquarium (roughly 40 gallons), and I wondering how to set up the lighting. Currently, in my 10 gallon tank (10" wide) I have a 28 watt Coralife aqualight (5" wide) and I have noticed how everything grows towards the middle of the tank where the light is strongest. Now with a 24" wide tank, I am thinking that I am going to need two or three bulbs equally spaced out, which makes me think I am going to need to build a custom hood. My preference would be not to have a hood, but spacing out three aqualights would be worse. Any help/thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks.