I currently am getting ready to set up my planted tank. I intend for it to be heavily planted.
My tank is a 55 gallon (short - about 36 inches long).
I currently have a Power Compact light fixture that can house two 96 watt bulbs (36"). The bulbs I have are 1-10k and 1-actinic. The actinic will be going bye-bye as it won't do anything for my tank leaving me with 1-96W bulb.
I will be injecting CO2 using a pressurized system. I will have about 2-4 inches of substrate (eco-complete). I will be using an Eheim canister filter.
I will be dosing Ferts using the EI method (yeah that means 50 percent water changes
).
My question is, should I get another bulb or would that be overkill at the early stage? Will I still get acceptable plant growth with one 96 watt bulb or will that not be enough light? I don't want the plants to go crazy but I don't want growth to be practically non-existant.
What about photoperiod? I heard short is good in the beginning working up to longer durations. Start with 4 hours? 5 hours? 8 hours?
Any suggestions would be good.
My tank is a 55 gallon (short - about 36 inches long).
I currently have a Power Compact light fixture that can house two 96 watt bulbs (36"). The bulbs I have are 1-10k and 1-actinic. The actinic will be going bye-bye as it won't do anything for my tank leaving me with 1-96W bulb.
I will be injecting CO2 using a pressurized system. I will have about 2-4 inches of substrate (eco-complete). I will be using an Eheim canister filter.
I will be dosing Ferts using the EI method (yeah that means 50 percent water changes
My question is, should I get another bulb or would that be overkill at the early stage? Will I still get acceptable plant growth with one 96 watt bulb or will that not be enough light? I don't want the plants to go crazy but I don't want growth to be practically non-existant.
What about photoperiod? I heard short is good in the beginning working up to longer durations. Start with 4 hours? 5 hours? 8 hours?
Any suggestions would be good.