# No good way to light 55 gal w/ CF?



## mattguzi (Nov 14, 2006)

After reading through many of the lighting posts here I've about come to the conclusion that there is no good way for me to light my 55 gal. tank with the Compact Flourescent Fixture I have. Here's my thinking:

1) My fixture takes 21" CF bulbs which makes my options either 55 or 65 Watt bulbs. 
2) Therefore, the lighting range with 4 bulbs is 220-260 total watts or 4-4.7 wpg. Everything I've seen here says that's A LOT of light that will most likely create serious algae issues. 
3) If I only put 2 CF's in the possible range is 110-130 total watts or 2-2.36. Which I believe limits me to low-moderate light plants.

Am I missing something here? Is there a good way to light my 55 gal. tank with this fixture or do I just need to upgrade to a 75 gal. tank - which may have serious marital consequences for me  - but would put me in the lighting range 2.9-3.4 wpg?


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## sarcare (Sep 10, 2006)

Really either of those lighting options can work depending on what you plan on growing in the tank. I have 2 X 65w on my 55g, which lets me grow quite a wide range of plants. I had an additional 64w of NO light on there, but that led to some algae problems, but all the plants are still growing. 

If you were to go with the higher lights, you'd just have to make sure that you kept up with ferts, co2, and kept the plant mass up. I know people with that range of high-high light who have stunning tanks with little algae problems, it just takes more work.


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## dnrdarryl (Jul 23, 2006)

I have 4 21 inch 55 watt CF bulbs on mine. 2 in front 2 in back. No algea problems.


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## mattguzi (Nov 14, 2006)

dnrdarryl said:


> I have 4 21 inch 55 watt CF bulbs on mine. 2 in front 2 in back. No algea problems.


With 4+ wpg lighting, what do you have for CO2? Algae Eaters? What is your bulb mix? How long is each set of lights on each day? How heavily planted is the tank? Any other recommendations for making it work?

Thanks for the help!


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## neonfish3 (Feb 12, 2004)

I have a 55 gallon with 2x65w and 2x55w. I keep the 2x65w on for 10hrs and the 2x55w go on for 4 hrs. in the middle of my lighting period. I used to have all the lights on for the full 10 hrs. This didn't lead to algae, but too rapid of growth of my stem plants. So I cut the lights down to the noon burst pattern of lighting. I do have CO2 and high fertilization per the EI method.
My 55g. is in my sig.


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

I use 2.4 watts per gallon of PC bulbs (AH Supply) on my 45 gallon tank. I haven't run into any plant problems due to insufficient light. My higher light requirement plants that I put at the front of the tank, where there is little direct light, still grow fine, but with less color. Those directly under the lights grow great, with great colot. So, I don't see a good reason to go to 4+ watts per gallon, with all of the algae problems that can lead to.


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## ruki (Jul 4, 2006)

Another repeat of my bias against compact fluorescent tubes. 

With a 48 inch tank, it seems really silly to use compact fluorescent tubes which are bent back against themselves. There are linear T8, T5 and T5HO tubes which perfectly fit this length and can have much better reflectors.

I have a 55 tank with a 6-tube T5 HO TekLight over it. I usually only use 4 tubes which is 216 watts. That's about 4 watts per gallon, but the reflector is so good it's more like 6 watts per gallon with what other people are using. Not too many algae problems, but am using C02 and heavy nutrient dosing. Have some hair algae, but it's controllable.


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