Upgrading lighting on my Fluval Roma 125l

[Smoothy]

Hi everyone, my first thread here, some great information that I've enjoyed reading for some time 8)

At the moment I have the stock 2 x 20w T8's the tank came with and it just isn't cutting it ... I want to try my hand at some sort of carpet plant HC/Glosso perhaps and just have more options in general regarding plants apart from the Java Ferns and Anubias' I currently have.

From doing a lot of searching around the web I have a couple of options ... one is from a member on here who bought a T5 controller ... I'm looking at this one http://www.arkpetsonline.co.uk/glo-t5-e ... p-663.html and then added it alongside the current lighting. 2 x 20W T8 plus 2 x 24W T5

Second option is to rip the current lighting out, use the above mentioned controller but have that running on it's own so will then be just 2 x 24W T5

Having open top with a Luminaire is not an option unfortunately ... I have snails that are already hanging out when I lift the flaps feeding time and don't fancy them on the living room floor plus I'm not sure the oversized plastic around the edge would accommodate the legs of Luminaires and hanging is also not an option.

Basically after all my waffle 😀 ... I just need to know if the 4 bulbs would be too much, or if the 2 T5's wouldn't be enough

I realise adding extra light will mean the need for a better co2 than I currently use (DIY) so am already looking into pressurized

Hope someone can help me, thanks in advance.

 

[Burnleygaz]

I`d say leave the lighting and invest in a good pressurised co2 system first (you`ll more then likely need it once you go to t5 lights anyway as they are so much more light then what you have currently), most high light plants are really high CO2 and high fert plants , you`d be suprised atwhat you can grow under your current light setup with good co2 and ferts. Staying with low light will give you time to optimize your methods of diffusing and how you get good flow of the co2 to all your plants as under high light you will be penalized very heavily for any slip ups you make with a nice algae farm. Get this sorted first then once your confident you have it under control go for the lights. (and just the 2 t5 tubes would be plenty imo).

I cant remember who said it (i think it was tom barr) but if you have enough light for any plant to photosynthesize then you should be able to grow almost any species in that tank with good co2/ferts. The plants need to expend energy to capture and break down the co2 to carbon and the ferts to the basic building blocks they require to grow and the less energy they expend on these processes the more they can use towards making use of the available light .***Memory might be a bit fuzzy here but im sure clive or somone who knows more then me could clarify this point a bit more***

i`ve only got 1.1 WPG of t8 light on my tank atm and i`ve got DHG shooting our runners daily currently (not quite as demanding a plant as hc or glosso , but it still likes to shoot for the surface if things arn`t to its liking 😛)