# 35 gallon lighting



## deuces (Oct 11, 2010)

Hi everyone,

First let me just say what a nice find this local forum is! Been lurking around and reading the helpful posts 

I want to start my adventure into planted aquariums with an old 35 gallon tank I have lying around. I come from a low-light aqua background where i mainly kept fish and java ferns (the only thing that grew).

Am i putting too much light into a 35 gallon aquarium if i get one of these 2x39W T5 HO light fixtures? I worry that the HO will cause algae problems even though the combo fits within the watts per gallon rule. Would I have to use Co2 (something i may consider in the future but just want to get started first).

I welcome your comments and/or suggestions! Thanks!


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## WiyRay (Jan 11, 2009)

Hello Hello,

Welcome to the forums!

I think the T5HO will probably be more than enough for you to grow high-light plants. Chances are, you will run into some algae problems, especially if you have mostly slow growing plants and plants that float near the surface close to the light. So definitely look into CO2, I think you can get away with a DIY bottle of CO2, or maybe 2 bottles depending on the circumstances. 

Its more work but definitely worth it if you can pull it off. 

Let us know how it goes.


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## penpal (Feb 20, 2009)

You can just unscrew one bulb and see how things go, at those levels, without fert or co2 the tank would be covered in algae. I used to do 4 2L bottles diy with 96w of T5HO in my 36 bow front until i went pressurized.

To give you an idea of how much lighting that would be.
The HC carpet that once covered the whole bottom had a massive die off when I turned the heater up too high ;/
2wpg of T5HO is like 3~4 wpg T8 which was what the wpg rule is based on. Its pretty much irrelevant now.


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## deuces (Oct 11, 2010)

Thanks for the tips!

Sounds like I may very well need the C02 to keep the algae from taking over. I kinda was thinking the dual T5's just in case i upgrade later too... save on some money by buying the double unit. Great idea to just trial it with the one bulb, think i'll do that at the beginning. Will let ya know how it goes.... hopefully not in over my head yet 

btw nice tank!


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## penpal (Feb 20, 2009)

Ya my train of thought is the same, I rather buy something once then having to upgrade later on. 

GL on your tank


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