# Please help with 50 g lighting



## LadyInBlue (Nov 2, 2009)

Hello, 

I have a question regarding lighting and my 50 gallon tank that I just started planting. I'm totally confused by lighting guidelines and I've read through all the stickies and even other peoples posts. It just seems to be over my head. So please help me get this straight.

I am currently running 2 DIY CO2 and I would like to one day (but not for a good while) upgrade to a better/complete system. 

I have eco-complete as my substrate. 

I just can't seem to get my head around lighting. I'm trying to figure out if I have enough to sustain my plant selection. 

At the moment I have a 55 watt compact fluorescent light strip from All-Glass with a 8000 K lamp that came with it but the box also says that there is a 3500 lumens output running. 

I have a spare 65 watt coralife compact fluorescent strip that's 6700 K. 
Although I do need a new lamp. 

The plants I have in there at the moment are some christmas moss (vesicularia dubynana), cryptocoryne wenditii, echinodorus ozelot red, and a small patch of pogostemon helferi. 

I have plans to get a Nymphaea lotus (on of my favourite plants that I have had in the past), a microsorum pteropus 'windelov', another cryptocoryne or two, vesicularis sp., and I'm considering a veratopteris thalictroides, crinum natans, and luduigla. 

There are a few other I'd be interested in but I don't want it to be too complex. Again, I might not get all that is listed either. 

I do just want to have the right conditions for these plants. Any suggestions to the plant list or ones I should take off, I welcome! 

So in relation to the lighting, I could get a new lamp for the coralife and run that instead of the All-glass. And I was even considering setting both up. 

In the past I've just used what's been provided and plants have been trial and error. Most of the plants, if not all, I've grown before. 

But clearly I need some help with the lighting, haha. 

Thanks for any input or suggestions!!!


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## Octavian (Sep 30, 2009)

I use two nova extreme freshwater HO T5 fixtures on my 50g tank. I also have one DIY CO2 bottle and use flourish excel to help the plants grow. Got rid of the compact flourescents since the price of the bulbs are almost the cost of a new fixture.


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