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Just recently re-stocked my 20 gal tank with plants..er started to anyway.
It's got me thinking about possibly going live in my 125 gal which is 6 ft long and almost 2 ft deep (I forget exact dimensions). it only has 2 single light strips in it. So I asked LFS about what type of strips to get and he suggested some. Anyone else go ideas? Where I might get this online at a good price? I've also considered plant lighting one side of the tank, and doing rock/cave formations on the other side. Get 2 Bright strips on the plants size (the ones with the U shaped bulbs?) and just a regular strip on the shady side..this would cut cost of plant lighting the WHOLE tank in half..plus would actually be kinda neat and give the fish some variety..

Also, are larger tanks easier to mainting with plants..or harder? I mean water parameter wise..like with the smaller tanks it's very easy to get unbalanced..but you have more room in a big tank. It's a tank that already very established btw. Had 2 big oscars and a pleco so I think it's very fertile lol.

Do you still have the Oscars in there? If so, I would use some heavy pots filled with soil & plant 'hard-leafed' types, like anubias, crypts or echinodorus & infil the tops with gravel.

If you put the soil & gravel in one end with the rocks (using the rocks as "walls", you could grow some of your plants out of small gaps in the rocks on the top sides (sorry, really need to draw a picture for that one).

You may also find too that the darker/shadier side would bring out some more natural behaviour is some fish that you had (unless you still have the oscars & can't introduce any new young ones )

You could also maybe graduate the background so that it runs from lighter to darker lenghtwise & also lighter at the top/darker to the bottom to give nice effect.

Hope it works out
Deb

In wildness, nature is not human-hearted!

Not got rid of the Oscars. The pleco is still there only because i haven't caught it yet..when I lower the water soon, he's going back to LFS also.
I'm still leaning on bright on one side/darker on the other..just seems like it would be neat to give the fish some dark hiding spaces.

If you plant the tank heavily enough, and possibly add some driftwood, you will already have some shady nooks for the fish to hide in.

I would go to your nearest home center and look for some six foot shop lights. Make sure to get daylight bulbs. That would be the lowest cost solution.

If your budget can handle it, then I would look into VHO lighting with electronic ballasts. Some good sites are http://www.ahsupply.com]http://www.ahsupply.com[/link] and [link=http://www.hellolights.com. You can either get a complete hood or a DIY setup.