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im setting up a 75-gallon tank. i want to have 3 wpg, ill be needing lighting that is 225. will this be 2 lighting tubes, and how much would this cost?

im planning on making c02, would it be beter to just to go out and get the real thing or make one yourself. i already know how to make the home made c02, not sure what size bottle or conatainer to use for my tank though.

DIY CO2 can't support a 75 gallon tank. Some say a 55 is the max you can go with a DIY unit some say even less.

You'll most likely need Compact Flourecent CF lighting, have a look @ [link=hello lights]http://www.hellolights.com/comfluorsys.html" style="COLOR: #EB4288[/link] page.

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For 225 watts you'd need about 6 4-foot 40W tubes. 5 tubes would give you 200W and 6 will give you 240W. Compact Flourescent is a different story, and will be easier to fit over your tank. 4 foot shoplights are pretty cheap and can be found in any home improvement type store. These are T8 and T12 sized bulbs and since they are mass produced, they can be found cheap probably $40 for a fixture with bulbs so $120 rough estimate. Compact flourescent fixtures can be bought online, or in your lfs if you are lucky enough to have a good lfs. These are much more expensive from what I've seen.

I have a 38G tank with DIY CO2 and I need two bottles and a reactor to get the CO2 up to acceptable levels. It could be done in a large tank, but you'd probably need 6 DIY bottles, and that would be a pain. You would have to change a bottle every week.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

i might just have 1 or 2 wpg instead. what wattages do compact flourscent bulbs come in?

im probally not gonna have a co2 system. will plants still look good without it?

Last edited by haRg0wbOi at 15-Dec-2004 20:08

I think the CFs come in 65W for 4 footers. Babelfish gave you a pretty good site there for shopping for CFs. So 2 would give you 130W or ~2WPG.

Growing plants with low-medium light and no CO2 can be done, it's just a little harder without CO2. Keithgh has a great low light/low maintenance anubias spp. tank. I think you can find it over in the photo booth.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients