I need to buy myself a new lighting fixture as I only have 1.6 watt per gallon at the moment on my 48" x 16" x 16" aquarium (50 US Gallon).

I was wondering would this fixture provide too much light? think it works out at about 6.5 watt per gallon at about 30, 000 lumens.

http://cgi.ebay.ie/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...84.m1423.l2649

I can't find anything in the middle and 2 bulbs is too little, in fact thats what I have now. Can't find any 4 bulb fixtures that will ship to Ireland.

Anyone think that 6 bulb would be ok or would it be overkill? I want to grow red cabomba and have my options open for a future saltwater move too. Would this fixture work with only 4 bulbs maybe?

New to the whole lighting thing and a little confused by searches because everything seems to contradict wth eachother.

P.S I fertilize and use diy CO2 in a 5 litre bottle with a power head diffuser.

Thanks in advance!

that is way to much light, with t5 ho you only need 108 watts, that will grown anything you want to grow in your tank, if you wanted to there are severl manafuctures that make 4 bulb t5ho setups that you can turn only 2 bulbs on at a time, i have one made my marineland, foster and smith sells them not sure about shipping to ireland though

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What happens if you get scared half to death, twice?

Only 2? What if I got the fixture I showed and only used 3 bulbs would that be too much? Then I have the other 3 if I need them in future for a reef aquarium. I was just going on the watt per gallon rule which probably was a mistake. How many lumens does a standard T8 42" bulb produce do you know? Because that's what I have at the moment x 2. Thanks for your help so far I looked at that website you pointed me towards

The fixture you currently have will work for many plants. Are you not getting good growth from it? Even 2-bulb T5HO may be a little too much, but will depend on how you manage the lighting period.

WPG rules only work for T8 bulbs, not T5HO.

Well the bulbs I have at the moment are 42" ,T8 ,40w. That would mean I have 80w of lighting on a 50 Gallon. Which is 1.6w per Gallon. I read that red cabomba needs high lighting and by the watt per gallon rule I have low light?

Unless you just want to start getting plants that have higher light requirements, I wouldn't do it for just one plant. Just have to watch "how high" you go. 2-T5HO will cover anything you need, that much I know. I have that on my 75g.

Just thought I'd update you guys!

Decided finally to get a twin T5HO fixture....Its so bright! Thanks so much for informing me on T5 fixtures. 2 bulbs lights up the tank along with the whole room! Cant imaging 6 bulbs haha. Hopefully the light loving red cabomba will start to recover now. Its been withering away slowly since I put it into the tank.

Thanks again!