I will soon be setting up a 40 gallon breeder and I have a question about lighting. I have found two different lighting fixtures that I am trying to choose between. I plant to use lots of driftwood with plants like java fern, anubias nana, and java moss attached (for easier tank maintenance). I may try a few swords and other fast growing plants in the substrate as well, and i have considered some more 'high maintenance' plnts down the line. The lighting options are as follows: both are manufactured by Odyssea. One supports 4x 39W T5 bulbs (156 total watts) and the other supports 2x 39W T5 bulbs (78 total watts). Both are reasonably priced. Opinions? Alternatives? Any info is greatly appreciated!

__________________
29 gallon planted tank
- 8 harlequin rasboras
- 7 neon tetras
- Kribensis pair with fry
- 3 nerite snails

40 gallon breeder
- stock to be determined!

20 gallon high (maintained at work)
- 6 serpae tetras
- 4 peppered corydoras

5 gallon hex (maintained at work)
- crowntail betta

If I remember correctly 40 breeders aren't that tall so your 78 watt option would be fine for the plants you are planning. I think 156 watts on that tank with no CO2 would lead to problems with algae. However if you add CO2 and a good substrate you could grow yourself a nice carpet with the 156 watt fixture.

Thank you very much Will! Would it work to get the four bulb fixture and only use 2 bulbs at a time for now?

__________________
29 gallon planted tank
- 8 harlequin rasboras
- 7 neon tetras
- Kribensis pair with fry
- 3 nerite snails

40 gallon breeder
- stock to be determined!

20 gallon high (maintained at work)
- 6 serpae tetras
- 4 peppered corydoras

5 gallon hex (maintained at work)
- crowntail betta

A 40B is only 16" tall....sort of short. If you raised the light about 8 inches you could go with 2X39W and that would put you squarly in the medium light area. CO2 may still be needed for that. Even with 2X39W T5HO, if you don't raise it you will be in the high light bracket and you'll just be asking for trouble you don't want, IMO. 4X39W is just way overkill.

I would look for a T5NO fixture and do that. That way you could probably mount right above the tank, still be able to have any plant you may want, but with much less trouble.

Remember - WPG doesn't apply to T5HO and some fixtures can have the effectiveness of as much as 4 times their rated wattage.

You might look into sprial pig tail tubes that replace incandescent bulbs. I just place them in round spot type reflectors then set that on a 1/4 square plastic grid (eggcrate) lighting diffuser.
Get it up to 2w per gallon (like the 76 w fixture) of 6500k light and you should be fine.

my .02

__________________
fw leiden since 1979, fo salt since 1979, mixed reef 55g 2002-2009. Strong emphasis on the tank taking care of itself. Balanced with plant life, no water changes, tap water, no filters in FW. Only dosing calcium, alk, mag in marine reef tanks. http://www.aquariumforum.com/f15/my-...ods-26410.html
recent tanks (till 2009) 7 years- 10g FW leiden 7 yrs, 55g mixed reef 7, 2 yrs, 20g FW leiden, 10 g fw leiden , 29g mixed reef, current tank 55g leiden

I don't see why that would not work, but I'm not an electrician.

If you don't raise the fixture with 2 bulbs in it, you will have a terrible time with BBA algae. Your CO2 and fertilizer dosing (both of which you will have no choice to do) would have to be right on. Throw one thing out of balance and it will spiral out of control fast. It can be done, so hope you have the experience working what will be necessary. You may be able to only run that for 3-4hrs a day and that be it. That will at least slow down the eventual.

I'll pm a couple of links for you to read about lighting and direct you to a place where the same initial question you asked here has been asked many, many times.