Lighting for handbuilt 29L Nano

[Katch]

In an effort to avoid doing my PGCE assignments I went ahead on a whim and built this;

I'm just thinking about lighting and have a couple of questions. The tank is 38cm x 30 x 25. I'm planning low tech dense planting (Iwagumi style).

Questions are;

What lighting do I need for reasonable growth?

What's the cheapest way of going about getting it? I'd prefer off the shelf but I can solder pretty well if DIY is drastically cheaper.

I also have a CO2 system running on my main tank which I may split to feed this tank too, so it would be nice to have lighting that would suit that (or be easily upgradable).

 

[TommyG]

Nice tank build! I have thought about having a go at building my own too several times, but after seeing this I might have to have a go.

Lighting wise im not really sure as im new to this myself. Im sure someone will be along to help shortly. But looking forward to seeing it scaped.

 

[a1Matt]

This is a semi-educated guess (I am happy for someone with more knowledge to tell me I am wrong!)....

Buying a T5 ballast and wiring it in yourself is probably cheapest initial outlay.
DIY LED fittings will probably not save you anything on the initial expense, but will offer cheaper running costs and not need replacement lamps anywhere near as often. Interesting thread on it here: viewtopic.php?f=50&t=3687&start=220

 

[Katch]

I've ended up with a T5 24W Compact over it. Not adding any kind of CO2 at the moment coz its currently full of 1 week old Celestial Pearl Danios.

I've planted with dwarf hair grass, pygmy chains and a little anubias for now. Got some glosso and HC coming soon so might try one of those in there soon.

I am having some diatoms and other algae at the moment but hopefully that will go when the plants bed in a bit and I increase the filter flow again.

 

[Radik]

I have 36W on 43L which is almost equivalent to your 30L 24W. Lamp is Compact T5 PLL but very close to surface (DIY) with dimming ballast and I found it too bright and with slight algae issues. I had to buy dimmer switch and reduce brightness. So all will depend how high from water level your light will be I think. There are some ultra cheap dimmable ballasts on ebay for 24W compact bulbs. I also find it useful to slow plant grow rate as I had to trim rotalas every weak with my bright light.