86 g/325 l lowtech - should i upgrade the lightning?

[JEK]

Hi! My first post on this great forum...

I´m going to rescape my 86 g/325 l aquarium and make it into a low-tech planted tank (its a blackwater biotope at the moment). The lightning is only 2x36 watt T8 and I´m going to have Crypts, ferns, anubias and mosses. Substrate will probably be Aqua Soil Malaya or another nutrient-rich substrate and I´m not going to use CO2. Should i upgrade the lightning to 4x36 watt T8?

[Anti-Pjerrot]

Hi JEK and welcome to ASW

I think your plant choice is good and you could easely go with only 2 x 36W.
I like the slow growing, minimum maintanance tanks and the possibilities are numerous.

You should focus on building a strong hardscape with lots of driftwood and use the mosses and ferns there.

You could use rocks with moss as borders and use the crypts and anubias on rocks to fill out the midground area.

You could consider using a lot of open area with inert substrate, like ADA forest sand.

[JEK]

Hi Kristoffer - i think you know me from 2008*-*Akvarieplanter.dk (kjaer)
I think you have seen my sketch of the planned aquascape there...
Do you have any recommendations on which kind of tubes i should use? I think the ones i have now is Sylvania Daylightstar - i guess thats not the best for plant growth...