Lighting question

Hey all. Planning my first dirted tank. Loving all the good info on this site. I have a question about lighting. I am planning to buy a 72 gallon aquarium that measures 39w x 25h. It comes with 4 T5ho lights in the hood, and I was wondering if that is too much light. I was planning to do a shorter amount of time for the lights to be on, say 6 hours, but I'm just not sure. I don't want to do CO2.
Any information is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

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Comment by ŦůRbö ۰ Ҏяѻ ۰ on November 26, 2012 at 3:04pm: The general rule is 2 to 3 watts per gallon. Find your wattage and go from there. T5 HO are normally 1+ watt per inch (between 1.1w 1.3w per inch for HO only), So say you have a 40" bulb then you have about 40 watts. The wattage is printed on one end of the tube. If it doesnt actually say "watts" then the model number is the wattage. example: F39T5-HO. This means its a 34 inch, 39 watt bulb. Heres what the K numbers mean: 3000K warm white; 3500K neutral white; 4100K cool white; 6400K daylight. I perfer 6400K for the obvious reason. This is my way of doing lights, and works for me. But others may have other ways; so research and choose the best for you.

Comment by Peter on November 26, 2012 at 7:19pm: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=184368. Read this

Comment by Scott on November 26, 2012 at 7:57pm: Thanks so much for the replies!

Comment by AquaNoob on November 27, 2012 at 12:48am: i think it sort of depends on what type of plants you want to grow too. Some need high light like lillys or hairgrass while others like Java fern or java moss or even some types of ludwigia can grow in very low light. (I've grown those in less than half a watt per gallon)