Is Higher Light Low Tech possible?

Hi all im new to this Forum,but not to fish keeping. I have a 55g set up with a heavy fish load, and i do mean heavy it is a breeding tank for live bearers. i have bulbs coming to me for my fixture because right now my few plants are suffering, as i am at less than 1wpg. The fixture is 4x54 watt T5 HO.

Basically what i want to know is, if i put 4 bulbs in and run at 3.92WPG do i have to have co2?Or can you do a higher light low tech set it? I do not dose ferts due to my fish load. As i said it has a very heavy fish load most of the time, because even when i do sell off my fry there seems to be replacements born almost instantly.

 

not that this prolly makes much difference but it is on mounting legs setting about 3 inches above the tank and about 6 to 8 inches above the water level.

 

Algae isnt always a bad thing it will feed my monster placo lol

 

Ok well at least i understood most of that, so run 2 bulbs and keep the rest as spares got ya.

 

Is it possible for a high fish load to produce enough CO2 for moderate lighting say 2.5 to 3 Wpg? And the plants in turn produce enough O2 for the fish?

I plan to stay low tech so if it wont work no big deal. Also is it safe to do a "Noon Burst" say run 2WPG all the time and for a couple hours a day run 4 WPG?

Also what happens if you run High Light without CO2?

The tank has a fairly high fish load (at the moment, until some of my molly's are big enough to sell) i would guess (and its only a guess) 60 to 80 fish in a 55g, mostly very small fry, under 1/2 inch.

If i could afford a Pressurized CO2 unit i would get it in a heart beat, but right now its just not in the budget.

 

That part is easy, i have a 4 bulb fixture that i bought back when i was gonna set the tank up as SW, but Due to money problems the idea of a SW tank got scraped, I have a Charity that is sending me 4 bulbs, because at the present time my tank doesn't even count as low light, its under 1 wpg.If i run all 4 bulbs im at 3.92 Wpg.

How can you do a CO2 set up under 100???? Heck the cheapest 5lb tank i can find is 79.00, and i haven't seen a decent regulator under 100.00, then you figure a defuser that is at least 20(If your doing it DIY) and around 30.00 if your buying it. Right there alone is over 200.00 If you have links that i can get the stuff cheaper by all means post them please, but i have looked and looked and that is about the cheapest i can find. And im sure the regulator i found for around 100.00 is prolly crap, but it was cheap.

 

See thats still over 100.00, i wanna know how anyone gets it set up under 100.00.

 

Wont do ebay, got ripped off big time by ebay, not the people the site. i have googled to death, and even people getting out of the hobby that i have see usually want over 200 locally there is one store that carrys CO2 tanks over 150 for a 5lb tank and they have no used tanks, already checked. its the fact that i live i a very small town, under 10,000 people, the demand for these things just isnt there i even checked craigslist and couldnt find anything,I wish i could you have no idea.

 

now if i only had 150 lol