planted sump from a 180g frontosa tank

so I'm running this sump instead of a canister for my frontosas and I'm thinking of doing a planted with some guppies and ghost shrimps in the sump. i have a 4x24w t5ho light to put over the sump, the water is about 12 inches deep and light is about 6 inches above water. I'm going to do a bunch of cheap plants

how many bulbs should i run?
what kelvin should i run?

 

I'd run all 4. 5000-6500 Kelvin to maximize plant growth. They'll be a bit yellow and the fish a bit drab ... but the plants will grow faster in that color spectrum.

You could do 3 bulbs in that range, and throw in one in the 14k-20k range to bring out the color in the fish.

 

what about making the plants super green and luscious?

 

IMO a 12inch tank with 4 t5ho is overkill and will burn out plants cause algae issues if you are not doing ferts and pressurized CO2

 

is a colony of 12 frontosa enough ferts of co2?

 

Not really they dont make potassium iron and all the other ferts, maybe enough nitrates lol

 

2 bulbs and ferts?

 

2 bulbs should be good, I like the seachem ferts