Wow, 175+ watts over a 40 gallon for your plants? I sure hope you plan on putting on a CO2 injection system and a nutrient dosing routine real soon... or your fish and plants are going to get smoothered in algae. I know that if I slack off on my 70 gallon (with 220 watts) for a period of time, everything gets choked up with algae. To the more experienced aquarist, you obviously didn't do much research before jumping into this. My suggestiong? Take down those lights, buy yourself a cheap flouresecent setup from Home Depot, and get yourself floating plants. That would bring your light levels down to "low", make things easier on your power bill, algae won't take over your tank, and the floating plants will provide additional cover for your fish.
Good luck with selling Rams... I know that its difficult for the average keeper to break even in this kind of business, and even more difficult for them to make money.
-Richer
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