Low Light Plants for a ongoing project tank.

[owen0992]

What are good low-light plants that will grow well with a DIY Co2 system? I'm on a budget and cannot but all the expensive lightings and co2 setups. It will be a low-tech tank. I will post a picture tomorrow of the tank itself.

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Just out of curiosity... what size tank is it and the type of light you're going to use?

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Some low light tolerant plants off the top of my head are java fern, anubias, crypts, java moss, marimo moss balls, jungle vallisneria, dwarf sagittaria, and swords just to name a few.

 

[owen0992]

I am actually selling my playstation 3 because I don't ever really play anymore so I will be able to purchase a marineland LED light for the tank, which is 10 gallons btw. Are LED light low/medium/or high lights? I will also be able to get a fertilizer for the plants now. Just no high tech CO2. Which ferns or mosses will cling onto things in aquariums? I have a 3D rock wall the covers the majority of the back and right side of the tank with an underwater sandfall in the corner and was hoping to cover most of the wall with something. I found the thread for your GLA nano tank and it looks amazing!!! I have about 30 dollars to spend on plants, it won't look nearly as awesome as yours but hoping to make it look pretty decent.

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Well all LED's aren't the same... they all have different intensities and can come in low, moderate, or high. The Marineland fixtures aren't the greatest IMO. You can do much better for the same amount of money. DIY CO2 is totally fine and I actually use it on my 12g nano cube (linked in my signature). I'm really liking my Finnex Ray 2 fixture... if it's within your budget, you should consider that one. If not, you can probably get a T5 fixture and grow plenty of plants with that. What are you going to use for substrate?

Oh and thanks for the compliment on my GLA nano project.

 

[owen0992]

Will this work for a 10 gallon. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B007URDEO0/ref=aw_d_detail ? It has both 7000K and 10000K lights. Is 7000 k in the low light range?

 

[owen0992]

Substrate is premium black aquarium sand mostly because it'll make the sandfall look cool.

 

[owen0992]

So I think I found the plants I want in the new tank.
1. Crinum Calamistratum, 2. Red Tiger Lotus, 3. Rotala Wallichi, 4Glossostigma (for carpeting), and 5. Dwarf Sagittaria. Attached are some pictures of various stages of the DIY background/sandfall. It is in the tank that I am going to plant in a couple weeks. It's going to be a couple weeks because I still have to leech the concrete from the background so I don't kill my fish. Pic 1 is a nearly completed product. Pic 2 is it put together in it's tank. And pic 3 is it submerged in water. It will look much better once I get the sandfall going and get some plants in there.

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Looking good and very creative with your use of materials. Since you're using sand, you should probably place some flourish root tabs in there. As for the light, you should get the dual 7000K. The one im using has two strips of 7000k and it's super white and bright. If you get the 7000k/10000k combo, it might look very white almost blue. The "k" numbers just stand for the light temperature as in color (not heat) or intensity. Closer to the 6000k range mimics the sun and it's suppose to be most ideal for plants. Even so my fixture has dual 7000k strips, I hardly detect any warm color in it... Like i said, it's very white compared to my PC florescent lighting of similar color temperature.

I think the seller on Amazon must have sold out of the dual 7000k ("DS" model). You can buy it directly from their site at http://www.aquavibrant.com/index.php/finnex-ray-ii-ultra-slim-led-ds-dual-7000k.html or message them on Amazon about it if you prefer to buy it there through them. If you have an Amazon Prime membership you may benefit from buying on Amazon.