finally my plants are growing

[Guest]

well i tried doing lowlight plants in my 55 gallon but they never thrived, i finally figured out it was becuase there was only 30 watts of light in the 15 gallon tank, even though they were "Plantgro" blubls. Go figure.. LOL.

Anyway since i have decided to do african cichlids in my 55 i have converted a small 10 gallon acrylic aquarium to a low light planted tank with a 15 watt plant grow bulb. 1.5 watts per gallon. And it is doing wonderfully!!! The plants are growing very well and i see new propigations (right word? LOL) of the Dwarf saggitarie and corckscrew vals all the time. They anacharis is also beginning to grow pretty good in the background and the Javafern is taking a good hold on the driftwood. It's really turning out to be a very rewarding tank... and although i do have a thread asking if people think its overstocked ( a completely different story) The fish are thriving and there have been absolutely no losses since this tank has been up and running.

 

[travis simonson]

Congrats Ashley I'm glad you're enjoying your experience with plants. It only gets more fun from here on out

 

[BillD]

The plantgro tubes, such as grolux, are not a good choice as they have very poor light output. I have had much better results with Natural Sunshine (5000K) and Daylight (6500K), primarily because they produce more light per watt. I'm having good luck with a recently planted tank (30 gal) with 1 T8 32W Philips Natural Sunshine tube. The plants are pearling. I do have a little topsoil mixed into the lower level of the substrate, but other than that it is low tech. I started with about 60 plants, which I think also helps. This tank is also only 12" deep. Good luck and keep at it. The world of aquatic horticulture is almost as fascinating as the fish we keep.

 

[Crusis]

Your doomed. Plants are just as addicting as fish, and will slowly consume your life. Get out now while you can!

Now that you've got the bug, how long before you CO2 inject, buy incredibly expensive substrate, and start spouting off the names of the plants in Latin to impress your friends?

 

[Guest]

Your doomed. Plants are just as addicting as fish, and will slowly consume your life. Get out now while you can!

Now that you've got the bug, how long before you CO2 inject, buy incredibly expensive substrate, and start spouting off the names of the plants in Latin to impress your friends?

LOL!!! I already did a DIY CO2 system once in my 55 gallon tank just to try it out... but im really not into all that... too much work!