first planted 55 gal

[brian7]

Hi i currently have a 55 gal. I just randomly bough two plants while i was at the store. i believe a dwarf four leaf clover? and some kind of sword? it has been a couple weeks the clover seems to be doing pretty well as it is spreading out. the sword is ok new leaves sprouting, some leave look like they have tears in them, but its not brown generally light and dark green... Any ways my question is how many plants should i have? I don't want a lot and i don't want co2. and any suggestions on a plant? i do use fertilizer.

 

[zooking12]

Cool. I have a 55g also and im trying to plant it. Post some pics please. Thanks

 

[brian7]

advice anyone please! thanks

 

[Hubert90]

Hi i currently have a 55 gal. I just randomly bough two plants while i was at the store. i believe a dwarf four leaf clover? and some kind of sword? it has been a couple weeks the clover seems to be doing pretty well as it is spreading out. the sword is ok new leaves sprouting, some leave look like they have tears in them, but its not brown generally light and dark green... Any ways my question is how many plants should i have? I don't want a lot and i don't want co2. and any suggestions on a plant? i do use fertilizer.

Please give us your tank depth and Ur hood specs (what wattage and Kelvin (K)) then we can go from there!

 

[brian7]

I am not at home so I am not 100% sure, its al least a foot and a half deep most likely deeper than than ( maybe at most 2 1/2). its rectangle aguarium, i know its four feet wide. On the wattage... i have no idea whatever lights came with the hoods... in the evening it gets a little indirect sunlight...

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

Hi i currently have a 55 gal. I just randomly bough two plants while i was at the store. i believe a dwarf four leaf clover? and some kind of sword? it has been a couple weeks the clover seems to be doing pretty well as it is spreading out. the sword is ok new leaves sprouting, some leave look like they have tears in them, but its not brown generally light and dark green... Any ways my question is how many plants should i have? I don't want a lot and i don't want co2. and any suggestions on a plant? i do use fertilizer.

Hey Brian,

I'm guessing you bought a 55 Gallon kit, coming with lights, hood, filter, heater, etc. If that's the case the plants are just growing on their own pretty much, meaning in around 2-3 months they will stop growing and start dying. This is because you don't have proper lighting.

For a planted tank you need special lights. I suggest replacing the light fixtures all together and get some dual t5 fixtures. For an easy planted tank I suggest getting fixtures and bulbs with 6700k and enough wattage for 1.5 to 2wpg. This will grow low to medium light plants and will not need co2 and will benefit from fertilzers and special substrate.

For substrate I suggest an Eco-Complete substrate, they are used commonly. More expensive stuff is the ADA brand.

Lights I suggest just googling for aquarium grow light fixtures and find what one would fit what I explained.

Ben

 

[brian7]

thanks. ben. although it wasnt a kit everything was seperate, so buying new fixtures is not an option after paying $90 for current ones. can i just change the bulbs?

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

thanks. ben. although it wasnt a kit everything was seperate, so buying new fixtures is not an option after paying $90 for current ones. can i just change the bulbs?

I see, yeah you can most certainly switch the bulbs out. What kind of fixtures are you currently using?

Ben

 

[brian7]

just to plain black hoods... sorry i don't know more i am at work. Im sure they are the same ones that would come with any aquarium kit. I will probably go to Petco and ask what i can do.

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

just to plain black hoods... sorry i don't know more i am at work. Im sure they are the same ones that would come with any aquarium kit. I will probably go to Petco and ask what i can do.

Yeah, that's what I figured. I'm guessing they are the 24in ones, but it's just going to be really hard to get good enough light on 24in fixtures that only have one tube spot. The max wattage you'll be able to get is around 48w which is not even 1wpg.

I strongly suggest looking to Power compact fixtures or t5 dual bulb fixtures.

Ben.

 

[brian7]

thanks again ben. ill try my luck and go from there.