Good light for my tank?

[Goldfish loach boy]

What is a good light for my tank, I have three amazon swords, an Anubias nana, and a java fern, I am going to put in two marimo moss balls and cover the entire floor in dwarf hair grass, it is a 29 gallon, 30 inches long, what would be the best light for my planted light, preferably from petsmart, thank you

 

[Goldfish loach boy]

Anyone?

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

My only issue is that the DHG requires much higher lighting than the rest of your plant list, which are low light plants. You can certainly try but that's my thought on it.

Hmmm, from Petsmart? Well if you wanna stick with low light plants, you can go with the Aqueon T5NO fixture. Maybe even the Marineland Double Bright LED, although I'm not a big fan of this fixture. There's that new Aqueon LED fixture that uses modular LED strips.. I believe it comes with one strip, so you'll probably need to buy two more strips to make it plant capable. Lastly, there's that ZooMed T5HO. But you'll probably end up with algae because the DHG would be the only one benefiting from higher light.

To be honest, there's better light options online elsewhere.

 

[Goldfish loach boy]

Ok, are there any plants that you have seen at petsmart that will cover Similar to dwarf hair grass, but are lower light?

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Unfortunately i don't think so. However, i did see some low light tanks where marimo moss balls were cut to be laid out as a carpeting plant. But i think this would become expensive.

Maybe call around LFS or buy plants from other hobbyists in the forums via the classifieds. You can use dwarf sag possibly. Maybe a moss carpet?

 

[Goldfish loach boy]

Hey, you know this type of amazon sword that is like super thin, almost looks like grass, would that work?

 

[Goldfish loach boy]

Will the light that the dwarf hair grass needs harm my other plans?

 

[Goldfish loach boy]

I was thinking maybe this

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Yeah those bulbs are for the Aqueon T5 "NO" for normal output fixture.. Its good for low light to moderate on the low end so it will work.

Only gripe i have is that you'll always have to buy those bulbs for replacements down the road. The way the fixture is designed, the bulbs are non-standard sizes. Unlike other T5 fixtures where replacement bulbs are standardized and can be had through a lot of manufacturers, which gives you more options and in some cases, lower prices.

 

[ktomminello]

I would say go for a t5no for hood ballast and they make full spectrum 10000K (though I would recommend 6500-7500K) light bulbs you can use a bendable desk lamp to shine it directly at your dhg. I've had success this way....

 

[Mebbid]

Be careful, at Petsmart they sell what I believe is called Mondo Grass. I originally bought this for my aquarium when I first went planted but it just slowly died. It turns out that it's a terrestrial plant that can't be grown underwater despite pet smart selling it as an aquarium plant.

 

[ktomminello]

Be careful, at Petsmart they sell what I believe is called Mondo Grass. I originally bought this for my aquarium when I first went planted but it just slowly died. It turns out that it's a terrestrial plant that can't be grown underwater despite pet smart selling it as an aquarium plant.

I have had mondo grass in my aquariums for years now...I believe it's a variation of the Crinum- I've found some varieties are better underwater, some require base mosses or grasses.

Narrow leaf crypts like waiichi, java moss, narrow leaf chain sword, flame moss, club moss and Christmas tree moss work well... Smaller chain swords and crypts may need extra ferts though.

I recommend asking if their mondo grass is Crinum or Val, if it's Val than I suggest passing on that and grabbing some Kyoto grass from their shelf- just make sure to only plant the roots- leave a couple centimeters of the top of the root exposed and flourish time release fert tabs, not rooting tabs....

 

[Goldfish loach boy]

So the Kyoto grass would work and cover the floor?

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

You can try Dwarf Sagittaria.

 

[Goldfish loach boy]

I'll see if that's on petsmart

 

[sblosser]

sorry in advance for asking a question in your thread but its almost on par for what im looking at. I have a 75g 3d rock walls with caves for hiding. formerly was a home to a cichlid community. i want to plant it and have very little experience and none successful mainly due to just knowing nothing about it. so here we go i want to be able to use some live plants and really am leaning towards the anubias and moss / ferns. really like the christmas moss as well. as far as lighting will my current set up work? i am using the aqueon 48" modular LED kit with 2 daylights and 1 colormax strip in it. also have a airstrip with blue leds in the tank. i like the blue strip at night leaves a beautiful reflection on the ceiling and walls of the room. so anyways will the light set up work and do i need any special equipment to support those plants co2 etc... i have a sourse sand substrate i could use but havent added it in the tank pending suggestions on the best substrate to use. tank also has a med size driftwood and i have about 160 pounds of chunks of rock that i can use as well (not all of it LOL)