Plant Advice

[Aquaqua]

Hey guys, I'm new to the forum. I've been playing with aquariums for about 10 years now. I have a 55 gal community tank. A 20 gal with a catfish and 2 cichlids a 15 gal with 4 tiger barbs and an empty 5 gal I had set up for a quarantine tank. I would like to get the 5 gal set up and try my luck at some plants. Never ventured into the plant world, but if someone would like to clue me in it would be much appreciated. I've done some research and I think I could get the hang out it after a while. I don't know Anything about lighting and what to get or substrate. Now this is just the 5 gal I'm setting up. So cost isn't really an issue, but I'm not looking to spend $50 on a light for a 5 gal haha. So anyway. Let me know what ya think.

 

[blert]

What light do you currently have on there. Chances are it may be good enough, though you probably will need a new bulb.

 

[Aquaqua]

I have a 10w incandescent.

 

[blert]

What is the fixture rated at (max watts)? You could get one of those screw in CFL bulbs. That should give you plenty of light, possibly even too much without CO2 but in a tank that small DIY CO2 would work.

 

[Aquaqua]

I plan to have a few fish in there to provide some co2 for the plants. I'm not planning on it being very heavily planted.

 

[blert]

Fish don't really produce enough to make any difference to plants. If you don't plan to inject CO2 then just maximize gas exchange by using a bio-wheel, adding an air stone or increasing surface movement. If you start getting too much algae you might want to consider using Excel as a carbon supplement (this is usually a good idea anyway).
One thing to make sure of is that the bulb you get is a FULL SPECTRUM bulb, it will say it on the package. Kelvin temp doesn't really matter that much and is mostly aesthetic. A higher K value will be whiter to bluer and a lower one will be more yellow. About 6500k is about high-noonish.

 

[absolutangel04]

I moved this to the planted tank section where the plant gurus live.