Poor Substrate with Good Lighting: A no-no?

[kellyinvancouver]

Hello,

I am planning to plant my 5.5 gal betta tank the low-tech way and am thinking of getting a little screw-in Coralife 10w straight CFL. My substrate is plain old gravel, no CO2, dosing Flourish something... I will update at home.

Will my substrate be able to support plants under this type of light or am I better off with my dim-bulb 25W incandescent? Would a few root tabs help the situation (not looking forward to switching my substrate up for eco-complete, etc.)


Thanks!

 

[mgamer20o0]

yes it would be fine. worst case you might want to use some root tabs depending on the plants you are using.

 

[JustOneMore20]

I agree. You may want to get root tabs, but otherwise, you'll be fine with regular gravel.

 

[kellyinvancouver]

Gravel it is! That makes my life a LOT easier (and economical)!

 

[Purrbox]

Definately stick with the CFLs as they output more light than the 25 watt incadescent. Even then you're still probably only looking at low light on this aquarium since small aquariums require more light to grow plants than the WPG "rule" would lead you to expect.

 

[kellyinvancouver]

Screwed in the 15 watt CFL today. Lou Reed (my betta) is whipping ou his shades. I hope this stops my rotala meltdown :s