20g Lowlight

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wilson

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Feb 3, 2004
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canada
Hi Everyone,

I have a 20g fish tank, that I am trying to start stocking. I have a topic going already http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=98982 with ideas of what to stock in it. However, I am attempting to do a very lowlight tank. It is stock lighting, and I dont have any special CO2 or anything. Does anyone have any ideas on what I could do with this? Whats worked well for you? Pictures are greatly appreciated too. Oh and I am planning on using sand for a substrate.

Thanks
 
I have anacharis and hornwort set up in my lowlight 20g tank and they are doing well. No ferts or CO2 and small black gravel substrate. I plan on adding some driftwood and java fern and/or anubias.

img_807748_0_4ad497e860f4efa52e21bc76c35d2d25.jpg
 
Very nice. Im thinking of adding some driftwood too. I am still indecisive if I want black sand or natural.
 
Anubias, Crypts, Java Moss, and Java Fern are the main plants recommended for very low light situations.
 
Purrbox said:
Anubias, Crypts, Java Moss, and Java Fern are the main plants recommended for very low light situations.

i was gonna make a post about low light ..

those plants ya listed there ..... can they live in a 18 watts on a 20 gal high ?? or is that to low ?

I ALSO have a dble strip light ( 65 watts ) if I was to remove ONE of the bulbs .. would the light strip work ??? to give me a lil more light w/o getting algae ??
 
All of those plants should be fine with that little light. They won't grow very fast at all, but they should live.

Does your light fixture have a total of 65 watts with both bulbs (doubtful with the odd number) or two 65 watt bulbs? If you'd end up using a total of 65 watts over the aquarium you'd probably need to look into carbon supplementation and fertilization to keep things in balance and avoid a massive algae outbreak. The benefit is that it would allow you to grow a much larger range of plants.
 
Purrbox said:
All of those plants should be fine with that little light. They won't grow very fast at all, but they should live.

Does your light fixture have a total of 65 watts with both bulbs (doubtful with the odd number) or two 65 watt bulbs? If you'd end up using a total of 65 watts over the aquarium you'd probably need to look into carbon supplementation and fertilization to keep things in balance and avoid a massive algae outbreak. The benefit is that it would allow you to grow a much larger range of plants.

ya its 2 bulbs that equal to either 60 watts or 65 watts .....

if i use ONE of the bulbs ( which wud be half of 60 or 65 ) im gonna say 30 watts .. on the 20 gal high ..... should i look for medium plants .. or would i still be stuck with low plants .......

also , with 30 watts runnin on 20 gal hgih ...... would i need co2 ??

ya i gave up on the red sea diy kit .. it would barely pump co2 out .. so i put the old 18 watt bulb back on..
 
oh

ikon said:
Purrbox said:
All of those plants should be fine with that little light. They won't grow very fast at all, but they should live.

Does your light fixture have a total of 65 watts with both bulbs (doubtful with the odd number) or two 65 watt bulbs? If you'd end up using a total of 65 watts over the aquarium you'd probably need to look into carbon supplementation and fertilization to keep things in balance and avoid a massive algae outbreak. The benefit is that it would allow you to grow a much larger range of plants.

ya its 2 bulbs that equal to either 60 watts or 65 watts .....

if i use ONE of the bulbs ( which wud be half of 60 or 65 ) im gonna say 30 watts .. on the 20 gal high ..... should i look for medium plants .. or would i still be stuck with low plants .......

also , with 30 watts runnin on 20 gal hgih ...... would i need co2 ??

ya i gave up on the red sea diy kit .. it would barely pump co2 out .. so i put the old 18 watt bulb back on..


btw ...... im saving up nickels and pennys for a pressurized co2 system..
 
Running with just 30 watts would allow you to avoid CO2 and would still give you a good selection of plants. You'd probably want to stick to mostly low and medium low light plants, but might be get away with some medium light plants too.
 
Purrbox said:
Running with just 30 watts would allow you to avoid CO2 and would still give you a good selection of plants. You'd probably want to stick to mostly low and medium low light plants, but might be get away with some medium light plants too.

medium low light plants vs low light .. i guess im gonna visit plantgeek and write some names down then do some searches .. unless ya know of a website that sells plants that has them catagoriezed for low , med , high , etc...
 
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