Lighting and Plant Questions

[Rxblade123]

Are the lighting based on incandesant lightbulbs or flourecsent lightbulbs? Not sure if it made sense, but hopefully someone figures it out. My lighting on my 10 gallon is 20 watts flourescent. What kind of plants should I get and is there a good place I can buy some plants online? The ones at the LFS are either too expensive or not what I want. Btw anybody know how to reproduce Rangeri Sword Plants? Oh btw there is a reflector in the light hood, not sure if it makes it difference, but just saying.

Oh this subject was in the other forum, getting started or something like that. So can someone delete that topic in the other forum?

 

[madasafish]

Easy answer: lighting ratings for planted tanks are usually based on fluorescent bulbs.

More complicated answer: no doubt, an incandescent 20 W bulb creates more or less the same amount of light that a fluorescent creates, but Incan. diffuse the light in more directions, and get *very* hot! Almost everyone in FW and SW goes with fluorescent lighting because of the simplicity of it (hey, it makes sense to have a long thin bulb over a long tank).

20 watts over a 10 gallon tank is not a huge amount. It's fine for fairly low-light plants like Anubias spp., java moss, java swords. But, if you're looking to keep swords and other higher-light plants, you'll need at least 30 watts and a CO2 system (whether complicated or not).

And most swords plants reproduce (principally) by rhizome propegation. The main plant will grow a horizontally-reaching "runner" that will develop a smaller plant at its end. That's how these guys reproduce.

HTH

 

[madasafish]

Oh, and I deleted your post in the "Getting Started" forum.

 

[Rxblade123]

Thanks man. Uh about the rhizome thing, my rangeri sword grows roots from this brown ball like thing and I don't think that's the rhizome. Oh earlier I had 2 25 Watt lightbulbs Incan. And after I installed the flourescent the rangeri Sword seems to be doing better. Grew much faster as well. Oh I have a DIY CO2 system.

 

[madasafish]

Yeah, I get a little lost when it comes to that element of sword reproduction. My swords (narrow chain link) develop both the ball (a "bulb") and rhizomes. I am not 100% what's going on there, but I do know that they reproduce most often by rhizome.

OK, if you've got a DIY CO2 system, good! You may want to try to add one more fluorescent bulb to the tank for optimum growth, but if everything's doing well, then leave it as is.

 

[Rxblade123]

My tank still has many gaps and I want to fill those gaps up with plants. If yall arent to busy could some of yall put down some plants you recommend, scientific name and the name it usually goes by if possible.

 

[Guest]

Actually fluorescent lights are much more efficient at producing light than incandescent bulbs are. That's why the power company wants you to quit using incandescent bulbs. A 27 watt spiral compact fluorescent bulb gives off as much light as a 100 watt incandescent bulb.

All aquarium bulbs are based on fluorescent watts. And 20 watts over a 10 gallon tank is a very low light tank as the watts per gallon rule breaks down on small and large tanks.

Take a minute and read my FAQ for more info.

 

[Rxblade123]

I thought more light would just help speed up growth.

 

[Maillis]

Fluorescent bulbs are roughly 4 times as efficient as incandescent bulbs so a 20 watt fluorescent tube would put out roughly as much light as an 80 watt incandescent.

 

[Fruitbat]

One of the biggest problems with incandescent bulbs besides the heat they produce is the spectrum they produce. Most incandescents produce a lot of light in the longer wavelengths of the visible light spectrum (principally red, orange, and yellow....hence, incandescent light is called 'warm'). Plants prefer a more balanced spectrum that is provided by 'daylight' type fluorescents.

For some plants you might consider:

Various Cryptocoryne species
Java Fern - Microsorium
African Fern - Bolbitis
Water Sprite (also a fern) - Ceratopteris
Hornwort - Ceratophyllum
Sagittaria (same as common name)
Some of the smaller Aponogeton species
Anubias (same as common name)

You might also check out my post here: http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=27805

You can see my 10 gallon (with 20 watts of fluorescent). I'll try to post an updated picture of that tank ASAP.