My low light 55

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BrianNY

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
Sep 15, 2003
Messages
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Location
NY
This is with 1 wpg and no CO2. Just wanted you to see what can be done without spending alot of bucks :)
 
Right on BrianNY! When you get a second can you post types of plants you decided to put in.

Nice tank!
 
That's great, Brian! I keep a very low light tank, 1wpg, and have java fern, java moss and crypto in there - that is my easy, no-brainer tank that just plugs away with only water changes to keep it happy.

Great pics, and thanks for the reminder - I hear so many people say they want plants but don't think they can take care of them, and it is not necessarily a tricky endeavor.
 
I am sooooo excited! I am getting lights for my tank and hopefully I will be able to get some great plants at the Aquarium auction on the 14th of NOV... yaaahoooooo
 
That is an awesome looking planted tank Brian. I am hoping to do that with my 26 gallon too.

And is that an angel fish? He is huge. Good job! :D
 
they kinda look like compacta swords, which don't need as much light, but tend to get longer, narrower leaves when under lower light levels.
 
Bravoooo Brian!

Thanks for sharing. As Tank Girl mentioned, theres been a lot of enquires lately on low light none CO2 injection. I'm sure this will be a great reference for the future.

As Moose said, perhaps if you get a chance. Could you list your plant species, set up, etc.... I'm sure it would be of great help.

Tank Girl, maybe you can post a pic of your low light tank and set up as well???

Having a visual with set up specs would be a huge help getting started in planted tanks.
 
Wow, nice tank BrianNY,

I think a lot of people would be interested in what you are doing to maintain such a beautiful tank with only 1 WPG of lighting. What fertilizer are you using if any? What's your secret?

And TankGirl, I'm going your route with low light plants and just water changes. So far my Java fern, Hornwort and Cryptocoryne Undulata are still healthy. If you can believe this I'm using only 17W of lighting for a 39G tank (24"x12"x18"). The crypts are new and hopefully they will survive until I get my 1 WPG of lighting, which I'm contemplating. And I'm interested in your setup and secrets too, TankGirl.
 
This is a 12-gal Eclipse, bowfront, so it is hard to get pics but I will do so soon to show you. It has Endler's livebearers, cherry shrimp and 3 paleatus corydoras - I consider it relatively lightly stocked and though the crypts are not growing like they would in my other tanks they are certainly doing well, and by far the best is the java fern and java moss. I love this tank because it has no algae problems of any kind, which is unusual for me!

I used to grow the same plants in my 55, like Brian, with the standard hood that comes with it 8O and I even grew swords for a time but don't know how they would have done long-term because I switched over to higher lighting because I obviously had too much time on my hands.....

Brian's tank is a testament to all those newbies who claim, "I want to try plants but it is too hard and I'm new to keeping aquariums." You can do it with the right plant and fish choices, and I wish more people would start out with plants in a low-light setup before moving into high light and CO2.
 
Thank you everyone, although I don't think this tank would win any aquascaping contest, I'm very happy with it. :D All of the plants in this tank have been there for just over 2 years now. They are growing, reproducing, and showing no signs of nutrient dificiencies.

The plants I chose are crypt wendt., java fern, anubias nana, java moss, elodea, and giant sag. There is one amazon sword and is probably a compacta like malkore says.

I don't fertilize this tank at all. I change between 20% and 30% of the water weekly. IMO the tank has reached a kind of balance between the fish and plants to keep the nitrates around 10ppm. That's my take on why this tank is so successful. I use a Fluval 304 cannister and it does an excellent job.

By most standards the tank is overstocked with fish. The main fish are 3 very large black veil angels. In addition there are 4 black skirt tetras, 12 assorted rasbora, 6 pristella tetra, 5 rummy nose tetras, 4 pygmy cory, and an unknown # of otos and kuhli loaches. It just now strikes me as kind of odd that with all my pleco spawns, and discus, I haven't put any in this tank. LOL
 
Very Nice, Brian! :) Just wondering...Is that a AH Supply 55? I am betting it is. Pretty soon I am going to finally get started on a new 80 gallon. My winter project. I have always wanted some angels. Bob
 
Good guess Bob, but wrong :lol: :lol:

I did build an AH Supply light kit for my 125 gallon. That left the 2 36 inch strip lights that came with the 125 available to be put to use somewhere else. Even though I'm missing 6 inches of coverage on either end of the tank, the 2 30w bulbs in this strip are ideal for my low light tank.
 
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