Plants and Cichlids

[PrettyFishies]

I'm setting up a cichlid tank and decided to put some plants in - anubuas, java fern and maybe Vals.

Basically, plants that attach to rock or that I can place in pots. I have a 55 gal and 2x 65W CF.

Do I need to add ferts other than Flourish? Will the wpg cause problems? I do not want to do CO2.

Thanks for the help!

 

[JDogg]

i think you are going to wish you had CO2 at that light level, the plants you named do not need that much light you should be fine with just one of those 65 watt CF lights.

you will also most likely need to dose Fe, NO3, K and PO4 at that light level

also the cichlids may shred your plants, mine shreded a java fern, did not eat it, just shred it :?

 

[happygirl65]

With the light level you could put in 50/50 bulbs and it will reduce your effective light. I have the same amount of light over my 55 and use them and have so far not needed CO2. It still gives me enough light to have some swords and the crypts and anubias look really good.

 

[travis simonson]

I keep a fully planted ARLC tank and have had a lot of fun doing it. African cichlids are not heavy plant eaters, contrary to popular opinion. Most of the herbivorous Africans are strictly algae grazers, although there are a few plants which I've found them to eat: Vallisneria spp. and Pogostemon helferi. Just about any kind of moss can be problematic, too, because every species of African I've kept seems to delight in tearing it apart and scattering it all over my tank. Most of the damage to plants that people attribute to Africans is actually done because the fish are trying to graze the algae on the plants and causing collateral damage to the plants in the process. If you can keep your plants algae-free you will have very few problems with the fish damaging the plants.

I like happygirl's suggestion of using 50/50 (50% daylight spectrum/50% actinic blue) bulbs to slightly reduce your fixture's total PAR (photosynthetically active radiation) light output. This would allow you to keep plants without necessitating CO2 supplementation (to prevent algae outbreaks due to light levels) and also give you some actinic lighting, which can do wonders to enhance the colors of blue and other light-colored Africans (I find actinic lighting especially nice for Pseudotropheus demasoni and Pseudotropheus acei).

If you go with 50/50 lights you will only need to fertilize with Flourish and possibly a little Iron and Potassium to keep your leaves bright and healthy.

 

[Alshain]

I have a 55 gal with 2x 65 dual daylight and I'm agree you must have CO2. As mentioned, the other option is 2x 65 50/50 bulbs. That would give you medium light.