Basic light site?

[earhtmother]

So I'm going to try real plants again. Definitely going to be low tech, no CO2, no special lights, preferably no ferts or only basic ones that are proven shrimp & scaleless fish friendly. It's been 20+ years since I had real plants and at the prices these days I am NOT willing to spend $$$ that I could spend on fish. What I am looking for is some kind of basic guide to lighting so I can tell if the lights/bulbs I have are ok as plant lights or only good as tank lights. I gather it has to do with lumens not wattage but after that I am lost. I am willing to replace bulbs if needed but I need somewhere to start.

 

[SaraB]

There are plenty of lowlight plants you could get. Anubias as an example is almost unkillable. Anacharis is a water weed so it will grow in low light and is easy to propagate. I have water wisteria In my tank with no c02 or special lighting and it's doing great.

 

[earhtmother]

I find even "low light" plants don't like my current lights/water (fish shrimp are doing great)which is why I was locking for a guide to what lights I need to try before giving LIVE plants up as a total lost cause in my tanks

 

[SaraB]

Ok how about this then?

https://www.aquariumgardens.co.uk/lighting-guide-26-w.asp

https://www.advancedplantedtank.com/light-3pillars.html

I was just mentioning plats that were doing great in my tank without changing the lights that came with the tank or adding c02.

 

[earhtmother]

I DO appreciate the recommendations, I've actually been keeping a list of low light plants as I tried to make sense of all this stuff, it's about 15 species/varieties long already [emoji57]
That link is exactly what I am looking for as I have a bunch of lights that came with various used tanks I have bought & no idea if one was any better that the other. THANKS

 

[SaraB]

No problem and good luck!

 

[BBradbury]

Basic Tank Lighting

So I'm going to try real plants again. Definitely going to be low tech, no CO2, no special lights, preferably no ferts or only basic ones that are proven shrimp & scaleless fish friendly. It's been 20+ years since I had real plants and at the prices these days I am NOT willing to spend $$$ that I could spend on fish. What I am looking for is some kind of basic guide to lighting so I can tell if the lights/bulbs I have are ok as plant lights or only good as tank lights. I gather it has to do with lumens not wattage but after that I am lost. I am willing to replace bulbs if needed but I need somewhere to start.

Hello mother...

I have a 38 gallon Goldfish tank and use a four bulb shop light fixture I got at Lowe's on sale for about $40.00. I used 6500K 32 watt T8 bulbs and grow Anubias, Water Lettuce, Hornwort and Anacharis. If you keep to the plants that need low to moderate light, a shop light is all you need. The bulbs last a couple of years and are a few dollars each.

B