Can plants survive without lights?

[mansiz]

Can plants survive without lights? I did'nt switch on the aquarium light unless i'm looking at the tank, but I do place in two cap-full of plant food. It contain iron...etc. And what kind of plants goes with neons, swordtails, rummies and balloon mollies? Could anyone tell me the name of it or website with pictures of the plants that goes with the above fishes. Thanks.

 

[d9hp]

All plants go with those fish. And yes plants have to have light to survive, if they dont they will rot.

 

[Araldq]

Keep the light on at least 10 hours/day!!! (ofcourse, only if you want to have healthy plants and fishes)

 

[loganj]

Home Depot sells a digital light timer that I have found to be excellent. It's so much better than the old analog "lamp timers". I has battery backup so if the power blinks, it doesn't lose its program. You can get one here for $17.00. I don't remember what it's rated but it'll pull an Icecap 660 and four 110w bulbs with no problem. I would suggest putting your lights on a timer such as this for best results.
Logan J

 

[mansiz]

Hmm one reason reason I don't want to leave the lights on for such long hours is that it will increase the temperature of the water, its quite close to the water and my local room temperature is already 28 to 32 degrees Celsius, therefore the tap water is around 25 Degree.C, if I switch on the lights, it will increase to around 26-27 Degree.C, those live bearer and tetras would not be suitable to that temp. Btw does your plants survive very long?

 

[Guest]

Btw does your plants survive very long?

Yes, but they need 10 hours per day of light.

With your temperature problems, you could consider getting a small fan to install in your aquarium hood.

A timer for the lights, and a fan for the hood would be a good place to start. I have no idea of where to get such things in Singapore though, so you are on your own there.

 

[nugrad2005]

Do your plants get sunlight? The planted tank in my apartment doesn't have the lights in the tank on for 10 hours a day, but it gets at least 10 hours per day between the sunlight and the hood lights. They've been like this for about nine months so far and are thriving.

Do you have a heater in your tank that is set too high or is the room just that hot. Do you have an airconditioner that you could turn on for a few hours a day to cool the room? They do make chillers, but they can be pricely and difficult to set up.

-Dan

 

[mansiz]

Oh the room temperature is just that hot, I did'nt place any heater in. But the plants are surviving around 1 month, some leaves are still green, but some are brown and are dropping off. Btw I have a few types of plants, one is the amazon sword ( don't know if I got the name correctly. ), the others i'm not too sure. I did'nt place the tank at the balcony, so they don't get sunlight at all.