ground cover for my 50 gal

[sharkthevandal]

I am starting a 50 gal planted tank. i am looking for a good Ground cover for the foreground. any suggestions on what to get, where to get it online, and how much would be need to cover about the front half of the tank.

 

[medge00]

how much light do you have? co2?

 

[sharkthevandal]

i have two of the coral life tubes that are for fresh water plants (cant remember what they are called). I don't currently have any CO2 system, but i probably will end up getting one.

 

[Guest]

So if I read this right you have two 36" tubes or it is two 18" tube? And we really need to know the total wattage of light you have. But I can tell you right now that you don't have enough light. Best case scenario is that you have two 36" tubes. That makes them 30 watts each for a grand total of 60 watts. That means you have 1.2 watts per gallon. With that low amount of light you choices for a foreground plant are limited to Java Moss.

 

[Guest]

I agree with Rex. Short ground cover plants generally require 2.5 wpg + for enough light to make it to the bottum of the tank for the plants. I'm not sure if there are any other ground cover plants, other than java that will work in low light.

Also how tall is your 50g? Is it the odd size 50g that is taller? If so, your going to need some intense light to make it to the bottum. CO2 would be needed as well.

Let us know how tall your tank is and how many total watts you currently have.

 

[sharkthevandal]

is there a way to get 2.5 wpg without replacing the stock light fixtures that came with my tank. (is there a tube that will fit into a 18" fixture that will give me the light i need)

as for the hight i'm not sure i will have to check on that when i get home.

 

[malkore]

if these are the 'came with the tank' lights, then no, you'll have to either retrofit the fixtures to VHO or PC, or overdrive the fixtures (which still means a new ballast), or get all new fixtures.

It sounds like you have 2 fixtures that each hold a 20" bulb...which means 2 18watt bulbs, so 36watts...which is only enuf light for java ferns and crypts.

 

[Guest]

As malkore said you can't just buy a more powerful bulb. Fluorescent lights are a combination of a ballast(s) and bulbs. The best you could do would be to go www.ahsupply.com and take a look at their upgrade kits. If your strip lights are 24" long then the 55 watt kits would work fine. If you have the 3' 50 gallon tank then you have some problems you are really only going to be able to fix with infusions of cash.

BTW, 36 watts over your 50 gallon tank is great for viewing fish. Lousy for plants. Very few plants can survive for long under that little light.