James_in_MN
Aquarium Advice FINatic
I recently made the mistake of adding plants to my tank, which had an Aqueon deluxe hood with 15w bulb on my 20g high. Since I knew I had low light, the plants I added were anacharis, crypt, and java fern. After a week, the anacharis was in full melt mode, and the crypt and java fern was in bad shape.
I then decided to stop trying to get by on the cheap and replaced my light with this:
Amazon.com: 24-36 in. Marineland Double Bright LED Light - 8 x 1W white - 4 x .06W blue: Kitchen & Dining
Although I lost the anacharis plants, my crypt and java fern made a quick recovery. The thing is, it's an LED light, and since the wattage is different than other tank lights, I'm not certain what types of plants I may now add to the tank. Or, for that matter, have I run the risk of adding a new problem of algae-a-plenty? How does a 600 lumen LED light rate in the wattage-per-gallon rule of thumb?
My other question concerns the lighting on my 10g Aqueon tank. The stock lighting that came with it is a 15w fluorescent fixture. I'm hoping that it should allow me to keep low light plants in the tank (15w/10g = 1.5w/g) like java fern or java moss. Am I correct? I'd prefer not to have the same messy problem I did with the anacharis melt I had to clean up.
I then decided to stop trying to get by on the cheap and replaced my light with this:
Amazon.com: 24-36 in. Marineland Double Bright LED Light - 8 x 1W white - 4 x .06W blue: Kitchen & Dining
Although I lost the anacharis plants, my crypt and java fern made a quick recovery. The thing is, it's an LED light, and since the wattage is different than other tank lights, I'm not certain what types of plants I may now add to the tank. Or, for that matter, have I run the risk of adding a new problem of algae-a-plenty? How does a 600 lumen LED light rate in the wattage-per-gallon rule of thumb?
My other question concerns the lighting on my 10g Aqueon tank. The stock lighting that came with it is a 15w fluorescent fixture. I'm hoping that it should allow me to keep low light plants in the tank (15w/10g = 1.5w/g) like java fern or java moss. Am I correct? I'd prefer not to have the same messy problem I did with the anacharis melt I had to clean up.