Tank lighting for plants

[Legit Fish]

So i have three tank that will be planting soon…..
for my 10 gallon i have 2 25 watt incandescent bulbs, 15 gallon 1 13 watt fluorescent light, and a ebi nano 8 gallon tank with a 13 watt light.
so i want to know what kind of plants will i be able to have (specifically stem plants) in each tank. i am buying my plants of peabodysparadise.com so you can go to there stem plants section and please tell be which plants will work out in each tank. i am very confused on how many watts of light does each plant need and i don't know whether my plants are considered high, medium, or low…… so if you could answer that too please! i really like Myriophyllum heterophyllum so can anyone also tell me if this will be ok in my 10 gallon?

ps any other plants that will work out in these tanks please mention name thank you !

 

[phishfriend]

Plant arn't categorize by watts. Your better off getting bulbs with a Kevin rating of 6000k or 6500k. Also if this is your first planted tank. I highly recommend you understand exactly what care the plants you get need and require. I think you need to do more research.

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[Legit Fish]

no this is not my first planted tank i already have 2 other planted tanks but i wanted to make these planted too for they were originally fry tanks…. and i was not really categorizing the plants i just wanted to know which plants would work out in these tanks…. i already have root tabs and extra co2 pressurizer. its just I'm tired of having tanks with java fern, anubias, and amazons swords i was just wondering if there are other plants that will work out with these tanks because it is confusing with many people saying mixed up reviews of the plants! some say it needs low light others say it don't…. you get what I'm saying?

 

[phishfriend]

Yeah, I understand. If it helps I try to stay well with in my tanks lighting setup. Also you could post a list of plant your thinking of and as for feed back from members that have had personal experience with any on the list. Thats what I do. There is also a really good plant profile on site thats updated regularly hope it helps!

 

[flitabout]

I think the big issue is with the different types of lamps and fixtures that you have. With t8 bulbs it's the 1 watt per gallon rule for low light and 2-3 for medium and 4-5 highlight 6+ is very highlight. But that no longer applies to t5no or t5hos incandescent bulbs well they aren't really very good for plants at all. What it really comes down to is spectrum like phishfriend said. Anything from 5000k to 10000k is in the right spectrum for plants, 6500k being optimal. That said you also need to look at distance from light to substrate. It's more complicated then just these are my bulbs what can I grow.