78W. Over 30G. Tank (36" Wide)

[Lady J]

This is my first time with aquarium plants. I would like to know where 78w. of light over a 36" wide tank (30 g.) fits as far as the category of lighting (eg: low, medium or high). My tank is still cycling and I read from several sources that putting the plants in during the cycle helps it get going a bit faster so I have 2 anubias and one sword. So, is this light too much, not enough or about right? Thanks.

 

[Noahs ark6]

That lighting is quite low for a tank that size, but anubias and swords are relatively low light plants, so you should be OK

 

[Lady J]

That lighting is quite low for a tank that size, but anubias and swords are relatively low light plants, so you should be OK

Thank you for your reply. So, 2.5w. per gallon is considered low? Good to know so that I make sure I don't add higher light plants. I only really wanted to add anubias since they're relatively easy although I have my heart set on a banana plant as well.

 

[Noahs ark6]

Sorry, it's about medium lighting. LOw would be around 40watts, and high 100+ .You will be fine with alot plants, just not high light ones

 

[Lady J]

Ok, well this is great to know! Opens a a few more options if I want to add other plants after getting more experience. If the lighting seems too strong for the anubias, I can try to let a few bigger plants tower over them a bit to diffuse the light. It's a t5 which I like a lot. Do all anubias require not being planted in the substrate? And, how do you plant a banana plant. I think I read that the banana part is not planted.

 

[Noahs ark6]

Yep all anubias needs to have it's rhizome open

I'v enever had experience with banana plants, but a few pages i've read on the web say to gently push it into the substrate but leave most of the roots above the substrate?

 

[Lady J]

Awesome! They are such an interesting looking plant and I think it will be fun to add one (when I can find a healthy specimen). I'm not sure what else I will be adding---maybe just a tank of various anubias and a banana plant will look great---not sure yet. Again, thanks for your help. Is there anything else you can think of that will help (I've really researched adding carbon, substrate, etc. so feel pretty confident but we'll see... lol)

Awesome! They are such an interesting looking plant and I think it will be fun to add one (when I can find a healthy specimen). I'm not sure what else I will be adding---maybe just a tank of various anubias and a banana plant will look great---not sure yet. Again, thanks for your help. Is there anything else you can think of that will help (I've really researched adding carbon, substrate, etc. so feel pretty confident but we'll see... lol)

Aww geez, double post--sorry.

 

[Noahs ark6]

Carbon is only necessary when removing medication, clearing tannin or getting rid of odour.
Have you looked at java fern? it's very much like anubias in that its rhizome must be open and it's very undemanding
Have you researched fertilisers? it isn't a must, especially for plants like anubias, but it would make them a bit more lush
Lights on for around 9 hours a day.
Thats it really, for low demanding plants

 

[ian]

I'm going to have to disagree here, if we're talking T5's over a 30g then your heading towards high light here. You will struggle without C02 injection.

 

[Noahs ark6]

I wasn't taking into account the type of bulb, just the wattage

 

[Lady J]

Having a planted tank really is an art! Fosters and Smith say that anubias don't really respond well to carbon dosing ( huh ?). However, I will be dosing some, but first I need to calculate how much they're getting from the fish (obviously I don't have any yet) so that I can determine how much the plants need. The bulbs are a 10k spectrum so the plants should do very well under this. Or, is a different spectrum better? I did order 1 actinic blue just to balance some of the harsh yellowish tint of light. The par on this light will definitely reach the bottom of the tank (especially considering it's only ~ 17" high). IDK, maybe this will have to be a higher-light planted tank. Again, need to hear from those of you with experience.

 

[minnnt]

I wasn't taking into account the type of bulb, just the wattage

It doesn't matter what kind of light it is, 2.5wpg is high light. 1wpg is low.

Dose carbon or even better opt for a pressurised setup. Anubias is a slow growing plant, so co2 isn't going to all of a sudden make it grow like the clappers. You will need to dose a complete fertiliser including n&p and micro and macro nutrients too.

 

[Lady J]

Thank you for your response minnnt. To begin, I am using liquid carbon so as to not feel overwhelmed with everything. I may switch to a regular co2 system in the future. Ok, well, I guess some higher light plants will be fun to explore---however, since plants are new to me I don't want to get anything real crazy-difficult (would hate to see it die due to inexperience). And yes, I dose fertilizer (would tablets work better than just dosing liquid into the water column)? I don't mind a slow growing plant; I think anubias are very pretty so as long as they're healthy, slow-growing is fine with me. I'm very open to any more suggestions/advice you may have.

 

[Noahs ark6]

Tabs can be used in conjunction with liquid ferts. I would'nt just use tabs (but tabs would be useless if you didn't use any plants that root into the substrate). You can get some really cheap ones from ebay that work quite well from past experiences

 

[Lady J]

Hi noahs ark, thank you for your advice. Question: I bought Eco Complete but took it back because I thought my system could only support low light plants that basically needed to be attached to driftwood or rock, etc. Now I'm second guessing myself because if I plant some higher light plants, they would benefit from a fertilized substrate. Or, can I keep the sand and use both liquid and tablets, or how would this work: (1) 20 lb. bag of Eco Complete and then sand over it (or would the sand just sink and interfere with the eco.) I chose sand because I like the clean look to it. Geez, this is getting more complicated.