A Few Plants

mark456

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hi, my brother today went to his lfs and brought some new plants im not sure what they are but the shopkeeper said that with any real plants he will need a £500+ lighting system for his tank or else the plants will die in a week, is this true?

thanks :)
 
It depends on what plants they are.
Some plants will thive in low levels of lights.
Other plants require high levels of light.
If you have high level of lights, ie 2 watts per gallon or higher, you will then need a CO2 system to provide nutrients for the plants to grow more.
Theres is a PINNED link in the plants and planted section on what level of lights different plants require.
 
hi, my brother today went to his lfs and brought some new plants im not sure what they are but the shopkeeper said that with any real plants he will need a £500+ lighting system for his tank or else the plants will die in a week, is this true?

thanks :)
That shounds very odd indeed :blink: how big is the tank ? the size of a small pond ? :lol:
 
The larger and deeper the tank the more light it will need and therefore the more expensive the lighting system will be, consider the lowest ammount of light needed for planted aquariums is 2 watts per gallon and you will see that while a 3 foot long 30 gallon tank will only require two 30w flouresent tubes a 6 foot 180 gallon aquarium will require at least six 60w flouresent tubes to produce the bare minimum lighting requirements. Some plants require higher lighting levels than this with 3w per gallon and even 4w per gallon being needed to achieve good growth, on larger tanks this can mean having to use metal halide lamps rather than flouresent tubes and then it starts to get expensive.
 
hi, my brother today went to his lfs and brought some new plants im not sure what they are but the shopkeeper said that with any real plants he will need a £500+ lighting system for his tank or else the plants will die in a week, is this true?

thanks :)
What size is your brother's tank?

I doubt the shopkeeper really knows what he/she's talking about with regards to planted tanks.
 
hi, its 48" long and about 13" tall,

thanks

hi, my brother today went to his lfs and brought some new plants im not sure what they are but the shopkeeper said that with any real plants he will need a £500+ lighting system for his tank or else the plants will die in a week, is this true?

thanks :)
What size is your brother's tank?

I doubt the shopkeeper really knows what he/she's talking about with regards to planted tanks.
-_-
 
if those measurements are in feet then he may be right. otherwise thats the biggest load of rubbish i've ever heard. my tank is 101 x 41 x 50 cm (in the pic below) lighting cost £56 for the 2 extra tubes and ballasts on top of the original 2. even if i had no lights to start with that would be £112 plus £40 for reflectors.

if i were you i'd print off this topic and take it in to the shop armed with a big stick to bash him with.

talk about stop you in your tracks, what a XXXXXXX that makes me so angry

Edit: granted your tank is slightly larger but not by that much and as depth is the biggest problem mine is deeper than yours so he's talking rubbish. good luck with the tank

Lighting.jpg
 
ok then thanks for the hlp from everyone, doubt ill use that shop again anyway, cheers
if those measurements are in feet then he may be right. otherwise thats the biggest load of rubbish i've ever heard. my tank is 101 x 41 x 50 cm (in the pic below) lighting cost £56 for the 2 extra tubes and ballasts on top of the original 2. even if i had no lights to start with that would be £112 plus £40 for reflectors.

if i were you i'd print off this topic and take it in to the shop armed with a big stick to bash him with.

talk about stop you in your tracks, what a XXXXXXX that makes me so angry

Edit: granted your tank is slightly larger but not by that much and as depth is the biggest problem mine is deeper than yours so he's talking rubbish. good luck with the tank

Lighting.jpg
:)
 
Sad fact of life, most lfs employees have little idea about their fish, and no idea at all about plants.
 

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