A lighting question

[wrs]

I would like to make my 20 gallon tank a nice planted tank for my ram. The poor gall is very skitish after being attacked by my von rio tetra school, which is very odd as they never once touched the angels one being a VT angel, but back on to the subject. I think a nice planted tank may make her calm as she would have places to hide.

The tank has a few plants now,
Ludwiga
"frill" plants- Petsmart, no idea of real name
an odd prickly horn wort
some of those bulbs from walmart-both kind
amazon sword
and this odd sword like plant from petsmart, it looks like a house plant, but is actually producing leaves.

I was wondering what would be a good light to get (brand name), just the bulbs I mean.
what size would a 20 long tank? 18 inches?
how many kilo watts, or watts?

what other planst are good to get? I want really bushy ones, and preferably rooted plants, even though they do cost a bit much.

and a wood question- apart from bog wood, is there any other kind of wood that can be added? Like ones from my yard maybe? Not sure what kind of trees there are though.

 

[Nospherith]

You'd want somewhere around 50-70 watts of light. I would suggest a power compact flourescent, 6,700K. PC lights are kindof pricey, but worth it. That will get your plants growing well. You would probably need to introduce CO2 as well.

Low tech, you can go with ~40watts and no CO2, but your plants will grow much slower.

I believe a 20 long is 36" wide. So maybe a 36"/65w/6700K light with CO2, ferts, and alot more plants might get you going.

As for "bushy" plants... wrs, aquascaping is what you're getting into here and it's more than just throwing a bunch of random plants together (actually it kindof isn't, lol). Anyway, there are sooo many plants out there. But, to name a few I guess L. repens, H. polysperma, Rotala rotundifolia, Baby Tears, and Stargrass are some of my favorites.

Substrate is important. Make sure to get Flourite, Eco-Complete, or the finest gravel (~1-2mm) and supplement with Laterite. You can also "layer" flourite and gravel. There may be other options as well.

Wood for aquarium use has to be dead and soaked in water for at least a year. I hear that ocean driftwood may be used, just as long as it's boiled for a long time before use. So, no you can't use wood from your backyard.

Finally, this post was intended to point you in the right direction, not as a final word or anything. Not that I'd expect it to be taken as such, but you get the point.

 

[wrs]

how about for a 5 gallon as well? I have plants in there as well, and they are starting to die off. It has 8 watts, and most of the same plants.

How much do those lights usually cost, and how much does the substrate usually cost? I have never seen any of that stuff before at any store.

 

[Nospherith]

Flourite ~US$25/bag:

Eco-Complete ~$25/bag:

I think gf225 uses laterite. It's good stuff.

Basically the idea of enriched substrate is that it provides nutrients to the plants that they couldn't get with plain gravel substrate. Many stores sell Flourite and Laterite, but Eco (which I prefer) is more rare. I used two bags of eco for my 20H, $60. A 55w All-Glass PC light was around $80.

As for the five gallon, I'm not sure about the lighting with those nano set-ups. Never tried it. But generally you want in the vicinity of 3wpg for 30g and up. But there's like a bottom-line intensity needed to grow plants. I would guess perhaps around 30watts for the 5g.

 

[wrs]

wow, that seems expensive!

maybe live plants arent really for me that need such high lighting!

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I have 14 planted tanks- they range from 1 wpg to 3 wpg with co2 added. All of them are lush jungles. Once you cross over the 2 wpg level you approach the need to suppliment co2 and at 2.5 or more wpg it really is a necessity.

Swords and crypts need a good substrate and root feeding, but there are plots of plants that will thrive in 1-2wpg, take no special substrate and need minimal nutritional suppliments.

Here is a 5.5 gal tank w/ a single fluor strip over it (about 10 watts I think):

 

[Nospherith]

maybe live plants arent really for me that need such high lighting!

OK, I'm glad TwoTankAmin cleared this up. Sometimes, I don't know if the advice I'm giving is right, it's just what I've done. But planted tanks are really the way to go. I mean I don't see how anyone can't have a planted tank.

A very long time ago, like 5 years or so, I just bought a bunch of live plants (an aponogeton ulvaceous and cryptocorynes and some dwarf sag) and put them in my plain gravel 44g tank and the plants did suprisingly well. The dwarf sag (grass) started to send out runners and none of the plants died. I only had about 1.3wpg and the plants were OK. So you can certainly grow plants low tech and at low cost.

But if you look at any aquatic plant index, it will say stuff like "plant requires medium to high light," "benefits from CO2 injection" and stuff like that. So if you want to go full throttle (red plants and carpets) then you'd probably want to get lights, substrate, and CO2. BTW Laterite costs only $7 if I remember correctly.

So anyway, you can have a low tech planted tank. It just depends on the plants that you have. Proven Performers, these plants thrive in any condition. So if you got these, all you would have to do is get Laterite, add it to substrate, and watch them grow I guess.

Great tank, amin. Looks healthy.

 

[wrs]

i do have some plants in my tank, those walmart bulbs, and some others from petsmart, but I am not a fan of them. I really do like the walmart bulbs, and the anubis that I got there as well.