Advice From Experts

[M'al-finny]

Hi,

I am thinking about planting my 55 gallon tank which has been up and running for 6 months and is lightly populated with fish: 4 danios, 4 black phantom tetras, 1 cory (soon to be more.)

Substrate is pea-sized gravel, lighting is a 30-watt flourescent bulb. I don't know if that makes sense, it is a regular hardware store fixture (non-aquarium specific) which we got with the hood (it is a used setup.)

Filter is 120-gallon wet/dry, so there are parts where the current is extreme and parts where it is calm.

Is it possible to wrap roots in a cheesecloth with a dirt/sand/fert mixture, cut slits in that and bury it in the gravel?

The light *seems* bright, but what do I know? There is also a bit of direct sunlight as the sun comes across the room. The algae loves it, LOL, as it does when I leave the light on too long.

Can I make planting work with this tank, or should I pass until I can get it set up with different substrate, etc.?

 

[dasmall1]

You may want to read the pinned article on Lighting. Your watts per gallon (wpg) is very low and you could only keep a few types of plants alive with it. As for what type it is, non aquarium lights can work, but you need to be sure of the color temperature of the bulb. You say yours seems bright, so it is probably a common 10000K tube. They usually are sold to imitate natural sunlight or something like that. Plants benefit the most from a color temperature around 6500K - 6700K.

As for whether or not you could manage plants in your tank, my vote is yes if you get a different bulb and some gravel supplements. Most plants that will grow with minimal light are heavy root feeders and will need nutrient supplement at their roots, and your gravel won't provide it. Your plant choices are probably limited to Microsorum pteroptus (java fern), java moss, and maybe sagitteria subulata. Other people could probably suggest others that they have had succes with with poor lighting.

You don't need to wrap roots in anything. It's best to just plant the roots straight into the gravel.

Basically, the pinned articles have all of your answers. Hope I helped a little

 

[Themuleous]

Yeh, have a read of the pined threads, they should provide you with lots of very useful advice

Sam