amazon sword

[Fishy411]

could an amazon sword survive with 40 watts? i have a 55 and i want a live plant or two to give some cover for my bichir.

 

[jimbooo]

hmmm not really. it may survive but wont grow well with that light. you need slow growers in there.

if you can get hold of a big java fern that will do the trick. they get quite large (although i can only find small ones round here)

 

[leafs]

I think it can survive. I only have a 20 watt bulb on my 29 gal and my Amazon sword is doing fine. It's even given off runners. I've had it since Feb. The only thing with my wattage is that plants grow very slowly, but I don't mind. I just stick with low light plants like Anubias and crpyts.

 

[jimbooo]

true but this is a 55 ie much deeper. your leaves will be much closer to the light than fishy411's

may be worth a try but be prepared to replace it if all goes brown.

 

[leafs]

true but this is a 55 ie much deeper. your leaves will be much closer to the light than fishy411's

may be worth a try but be prepared to replace it if all goes brown.

True, I never thought of the depth. It could be a problem. How deep is a 55? Mine is 18".

 

[jimbooo]

i'm really not sure but at least a few inches i'd think.

Fishy411 ?

 

[leafs]

Btw Jimbooo, I was looking at your pictures and you have some awsome looking tanks. Very nice.

 

[Fishy411]

i am pretty sure its 20" high. this isnt really a planted tank but i want a few plants to give some fish hiding spots. also do i need a c02 system or anything?

 

[jimbooo]

Btw Jimbooo, I was looking at your pictures and you have some awsome looking tanks. Very nice.

Thanks Leafs, i try my best but unlike a lot of the planted tank people on here i'm no expert gardner or biology graduate. it's not that hard really if you get the equipment right. lighting and substrate are by far the most important in my opinion. get those right, add co2 and you cant really go wrong. get the balance wrong however and algae will takeover and you start to get the hump with it all. the trick is to learn from the mistakes (of which i've had many) so it doesn't happen again, i'd say 6 months of constant fiddling and rearranging things with the odd disaster thrown in for good mesure and anyone should be able to have a good stable and very attractive planted tank. it's all about patience and not letting it beat you.

Fishy411: in that case my original answer stands, worth a try but may not survive well. good luck and sorry i cant be more help