Helo Me Understand

symon_say

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Hi

I just planted my first plant last night, i think is a cabomba, i get it for free in my LFS, but i'll be putting some more plants in, i have been reading a lot about plants, lights, C02, fertilizer and other things that might be needed, but i want a low tech low maintenance tank.

My confusion comes in the lights department, i have read 1 WPG is the minimun, so for my tank i need at least 2 28W fluorescent bulbs, but what i don't understand is what if i have LED's or HO lights, is those thing more important that the wattage of the bulb, for instance a fluorescent put more light per watt that and incandescent bulb, but you still have the same wattage, LED's put a lot more light per watt than the other 2, i think plants need light (lumen) and not watts, cause watts is to general for the purpose we are tying.

A question, are commercial fluorescent bulb any different from aquarium bulbs, cause i have seen a really price difference??

PS: I know nothing about plants, but a little more about Physics
 
If you want a low-tech, low-maintenance plant, pick good hardy plants (java fern, mosses, crypts, swords, vallis, sags, there are more) and just keep your stock lighting. No need to invest in any fancy gadgets or engage in any special techniques to have a lush planted tank. You may perhaps have to dose a good fertiliser that doses macros and micro nutrients, but that depends on your plant mass. Rather than invest on lighting, invest in good tank circulation. That, for me, is far more important than lighting for a nice planted tank.

Hope this helps.
 
Thanks, that's what i'll do, i just want to understand all the basis behind this, i think i have nice circulation cause i have 2 filters, i aquaclear 70 and aqueon 55, both are suppose to move my water tank 10x per hour.

I'll read more about fertilizer, cause i don't know nothing about this either, i want to plant the left side of my tank, those green plants that are behind the tree log, and maybe add some java moss to the tree log later.
 
If you want a low-tech, low-maintenance plant, pick good hardy plants (java fern, mosses, crypts, swords, vallis, sags, there are more) and just keep your stock lighting. No need to invest in any fancy gadgets or engage in any special techniques to have a lush planted tank. You may perhaps have to dose a good fertiliser that doses macros and micro nutrients, but that depends on your plant mass. Rather than invest on lighting, invest in good tank circulation. That, for me, is far more important than lighting for a nice planted tank.

Hope this helps.

^^^^^Top advice :)



Oh and Lumens is not light. It is brightness. It is the range of light that humans see and not the other ranges that we can't see.

Also HO doesn't make any difference other than getting more light out of a tube. 30W of T5 will actually give out more light in total than 30W of T5HO. Only difference is that you would need more tubes of T5 than T5HO.

AC
 
Thanks, that's what i'll do, i just want to understand all the basis behind this, i think i have nice circulation cause i have 2 filters, i aquaclear 70 and aqueon 55, both are suppose to move my water tank 10x per hour.

Oh, I shouldn't tell you what filtration I have for my 17g ADA, then...

Ok, I will...

2 Aquaclear 50s
2 Rio 50 powerheads

Now, that's flow... :lol:
 
Oh, I shouldn't tell you what filtration I have for my 17g ADA, then...

Ok, I will...

2 Aquaclear 50s
2 Rio 50 powerheads

Now, that's flow... :lol:

Your tank is like a river :lol:

Could you mention some low tech carpeting plants, i'm cosidering java moss, but would like to know some other plants.
 
Maybe not a river, but things do sway. I will always do this, regardless of whether or not the tank is high-tech or low-tech.

Look into Marsileas species. I've had success with Marsilia minuta and hirsuta. They look like little four leafed clovers, especially in my tanks, but ususally they consist of a single lobe on a stalk and grow via rhizome. Very hardy species and they carpet. Cryptocoryne parva also stays very small and kind of carpets if you plant it densly.
 

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