Lighting?

[DreS]

hi, i have a juwel rekord 800 which has 2 X 18W Flouresent Tubes as lighting. Will this be ok for my plants to flurish and grow? or would i need to purchase some other sort of lighting? any suggestions on where from and what sort would be welcome. Thanks

 

[lljdma06]

What would you like to grow. If it were my tank, the light is plenty.

 

[pauld]

lights are only one part of plant growing wpg doesnt meen great plants pick your plants 1st then do loads of reading to see what you need to do to maintain them , if it was realy that easy as just lights we would all have the perfect planted tank , you can have all the top gear for a hi tech planted tank and get the balance wrong and end up with worse results then a minimal low tech tank .

 

[RadaR]

With sufficient carbon and nutrient dosing, you could grow anything you wanted. There is no need for more light.
What is your goal? Fast growing with lots of pruning? Or slow growing and easier to maintain.

 

[DreS]

With sufficient carbon and nutrient dosing, you could grow anything you wanted. There is no need for more light.
What is your goal? Fast growing with lots of pruning? Or slow growing and easier to maintain.

Definately slow growing and easy to maintain.

 

[Ben M]

Will you be dosing ferts and/or CO2? Some good low tech/low maintenance plants include: mosses, moss balls, crypts, java fern, anubias, amazon swords, Hygrophila polysperma and Limnophila sessiliflora. However, I'd only suggest the last 2 if you are dosing some sort of ferts.

cheers

 

[DreS]

Thanks that's great. Will have a look at those plants. Don't plan on using many ferts or any co2 so the lower the maintenance the better.

 

[GrayScale]

Thanks that's great. Will have a look at those plants. Don't plan on using many ferts or any co2 so the lower the maintenance the better.

We'll see how long that lasts . I was the same way when I first started planting but I find growing the plants to be more rewarding than keeping the fish. That's not saying I slack on the well being of the fish though . Now I've got pressurized co2 and dosing ferts in my 20g long.

You've been given a good start above with the list but I would also recommend cryptocoryne wendtii. I've had it in my low tech 10g with 1 18w and no ferts or co2 and it loves it. Allthough slow to establish, once it did it's slowly but steadily growing. Did a move around in my 10g the other day and when I pulled it out the roots on it were probably agood 8" long. Crypts are known to have a "melting" stage but if you give them time they will slowly come back.

Also keep in mind, once you get new plants in, dont move them around. They will need a little time to establish and the more they are moved the more stressed they become and the longer they will take to establish.