Planted 5g?

[mwm]

I have a spare 5gallon tank with 8w of lighting. Is this enough to make a planted tank? I want to put it in my room And i really wat a planted tank, Can some suggest plants for it? Maybe even a few fish?

 

[Silly me]

it would look great with some java fern and a Anubias, maybe the Anubias barteri v. 'nana', would look great, both these plants need very little light and are slow growing so no need for co2, or anything, they are not root feeders and you could even add a undergravel filter so there is more space removed from the tank.. add a betta, and a otto or 2 to the tank. 50% water changes once a week with a drop or two of fertilizer (50% of the recomended dosage) .. you might have a great looking tank..

this is what I did with my 2.5 gallon and it looks very good.. but I have a 18w CF over mine, but I cant see why these plants would grow under 8watts of light..

PS.
also in a 5gallon tank 1.6 watts is not the same as 1.6watts over a 55Gallon

 

[mwm]

Thanks

 

[lovebuzz]

I don't think it will do well.

First of all, thats 1.6 watts per gallon of lighting. Second, in smaller tanks watts per gallon is not good to go by. This is because plants have a minimum light threshold, or something like that. I don't really want to go too far into detail as I'm sure I'll mess up but I think someone else can clear this up for you.

 

[mwm]

hmm already confused but thats okay, How about planting my 20g? It has a 15w bulb

 

[Nospherith]

Low light plants could work. Anyway, this post is really helpful. It gives you the resources for all you need to know about low light plants.

originally posted by DivaSkyChik

More low light plants: http/www.plantgeek.net/plantguide_list.p...y=1&filter_by=2

http/www.aquabotanic.com/abstore/en-us/dept_5.html

http/www.aquamaniacs.net/ProvenPerformer...aticPlants.html

http/www.azgardens.com/habitats_easy.php

Great all around guide to the planted tank: http/rexgrigg.com/pg1.htm

Good forum with plant advice: http/aquabotanicwetthumb.infopop.cc/eve/ubb.x

Another good forum with plant advice: http/www.plantedtank.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=21

 

[aloaring]

i have a 5 gallon tank with a 6 watt bulb and plants absolutley thrive in it !! i absolutely recommend it!!

 

[Yenko]

I ran a 5 gallon tank with a 13w bulb and all that grew was alage. Not good. I have a much more sucessful 10 gallon tank with 26W of lighting and DIY CO2; the plants in that tank grew like weeds (Which most of them are) untill they completely exhausted every plant nutrient in the tank. Now the alage growth in that tank has slowed to a near-stop (glass that hasn't been cleaned in 3 weeks has only tiny quantities of alage on it), as has the plant growth. The plants still look healthy; I think I have acheved a fairly good representation of nature in that tank.

About minimum light threshold - I could run a 2 liter tank with 4 watts of light; even though that's a beefy 8 WPG nothing would grow. As tanks get smaller, the WPG plants need increases. As they get larger, the WPG plants need decrease. Takashi Amano uses 6-8 WPG in small tanks and 0.5 WPG in large tanks.

 

[tear-scar]

We're talking flourescent lighting right? In any case it is going to be a low-lighting tank, and you can try other plants but you'll just have to be lucky. I have heminathus micranthemoides growing like a weed under only 7watts of lighting, but the trick is that it really likes my soft water and it was an established plant with roots when I planted it. If you try any non-low light plants, you're gambling. Plus, even the low light plants are not garanteed to grow.

 

[mwm]

thanks everyone ill think about it a bit more

 

[Slyspy]

I have a 30L tank with an 11W light (under 2wpg). In this tank I have packed in java fern, some vallis and a couple of anubias nana which are all thriving. The anubias is growing like mad, and I am constantly trimminf the vallis while the fern is busy growing little baby plants on its leaves only for me to remove them! The only plant that doesn't thrive (though it does grow slowly) is my floating salvinia natanas for which the light is not really enough.

Pay no attention to the nay-sayers. If you choose your plants corectly then you can have an underwater forest in your 5gal in no time!

 

[reddeerhobbiest]

Do it! I have a planted 5 gallon tank that does very well. I also stuck a betta in it. Its verrrrry productive, and the betta is one of the happiest bettas ive seen.

Heres a list of plants
alternan thera- rosae folia
microsorium pteropos- java fern
ammannia senegalenis
hygrophila corymbosa