Starting A Planted Tank

[nessy123]

I currently have a 36 gallon bowfront tank that I want to turn to a planted tank. In the tank I have eco-complete sand substrate and a fake log and a couple fake plants. The tank is tropical and has full spectrum lighting that came with the tank. Would the substrate and lighting be enough to grow plants if not what should I get? Also what plants would be easy to grow? I have an angelfish, a golden wonder killifish, a swordtail, a platy, a molly, and 3 albino corydoras the tank has been running for about 2 months now.

 

[shoulders]

I currently have a 36 gallon bowfront tank that I want to turn to a planted tank. In the tank I have eco-complete sand substrate and a fake log and a couple fake plants. The tank is tropical and has full spectrum lighting that came with the tank. Would the substrate and lighting be enough to grow plants if not what should I get? Also what plants would be easy to grow? I have an angelfish, a golden wonder killifish, a swordtail, a platy, a molly, and 3 albino corydoras the tank has been running for about 2 months now.

what is the wattage of your lighting are they t5s or t8s ?

 

[nessy123]

I'm not sure it's just the lighting that came with the tank. It said it was full spectrum lighting.

 

[coldcazzie]

can you look at the tank spec in the manual (if you bought new) or on the actual bulb(s) and see what wattage they are?

 

[Plecostomos Fan]

I'm not sure it's just the lighting that came with the tank. It said it was full spectrum lighting.

Full spectrum means they should be ideal for growing plants, but as stated just look at the tubes and you should see some writing on them.

 

[nessy123]

It says it's 17 watts and the are T8s

 

[coldcazzie]

2 bulbs or 1?

2 bulbs would be 34w over a 36g tank, so about 1wpg (that's watts per gallon) which is low light, so you should be able to grow anubias, java fern, moss, maybe even something like vallis, they'll grow slowly, but they will grow you wouldn't need to add anything, just leave it as is.

 

[nessy123]

It's only one bulb, I'll try my luck with those plants

 

[coldcazzie]

Well one bulb will mean even slower growth, but otherwise...