I have a tank that has a few plants in it. I was wondering if the lighting really matter's that much with fresh water plant's? In the winter I get cutting's from my garden outside and grow them under reg. florscent's and they do great. Wouldn't the freshwater plants do well too?
In my planted tank I just got some of the 10k screw in fluorescents from Home Depot. It's doing great. I think if you've got atleast 1-2 watts/gallon then you'll be fine. If the plants stop sending out new growth and just kind of sit there, then increase your photoperiod. You can go up to about 16-18 hours a day before it starts messing with the plant's metabolism. Other than that, you treat them like regular house plants.
Thank you! I have a plant bulb on it now but didn't see any sense in buying another one if a reg. one will do. They also get about an hour or so of sunlight.
plant tank I think plant tanks should be treated like freshwater reefs. Lighting is the most important with nutrition second. Water flow is not as important in freshwater but in my opinion good even flow covering the entire tank is a plus to prevent dead spots. I also use 2 Penguin 350 filters. Everything I read says use lighting in the 5000k to 6700k range. I have a 55 with 2-65watt 6700k power compact bulbs in a coralife strip. I feed the tank with seachem flourish supplements as directed and have great success with plant growth. My lights are on around 14hrs a day. I have a co2 injection system but have found I don't need it for common aquarium plants I have (sprite, swords, etc.) but would probably need it for some of the more sensitive plants. As always you get what you pay for, if you want good results get good equipment designed for the species you want to care for be it plants fish or animals.
Thank you both for your help, I really appreciate it. Fisher I've seen your tank and it's awesome. I didn't realize you did all that to keep it looking so good. I just have a few plant's in mine now. I saw some bulbs at wal-mart and was courious as to whether they would sprout or not. Now they are getting quite large and need a good triming. I have a powerhead I can put in it and will see what I can do about the light's. I also need to get some supplements for them.
