what plants to cycle with for low light tank

O

orthikon

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Aug 22, 2005
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Hi i'm setting up a 30 tall (24" high) using an ecplise hood so it only allow for 30 watts of lighting. At this point my budget won't allow me more wattage. I have read Rex Grigg's guide about cycling with plants and I was wondering what kind of plants should I get considering my low light situation.

TIA
 
When I started my 25 Tall(with Eclipse 2 hood) over 5 years ago, one of the original plants was an Anubias and it's still around and growing in there.


Something else you may want to do is get some "Eco-Complete" and then cover it with a fine gravel. that's what I did and it cycled nicely!
 
I'm not sure if Home Depot has it. I didn't bother calling.
s-grade should be ~$19/50 lb bag
t-grade $24/50 lb bag

http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/!ut/p/kcxml/04_Sj9SPykssy0xPLMnMz0vM0Q9KzYsPDdaP0I8yizeINzUz1S_IcFQEAGKvYu0!
 
What do you mean by cycling with plants exactly? Do you want fast growing plants taht will help to scavenge ammonia from the water while the bacteria level is growing? Something like a silent cycle?
 
You need fast growers from the start if you plant to use plants instead of going though the regular cycling process. I personally have used anacharis with great success to avoid ammonia/nitrites in a new tank, but this plant usually needs 2-3 watts of light. I think hornwort (Ceratophyllum demersum) is a low-light plant that will do the same thing. Get LOTS and LOTS...
 
Yeah, that's what I was wondering if Orthikon meant a silent cycle. It generally requires fast growers to get at that ammonia fast, and lots of them.

Perhaps duckweed would be a good choice as it grows in lower light conditons and it floats so it gets lots of CO2 from the air. It can be a pest of a plant to get rid of though.
 
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