<1wpg plants?

ChicoRaton

ChicoRaton

Se?or Member
Jun 5, 2004
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Idaho, USA
www.hazy8.com
I have a 55 with the standard 48" 40w bulb fixture on it. I am planning to lightly plant the tank, more for the fishes' benefit than anything, but it also makes the tank less empty looking. I plan to overdrive the bulb with a 2-bulb ballast, to give 1.7x the normal about of light, or 68 watts for about 1.25 wpg. What plants can I grow with this kind of lighting? right now I have java moss, an anubias and a cryptocoryne, not sure of the exact species but all low light plants form what I've read... The java moss is actually many years old... I've had it for a long time. There should be an aquatic plant newbies forum.:laugh: Anyway, thanks
 
Well yo can easily add Java Fern to your plants. It will grow slowly but is a nice broad leafed fern that can really fill up an area well.
 
With only a 20 watt powerglo on a 35 gallon I was able to grow:

Anubias
Vallisneria
Rotala Indica (mostly green)
Ludwigia Repens (mostly green)
Crypts
Java Ferns
Limnophila sessiflora
Dwarf Sag (Sagittaria Subdulata)
 
With just a tad over 1 wpg I keep Amazon Swords, Pygmy swords, Ruffled swords, Rubin Swords, Several Anubias varieties, Crypts, Crystal, Vals, Onion plants, Water sprite, Hygrophila (giant and sunset), algae balls, and red Tiger Lotus.
 
Tank depth makes a big difference as well. The deeper the tank the more light you need to reach the plant. So 1 wpg on a really tall tank is less than 1 wpg on a short small tank.
 
Tank depth makes a big difference as well. The deeper the tank the more light you need to reach the plant. So 1 wpg on a really tall tank is less than 1 wpg on a short small tank.
Click to expand...

Yeah, That's why WPG never made sense to me.. It'd be best if we all had light meters and could get an actual average lumen reading, but I guess wpg suffices. my tank has 40 watts over a 48 inch long by 20 inch deep tank.

Thanks everyone for your help!:) next time I'm at my lfs I'll see if I can't find some of those plants. If not, I'll just ask the owner to order osme for me. She's pretty good about special orders. She usually only carries 1-2" kribs so I asked her if she could order an adult pair, and the shipment came all females but without me even coming in or asking her to, she placed another order for adult kribs to try and get a male. And I'm getting off topic.

Great prices too, $2.50 for any potted plant, some are pretty good size. I got a sword-like anubias(forgot the species) plant about 12-13" high with two biiiig leaves, and after a week and a half it has 3 new leaves coming up. the crypt. wendtii I got is doing well too, has a few new leaves coming up. I was suprised, esp. since it's .8wpg, no co2, plain gravel, no nutrient dosing.

Anyway, thanks for the suggestions!
:D
 
Tank height doesn't make that much of a difference. I have read that nearly half the light doesn't make it through the first 12" (1 foot) of water but after that additional depth does not make much of a difference.

A 30" deep tank only requires 3.3% more light to have the same intensity as in a 12" deep tank.
 
Add bolbitus to your list, I really like mine, it grows painfully slow in low light, but stays green and does grow. its a pretty awesome looking plant IMO.
 
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