Any plant and light suggestions?

[tigerbarb88]

hello all, as some of you may know, i just picked up a 10 gallon tank and would love to have a planted set up..

any recommendations as far as plants go? as well as specific light bulbs for them?

if possible, id like to get some plants that require low lighting.. and are fairly easy to maintain.


Thanks for the input and i apologie if this is a repost.. I did a search and came up empty handed.. Im still fairly new to the forums.

 

[gmh]

You could get a cheap incandescent hood and put in a couple of 13 watt cfl bulbs. That would give you enough lighting to grow low-medium light plants.
www.plantgeek.com has listings of plants by various categories, including low light.

I you want to keep it really simple you can go with java fern, java moss, crypts, anubias nana, maybe some hornwort floating at the surface.

 

[7620le]

hey I'm also planning on starting my first 10G planted tank.
when you said use a 13W light that would be lil over 1wpg right?

 

[tigerbarb88]

You could get a cheap incandescent hood and put in a couple of 13 watt cfl bulbs. That would give you enough lighting to grow low-medium light plants.
www.plantgeek.com has listings of plants by various categories, including low light.

I you want to keep it really simple you can go with java fern, java moss, crypts, anubias nana, maybe some hornwort floating at the surface.

thanks man

i freakin love this site! :headbang2:

 

[gmh]

hey I'm also planning on starting my first 10G planted tank.
when you said use a 13W light that would be lil over 1wpg right?

Yeah, a bit over 1 watt per gallon, but I was suggesting two 13 watt bulbs. That would be 2.6 watts per gallon, which would be low-medium light I guess, over a small 10 gallon tank.

 

[tigerbarb88]

any insight on how i could modify my hood to fit 13w cfl's? i think it only takes tubular lights.. i looked on the hood and it says "accepts tubular bulbs 25w max."

 

[colinsk]

When I removed my reflector I was able to use the two existing screws to attach a ceramic light base with a L bracket. This allowed just enough room to fit a 13 watt bulb in each. At Ace Hardware I was able to find the ceramic base with L-bracket as one part. I am at wrok but I will try to take a photo when I get home.

 

[paperdragon]

If it's fluorescent just use the light you have. 25w is fine for low light plants in a 10g.

 

[gmh]

I'm not very handy with dyi stuff but you may get by with what you have if you go with simple low light plants. Is this a 15 watt light fixture? Does it have a bulb in it?

 

[tigerbarb88]

If it's fluorescent just use the light you have. 25w is fine for low light plants in a 10g.

Cool.. i plan on using java fern.. i think it may work.

I'm not very handy with dyi stuff but you may get by with what you have if you go with simple low light plants. Is this a 15 watt light fixture? Does it have a bulb in it?

Yeah, i just want some simple plants that dont need much light..

and as far as the fixture, i think i could use a 15w light... it came without bulbs but my cousin passed on to me his old ones that he had with his tank.. 25w bulbs. I think im good.