Can my tank support plants?

Light with a kelvin rating under the 6500k (ie 4000 or 3500- aka soft white or cool white bulbs) will not have any effect on your plants.

I wouldn't put in floaters if you want rooted plants. You really don't have enough light that you can afford to shade anything you root in the gravel.

The rooted plants will take up nitrates, but only as quickly as they can grow. The light in this case will be the limiting factor when it comes to growth. More plants will equal more nitrate reduction.

The one nice thing about floating plants is that they will be close to the light and can take CO2 from the atmosphere so they will grow quickly and be absolute nitrate and phosphate sinks- they are going to suck that stuff out of the water so fast you won't believe it. The thing is, while they will help with water quality they're not really going to help much with decor- which I think is one of your primary desires here.

Anubias and Java fern - you can use a rubber band to attach the rhizome to a small rock (go look outside, you don't need much rock to make them sink) Swords and crypts can be planted right in the gravel. Moss sinks so you don't have to tie it down although it tends to look sloppy if you don't.
 
i'd say turbo hit the nail on the head pretty much.

one thing i will say is in the case of algae arises (with the exception of maybe surface diatoms). i'd pick up some ferts and or something to raise my gh if necessary... www.aquariumfertilizer.com

in your case with your light there's a good chance your water supply and fish food/waste should be enough. algae will most likely be your indicator and what i'd let me decide if i spent the extra cash.

if you do need to dose i'd do it very sparingly. with your lighting and tank size one order could last you a few years.
 
Great, thanks for all the info! If I presumably doubled my lighting in the future (simply getting another shoplight, so darn cheap) could I look into floating plants in addition to rooted? While you're right, I am looking more for decor, the water quality is definitely right up there in the priorities.

Thanks for all the advice! Now I just need to get some plants

I got the rocks out of my friend's backyard, who owns waterfront property in Salisbury, MD along the wicomico river. The rockscape has expanded a little since then, the barbs dart through them like crazy and the pleco has his "crib" amongst the largest ;p
 
Hey so

Uh

It's not working!

I recently planted an amazon sword and an anubias plant. One of the stems of the sword came off (after a week) and the leaves on the anubias are beginning to turn deep red and come off. Looks like 64W of 6500K light isn't enough! (This is a 55g)

I am picking up another shoplight fixture today to add another 64W should this solve the problem? Also I vacuum the gravel on a weekly basis, am I taking away "food" for the plants? Maybe I don't have them rooted properly?

Thanks!
 
hey,brother.welcome to the world of aquatic gardening.it can be very frustrating at times but patience along with good research will reward you over time.here is a few tips i can pass down;try starting with easy to grow plants.look for these,hygrophilia polysperma,aponogeton(you can buy the dry bulbs of this plant at most places,pop them in and they do the work),barclaya sp.,amazon swords(some are fussy,biggest mistake is burying the crown),onion plant,sagittaria sp.,etc.these plants will thrive in medium to bright light.get a good book(Barrons Aquarium Plants Manual is one of my bibles).and most importantly,if your local fish store has a good planted display,ask questions.good luck.
 
It may be a too little for an Amazon Sword, Anubias should be fine. You didn't plant the Anubias did you? Well anyways, I don't vacuum the substrate in my planted tank (but it's heavily planted). With only one or two plants it shouldn't be a big deal. A new light may help.
 
Swords are grown emersed (out of the water) in nurseries. The leaves will die off & new growth is the submersed leaf form.

Is it diatoms on the anubias? 1 leaf isn't much...you didn't bury the rhizome did you?
 
Where did you get your anubias and sword? If you bought them in one of those little plastic tubes (like from big chain stores) it may be that they were grown emersed. Sometimes the leaves will die back and then the plant will begin to grow new, emersed leaves. At the very least, there is a lot of times an adjustment period for the plants to settle into a new tank. Give them some time before you count them among the dead.

With the one shoplight, you are just over 1wpg. There are many plants that will grow in that light. Just give it time. I would recommend trying some crypts. There are many varieties, and they are generally bullet proof. If you do try them, you might think about getting some root tabs (they are very cheap and you can get them anywhere) to push under the gravel beneath them.

Adding the second light will put you in a range where you will want to begin thinking about co2, a fertilizer regimen, and more detailed maintenance. If you want to keep it simple, you can just keep the one fixture and experiment with different plants.

A great guide to plants by lighting needs is here: http://plantgeek.net/plantguide_cat.php?category=1

Someone mentioned earlier to look in the classifieds here. I totally support this idea! There are threads advertising low light starter packages, and some people will taylor a package to your tank if you tell them what you have.

Just remember to go slow and don't be afraid to make mistakes. You can have a beautiful low light planted tank.
 
Thank you for the information and advice. The guy at petsmart told me to stick the things in the gravel, and that is how they were at the store. The Bottom of the sword is turning brown- which led me to believe it is rotting? I left it in because I wasn't sure but it doesn't look so good to me. The roots don't seem to be able to hold onto anything. The anubias looks a little better, but yes I need to get it out of the gravel. At this point I've added a second light- I was hoping it would just speed up growth and health for low-light plants, I still do not plan on going into anything extreme for now. I'm not too worried about algae, my pleco and rainbow shark seem to handle it well. Should I just set the Anubias on top of the gravel? Is tying it down only necessary if it can't stay down on it's own?

Also I was looking at kelvin ratings for those "aquarium plant grow" bulbs and they are 2700K? I thought anything under 6500K had no effect?

Thanks again for the information
 
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