I have a plant question???

[cougargirl50]

I went into my local PETCO store the other week and bought one of them cheap pouches that has the 4 plant bulbs in (not knowing if they would really grow or not) well 2 of the plants are growing pretty well now, so I have a question here, with now having live plants in my tank do I need to put anything in the tank for the plants? As far as plant food or anything that the plants may need or can I just let them go. I think I have a 15 watt bulb in the tank, but its not an aquarium bulb it is a florecent bulb that we took out of our kitchen (so I really don't know if thats good or bad but it lets off alot of light). but I didn't know if you had to give plant food or anything that would keep the plants healty.


Suggestions would be very appreciated......

 

[impossible]

It depends on what type of plants you have, low light plants would probably do ok,although I would still purchase a proper tube. Like I said, you need to find out exactely what plants you have ,as they may require more light and even co2 and ferts.

 

[mooman]

I'm not much of a plant guy (bit of a transparent thumb when it comes to aquatics), but someone who is, posted that bulb plants will often grow and look great for awhile because they use the energy stored in thier bulbs for growth. Once that is used up, they go down hill quick. Sounds like you probably need more light (i don't think a special tank light is needed, but a second flrourecent tube couldn't hurt). An all-purpose fertilizer like "Flourish" would probably help too. CO2 doesn't do much untill you have alot of light, so you don't even need to worry about that.

Good Luck

 

[sunshine06]

What kind of plants do you have species wise. Ferts are always welcomed by plants as they need their strength to grow. Co2 is also a good way to go it made a major difference in my tank. I now have larger, fuller and greeener plants.

 

[Kissofthegorami]

You only have a couple bulbs. geesh. You don't need co2. I have an entire planted tank and I don't use co2. With such low lighting, you don't need ferilizer either. Its probably an aponogeton. They will probably need more light but higher lighting can be expensive and you have to decide if its worth it and if u want to do more plants. The minimum for low light plants is 1 watt per gallon. Easy plants for you to grow would be java fern, anubias, crypts, and java moss.