new to plants

M

meandthetanks

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Apr 15, 2008
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i have a 48 x 12 x 18 inch cold water tank with 4 fancy goldies and 2 dojo loaches in,and have recently swapped from plastic plants to all real,i think i have elodea and hornwort, they are just weighted down so they dont float about the tank. anyway,im wanting to know what kind of lighting i would need for adding anymore different plants. they have a small gravel substrate,and im not wanting to use co2, but i am thinking of adding some plant food as they dont seem to be growing much. the light i have is a 36inch tropical classica natural tropical sunlight tube (i think,i cant quite remember the full name,and cant check as im not home right now) how often should i feed the plants in the tank without causing a huge algae bloom(which is what im guessing will happen if i add too much?) any help/ideas more than welcome :help:
 
i thought they would eat the plants too,but they dont,and even if they did they are there for them to use for whatever they want,be it eating or swimming around. i dont mind really,they are easily replaced as i have a friend with a pond who lets me have it for free. i was just wondering about any different plants i may be able to get. what type of light would you recommend for me to buy to be able to have different plants? i dont have anyone i know who i can ask about it as everyone i know has fake plants and doesnt know about different lighting for live ones. i can squeeze a 48inch tube into my hood on my tank,if its just the length of the tube thats the issue-sorry if i got that wrong,but i dont remember seeing different types of light tubes at the pet store. thanks for the replys so far x
 
well you might need a hew light fixture or you could DIY something. your probably wanting to stay low tech and that still provides a good assortment of plants. if you go with llow tech then your going to want some thing that provide more than 1 wpg (watt per gallon) but less then 2 wpg, i'd say around 1.4 is ideal for low tech. i know there have been planted gold fish tanks before and i will need to look around TPT (the Planted tank) to find the thread that it was in. but it was really a nice tank. so ether way good luck with this project
 
ok thank you,ive talked to hubby,would it work if i was to put in a second tube of the same type i have now? the tube i have now is a 42inch tropica sunlight tube,38watts.if we could somehow diy the lid to hold 2 tubes instead of the 1,would it work that way? we have a 2nd starter unit laying around so it would just be the tube we need to buy,or would there be a better different type of tube to put with the existing one we have-lol does it show i have no idea what im talking about!!! oh and will it be ok if the tubes are very close together or do they need to be a certain distance apart? thanks for the help so far x
 
Agreed with others I've got 4watts over my 55 right now and it's not growing much at all. I've got a DIY hood that's almost finished that I'll be posting a writeup of later on. Probably about $200 or so total cost for the cabinet, lighting, tops, and accessories. I'll try to include a cost sheet with mine when it's all done.
 
by the way meandthetanks what are the specs of the tank (that can make a difference) also after you deal with lighting your going to have to look at plants that don't mind lower temps. also here is a list over at TPT (the planted tank) of alot of low light plants to give you some starting point. just be warned you will really have to look at the temps thay survive at though.

excellent list low light plants

4 watts over a 55!!! that really is way to little light i'm surprised your plants are doing ok so far, good to hear that your getting the hood up and running
 
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