What Plants to Get?

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bizzy928

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Mar 12, 2003
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Hello All,

I don't have any plants yet, but I am considering getting a couple of hardy and easy going plants for my 10 gallon. It has been fishless cycling for over a month now. (I just haven't had time to go get fish and maintain the tank yet...)

The tank gets daylight from when the sun goes up until it sets. Out of lets say 9 hours of daylight, maybe 30mins MAX its in direct sunlight. (But usually i'll have the blinds closed)

I have just purchased two CF 14w bulbs that have a 2700k colour temperature rating.

I know most plants thrive in 5k-10k lighting, but I must work with what I have...

My question is, are there any plants that go well with two 2700k lights? Any plants that would survive in those conditions?

*Note, I am also not going to go with C02.

Are my plants just going to die? Or do I have a chace?

Thank you
 
Assuming you have the fixtures to go with those 14w lights you will have 28watts of light for 10 gallons which is 2.8w/g. That would be considered medium/high light. I think you will be limited more by the size of your tank and how big the plants will grow than by the types of plants to get. Most should work AFAIK.

Why are you opposed to DIY CO2 (if you don't mind my asking)?
 
I just don't want the extra cost and hassel of CO2.

I really only want one plant. Something that would give my tank a more "natural" look.

So the 2700k and 2x14w lights (With an incadescent light canopy) will be just fine for a plant?

Thank you!
 
Yea it should be ok, but with that much light (and direct sunlight) you may have a heck of an algae problem. I'm not a very good person to be giving advice about this, but with my tank i have about 2 w/g and my 7 plants just can't out-compete the green-water algae. Right now my tank looks like I haven't changed the water in a month, when I changed 50% of the water twice this weekend.

Greenwater is a b!tch (pardon my language). If you just want a plant or 2, leave the regular incandescent light in there and get a Java Fern or an anubis. They are good looking and easy to keep alive (or so I've heard).

I have an Eclipse Six with an 8w fluorescent "gro" light. I'm going to plant it with anubis, java fern & java moss. Kinda like you're doing. That should be fairly straight forward. Keep me posted on how it turns out for you.

Good luck man :)
 
Thank you!

Someone advised me to use floating plants to diffuse the light.
What are some floating plants?

Would 2*CF 2700k be okay for their survival without CO2? (the Plants)
 
i have a 10g 15w no c02 and a anubis, its doing great
 
You are setting yourself up for some serious algae problems with the light you're talking about. Direct sunlight is murder.....even indirect sunlight is hard to deal with unless you are prepared to fertilize, plant heavily, and add CO2. If you don't want to deal with those things, IMO, you should move the tank to a more sheltered area, away from the window.
Len
 
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you can also try floating some hornwort or duck weed to shelter some light. be warned though, that once you add duck weed, you'll pretty much have it for life unless you tear down the tank. it's quite difficult to get rid of once it starts thriving...
 
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