Squirt Posted September 13, 2011 Report Share Posted September 13, 2011 Hi I have a tank with 2w per gallon of light. What kind of fast growing low maintainence plants could I keep? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted September 13, 2011 Report Share Posted September 13, 2011 crypts, though am not sure much that grows at low light is considered fast growing compared to say, plants on Co2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
#!CrunchBang Posted September 13, 2011 Report Share Posted September 13, 2011 Twisted Val grows fast for me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supasi Posted September 13, 2011 Report Share Posted September 13, 2011 forget the 2 watts per gallon as it means nothing. What is the tank dimensions and what is the light? . This will then give us an idea of what we are working with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted September 13, 2011 Report Share Posted September 13, 2011 +1 for twisted val - mine twisted val took a number of months to settle in but now it's putting out runners all over Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
#!CrunchBang Posted September 13, 2011 Report Share Posted September 13, 2011 +1 for twisted val - mine twisted val took a number of months to settle in but now it's putting out runners all over I started with one plant and now have ~10 in about 6 months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myfishybuisness Posted September 13, 2011 Report Share Posted September 13, 2011 +1 for twisted val - mine twisted val took a number of months to settle in but now it's putting out runners all over do you have any o could swap for some of my plants please Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted September 13, 2011 Report Share Posted September 13, 2011 Sorry Fishybusiness not yet, am waiting for them to cover the background so I can get rid of the ambulia. For me 'all over' means 3 baby plants :slfg: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squirt Posted September 13, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 13, 2011 Ok the light hood is 2x4' tubes, tank is 120x38wx30 deep. Light is an aqua one 40D. Twisted Val sounds like a good idea :thup: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supasi Posted September 13, 2011 Report Share Posted September 13, 2011 What sort of tubes? T8 I assume. With that lighting there are not many what I would call fast growing plants. You could plant Hygrophila. Crypts would be great but are not fast growing until they are well established. Are you a member of any club? or do you subscribe to Aquarium World mag? I had an article about low light tanks in the recent edition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supasi Posted September 13, 2011 Report Share Posted September 13, 2011 Here is an awesome article about tank lighting and how the Watts per Gallon theory is today pretty much obsolete. http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/lighting/85667-par-data-spiral-power-saver-bulbs-2.html YOUR LIGHT You say that you "like the low light, and anything more would be too much for your room". You can't use this a basis for your tank if you want to grow HC or glosso etc. I would also tell you to forget about anything you've heard about the "watts per gallon" rule. It's antiquated and it holds no meaning. WPG rules would only work if everyone used the exact same kind of light, with the exact same kind of efficiency, placed exactly the same height above the same size tank. You've already encountered that the light you wanted to use didn't fall neatly into everyone's rule of thumb. Also, just because one person used 27watts of a certain bulb on a similar sized tank doesn't mean it's going to work in your situation... for many reasons. What exactly is low light? What exactly is high light? The amount of watts isn't going to give you the answer. Here's an example: I have 100 watts of metal halide lighting above my 5gal tank (really). That comes out to be 20 watts per gallon. Is that high light? Or could it be low light? Many would say that's definitely high light. But, the answer is that it is low light, given the way it is set up. And you can only know that if you measure the light in a different way: a PAR meter. A PAR meter doesn't measure LUX or Lumens, those are human vision quantities and don't mean anything to plants. A PAR meter measures the amount of light that is available for photosynthesis. It has a funky unit of measurement because it counts the number of photons that strike a surface over time. Now, I know you probably don't have a PAR meter. But, I do and I'd be interested in helping you determine exactly what bulb might give you enough light, given your fixture and distance from the water. I can tell you immediately that you're going to have to have more than 15watts of the bulb that has been mentioned earlier. If you're interested, send me a private message and we can work out the specifics, I have an idea. Follow-Up: Household CF Bulbs, Growing HC, and Non-CO2... I wanted to follow up to this thread to share some more ideas on lighting with household CF bulbs. AirSong originally had posted asking how much light she should use to light her 2.5gal non-CO2 tank... She was interested in growing HC or other carpeting plants. To her, I answered that she would probably need more than 15 watts. I didn't want to leave it at that however. I set out to investigate and find the right answer. As such, I duplicated her setup: tank size, fixture type, water depth, distance of light from the water, etc... and then took some measurements. The answer is that you can use anything from 14 watts to 27 watts, and beyond. It all depends on how you set it up... I personally believe that many hobbyists underestimate the need to accurately quantify their light - especially when they are plagued by unexplained algae or dying plants. The growth in non-CO2 tanks is quite slow and getting feedback takes too long. It's good to know from the start that your lighting is in a good range, so you can eliminate it as a variable if your tank is "less than desirable". As I discovered, these CF bulbs (14-23 watts) seem fairly tame, but how you use them can mean the difference of not having enough light, and having way too much. And believe it or not, that difference can manifest itself just by moving the light up or down a few inches. I created a several slides to show what I'm talking about. I hope this will help illustrate how things like reflector type and distance make a big difference, and can't be overlooked - it is also the reason one person's success with a particular bulb may not be your success. (Hopefully, you've turned off that pesky "image resize" in your user preferences - if not, make sure to unscale for readability. ) Diagram1 - Household CF Bulbs . . . Diagram2 - Measuring Household CF Bulbs . . . Diagram3 - 19W, 5500K Example . . . Diagram4 - Does Color Temperature Matter? . . . Diagram5 - 23 Watt Extremes . . Diagram6 - Reflector & Orientation . . . Diagram7 - 14 Watt Example . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sup42 Posted October 2, 2012 Report Share Posted October 2, 2012 Supasi I read that thread with the inputs from 4x4 on the CFL par measurements. Very very interesting. I've been trying to grow a nice little ten gallon tank using those principles. The True measure in the case of my little experiment will be if the bunnings lamps manage to grow the HC into a carpet i painstakingly planted last week by using a combination of cutting ten long stems From Four Seasons petshop in Glenn Innes into individual cuttings and also tying some of the plants down using those plant weights to see if a tied down Mother plant out performs the cuttings Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godly3vil Posted October 2, 2012 Report Share Posted October 2, 2012 wow :digH: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barnacle Posted October 2, 2012 Report Share Posted October 2, 2012 You should be able to grow most plants under that. My tank is 55cm deep but still have 2 tubes and i manage to get my plants to grow. viewtopic.php?f=4&t=60520 What do you class as low maintenance? I trim some plants once a fortnight i guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Li@m Posted October 2, 2012 Report Share Posted October 2, 2012 My Tank is low Maintenance. i do a small trim and a WC once a month. i have 3 T8's on my 40cm high tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sup42 Posted October 4, 2012 Report Share Posted October 4, 2012 By the Way an easy to grow / fast growing stem plant would have to be Hygrophila Polysperma. Really hardy plant , great for new set ups , versatile to the max. Trimming and replanting the tops gives a really nice bushy look. Growing it along the Substrate or just letting it spread across the surface gives you the 'all in one' uses of this plant. Cuttings are easy to strike. It is a cheap plant to buy a lot of. Truly the best plant I've had any experience of in terms of quick reward for effort and a confidence builder for new plant gardeners. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F15hguy Posted October 4, 2012 Report Share Posted October 4, 2012 Im liking a bit of rotala I gat called "Rotala macaranda" which isn't :bounce: leaves are long and skinny but still have a red tinge (except in my nano tank where its a vivid green) grows very fast and quite pretty in a 400L (very) low tech planted community. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barnacle Posted October 4, 2012 Report Share Posted October 4, 2012 Im liking a bit of rotala I gat called "Rotala macaranda" which isn't :bounce: leaves are long and skinny but still have a red tinge (except in my nano tank where its a vivid green) grows very fast and quite pretty in a 400L (very) low tech planted community. I thought the macaranda variety had broader leaves?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F15hguy Posted October 4, 2012 Report Share Posted October 4, 2012 thats why I don't think its macaranda. but came from a pond plant labeled as macaranda. who cares pretty and grows well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godly3vil Posted October 4, 2012 Report Share Posted October 4, 2012 Are you ever going to show us some pictures of all of these tanks you have F15hguy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamH Posted October 4, 2012 Report Share Posted October 4, 2012 Are you ever going to show us some pictures of all of these tanks you have F15hguy? +1. Sounds look if you have some awesome setups 8) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F15hguy Posted October 5, 2012 Report Share Posted October 5, 2012 i'll post a couple of random snaps of the fish room tonight if I can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheepsnana Posted October 5, 2012 Report Share Posted October 5, 2012 all two of them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godly3vil Posted October 5, 2012 Report Share Posted October 5, 2012 Patiently waiting :spop: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F15hguy Posted October 6, 2012 Report Share Posted October 6, 2012 Sorry about hold up, but heres a few I could find, I'll take the camera with me today and try and get more. http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=60823 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.