Lighting In A Planted Tank

[sketchy]

Hi all!

It's been a while since I have kept tropical fish, but I am wanting to get back into things.

One thing that always puzzled me in the past, is why I had a lot of trouble keeping plants alive, despite spending a fair whack on various furtiliser products.

The previous tank was a mere 60L beginners kit. It wasnt heavily planted, so I would assume that there would be no need for CO2 kits and the like.

My question is this:

Can you get different bulbs for different set ups? For instance, I have been keeping reptiles for many years, and you can but bulbs with different UV ratings. Will getting a UV bulb help my plants to survive?

I dont't want to use plastic plants - if nothing else, just for the face that they just dont look/move the same as real plants!!

Many thanks
Sam

 

[three-fingers]

The most important thing is choosing the right plants, different types of bulbs can help, but alot of the plants available just need more lighting than a standard tank lighting fixture offers - this means adding more bulbs rather than just changing the type.

Reptile UV bulbs are actually pretty good for growing plants IME, but your much better off going for something meant for growing aquatic plants like an interpet triplus bulb or arcadia freshwater bulb.

Anyway, as I say, choose your plants right and you wont need to worry too much anyway.

Here are a few easy-to-grow plants that you should have no problems with the standard amount of lighting that comes with most tanks ('very low' - 'low' light plants): Java fern (grow on rock/wood), Anubias (also grown on rock/wood), Hgrophila polysperma, Cryptocoryne species (will need root tabs or plant substrate in a new tank), straight Vallis (does best in sand IME), amazon sword (will also need root tabs or plant substrate in a new tank) and of coarse - moss will live in pretty much any tank.

 

[sketchy]

Thankyou!!! Thats just the answer I was looking for! I will certainly consider the plant species mentioned there! One more queston relating to them is:

The tank i have at the moment - my old hospital tank, is being used as (hopefully a temporary) tank. It at present has no lighting, and is unlikely to, as I am looking into getting a new (second hand anyway) tank. When you say that some of the plant species will live in very low light, does this mean that they will live in a semi-shaded area of the room with o additional lighting?

cheers
sam

 

[three-fingers]

Without some sort of lighting fixture, no plants will grow (though algae usually still finds a way ).

However if it's just temporary, Aubias is hardy enough to survive without any lighitng for a month or two. 'Low light' to me would be one standard T8 tube going the length of the tank, 'very low light' to me would mean one single tube that is too small for the tank, or an old tube that needs replacing but is still otherwise working
But no, unfortunately no plants will grow without either direct sunlight or at least some kind of light with the correct spectrum over the tank.

 

[Renate]

Here is a link for info on how much light is need by an expert:
http/www.rexgrigg.com/mlt.html