Need low light plant tips...

[BigSteve]

♂ Are there any bunched plants that will do OK with low lighting?
I have a 15 gal with a basic hood and 15 watt lamp... so just 1 watt per gallon.
Also, a fellow at lfs told me that it would be best to get a glass canopy type hood, and add another 15 watt flourescent lamp assembly in front of the other one which would give me 30 watts. But then I read on another site that this strategy will still only yield 15 watts of light.
Would two bulbs of the same wattage be Ok for live plants, or am I possibly looking at getting a 55 watt, single tube light assembly? Or will any plants survive my present 1 watt per gallon? Thanks!

 

[Lateral Line]

Hygrophila polysperma will grow slowly in lower light, also any of the "siamensis" cultivars, (there are about a dozen), of Hygrophila corymbosa. H. polysperma is very readily available, the special cultivars of H. corymbosa are sometimes available, but never widely so.

If you add a second 15Watt lamp, then you have 30 Watts over the tank. I can't see how 2 x 15 Watts can be 15W! I don't really understand that particular piece of advice. What they might be on about is that replacing a hood which previously reflected light down with a simple sheet of glass will result in a lot of the light that was being reflected down will no longer be so - just a guess.

30 Watts of full spectrum lighting will give you "medium" kight and is adequate for a lot of commeon plants.

 

[clutterydrawer]

I have a 15g tank with a 15W light.

Here is what is growing:

cryptocoryne wendtii "green"
cryptocoryne willisii
anubias nana
anubias barteri
hygrophila corymbosa "siamensis"
hygrophila polysperma

here is what is existing, i.e. I've had ti for aegs and it has survived but barely grown:

java fern
amazon sword

and I had a crypt wendtii "tropica" but i think it's dead.

obviosuly your plants will grow better if you upgrade your light, but I think it's possible to have healthy plants without doing that. i have.

 

[BigSteve]

♂ Thank you for the replies. The info is helpful.

 

[maestro]

The watts per gallon rule doesnt work on small size tanks you could grow anything if you had 300 watts on a 100 gallon tank but 45 watts on a 15 gallon would be low-medium light if you want to grow medium or high light plants go for T5 power compact lighting instead of regular bulbs its about the same price.

For example a regular bulb is 18 inches long and has 15 watts

I have 3 T5 power compact bulbs in my 24 inch hood, the same size as yours, they are only 16 inches long each and put out 36 watts each, thats 108 watts i have.

If not then stay with ur current 15 watts and stick to extremely low light plants.