As far as lightening goes its not much its one of those Aqueon light bulbs, i believe its that T8 1700W if i am not mistaken, came with my aquarium. I am using Aqueon plant food.
I kept one of these for over a year in one of my tanks and it didn't start rotting. It just didn't grow too much, just a leave or two and I finally threw it out yesterday. It survived a lot of other truly aquatic plants in a tank with broken light
time to take it out then, thank you for letting me know, i shall research from now on before going to the store as this is money thrown to the garbage.