Callum The Cat

what kind of plants can i have with a 15 watt light and what is it considered as in low light medium light and high light

Peace Out Callum!

MrWaxhead

Well 15 watts over what sized tank and what kind of lighting is it?
Basically under 1wpg (watts per gallon) is very low light, under 2wpg is low, 2-3wpg med to high, over 4wpg is very high light.

When you start getting over 2wpg c02 either diy (do it your self yeast style or pressurized starts to become a asset) but also your need for ferts becomes more a issue as your plants will metabolize faster and want food.

Good low light plants especially when you are not dealing with fertile substrate are java fern, java moss, lace java moss and anubis. As they do well in low light and do not get planted, they get tied to driftwood or rocks, and there roots slowly attach to the wood (tie them on with cotton thread and by the time the thread rots, they should be attached), and feed via the water.

Callum The Cat

its 30 gall but iits a hgih tank

Peace Out Callum!

MrWaxhead

Then you are looking at .5 wpg at best, that is assuming your 15 watt bulb is a 18" t12 bulb.

That is really on the very lean side, and even the earlier mentioned plants will really struggle to grow under that little light. Not to say they won't, just real slow and tend to get ratty over time.

I am guessing your tank should be 28" wide on a 30 high is it not, if so I would build or buy (don't build if your not comfortable with power and water, bad combo if not done right and with the right parts) a dual 24" t5 or t5ho bulb light system. They are actually 22" long and are 14w a piece for plain t5, which would give you .93wpg. But since t5s are more efficient then the T12's that the standard wpg was rated at you actually multiply the output by 1.37 giving you 1.28 actual rated wpg which is fine for the low light end of things.

The 24" t5ho lighting on the other hand are 24watts a piece giving you 1.6 wpg, but again t5ho is rated higher wpg then T12's at approx 1.22 so that 1.6 becomes 1.95 wpg based of lumen per watt efficiency. A very stable amount of lighting for many plants.

The other beauty of T5's are there size they are 5/8's of a inch think instead of the 1 1/2 inch thick T12. So they are nice and compact, you can **** near put two of them in the space that a T12 fills up. And allows your for efficient use reflectors to really beam the light down well over the plants.

Callum The Cat

i told my mum at the fish shop but no it was strong enough my ass i'll get a stronger one i'll get her to read this she doesn't belevie me

Peace Out Callum!

MrWaxhead

And if you can't afford or are not ready to take that plunge, find a good bulb for your old hood (you have to use the right form though, if your old bulb is T12 you must use the same one). Basically you want a bulb that peaks in the right wavelength spectrum (reds with some blues) a Full-Spectrum (Tri-Phosphor) is your best bet. The Kelvin rating is actually a bit of a misunderstanding, that is more the colour the bulb burns at, 3200k your eye sees as more red, 6500K you eye sees as pretty much white, and 10,000 is getting more to the blue end. Your plants on the other hand don't really tell the difference much.

But on that end 6500k is a pretty common temp for growing and what many choose including myself, I like to run 3 6500k bulbs and one 3200k bulb to punch my fishes and plants colours. But all my bulbs have the right Phosphors to give my plants the thing they do want to Photosynthesis, the right wavelength. So they could all be 3200k or 10000k and grow about the same, but my eye would see my tank very differently.

What I did when i started out, I took a notepad to all my fav LFS and took notes on many different lights and hoods etc. Then I researched (read numerous fish boards and electrical sites) all the ones that caught my eye until I narrowed down my choices. There is also no need to rush, find what will work for you and fits your budget, you can always work with just about anything, you just have to approach growing differently.

Callum The Cat

what kind of light would i need for the following:
round pellia
Mini Pellia
Fissedens splachnobryoides
Pellia
Flame Moss
Star Moss
Plagiomnium Trichomanes
Christmas Moss
Hemianthus Callitrichoides
Willow Moss
Fissidens zippelinnus

Peace Out Callum!

MrWaxhead

You making a shrimp tank as that is sure a heap of ground cover and moss you just listed hehe.

Sorry I can't help you much there as everything you have listed there are all plants I have never had the pleasure of growing.

I do have a friend that started some Fissidens splachnobryoides, and his grew extremely slow and browned.

Pelia, Monosolenium tenerum I would love to grow, but I have not found any yet. As I would like to find a substitute for my riccia, as it is a non stop job taking care of riccia and Pelia being that it sinks sounds so much easier to me hehe.

I will do some reading on your list, but it sounds like you have a goal in mind ie a moss and carpet kinda thing (very nice look btw), I really think more then .5 wpg will be needed, as many carpeting plants just love light. Hemianthus Callitrichoides can get by with less, but everything I have read says it gets spindly and does not stay low without enough lighting.

If it was me and a moss and carpet kinda them was on my plate, I would go for the 2 t5ho or 4 reg t5 bulbs, and add c02. At 30 gallons you could get away with 2 DIY bottles and get enough c02 in your tank. But there are always ways to cheat things too (and having to cheat and learn what I could and couldn't grow, was a good learning experience as well), when I first started with plants until I had correct lighting etc, I would do things like plant my light lovers like riccia high up in my tank giving them as much light as possible etc.

Sounds like you have you mind on a nice theme, one thing worth trying though, is start with your scrape in mind, and only grab a few key components, and plant the rest of the tank with a weed hornwort etc. That way you will start to learn your plants likes and dislikes slowly and not have a massive die off of plants, if you loose a couple. And the hornwort will soak up any excess nutrients so you don't get a algae explosion. Then as your start to do well and you have figured them out, grab another couple key parts to your scape and remove the hornwort from the area they are going to go, until you have fully scaped out your final choices.

That way you can start out without having to go all out money wise (not that a couple lights, some ferts etc are insane expensive, but why buy more then you need), and slowly figure out what you can and can't grow, and if something is a I must grow this plant that failed, address its needs and go from there.

Callum The Cat

thanks would it beany better if i used more than one light?

Peace Out Callum!

MrWaxhead

For sure, sometimes you have too when your aiming for more light over your tank. I actually prefer to run 4 bulbs over my tank to get my desired lighting, that was I get a nice even lighting over my tank, and i get less shaded spots.
And I can work more with colour choice that way too, I run 3 6500k bulbs two over the back, one over the front, and one 3200k bulb right up front to punch my fish and plants colour.

Isabella

Callum, it would be good if you have looked at the General Guide to the Low-Light Planted tank at the top of this board. It explains the lighting levels to some extent.

A 15 watt lightbulb can be considered both low- and high-light, depending on a tank size which it is for.

P.S. Mr. Waxhead is giving you some very good advice