hop2jr

I Have a 29gal tank and was thinking of java moss and java fern heard there low light and easy to keep but is there and freshwater colorful low light plants or grass for thr forground of tank? I only have a 20watt all-glass hood light. 1-20watt t5 aquarium spectrum fluorescent.

Austin {Aquarist}

Dwarf hairgrass is a great foreground plant and I have it with java fers and java moss too

http://www.plantgeek.net/plantguide_viewer.php?id=115

^^plantgeek is awesome

hssea

let me know how it goes i also have only 1 light with fake plants but would like to add a couple of real plants in the tank

Gargoyle

Java ferns will live in a low light tank... To make them really pop I found adding light to the tune of 2 watts per gallon and a little C02 will make them extremely happy...

By the way.. 2 watts per gallon IS considered "low light".

hop2jr

Well I bought a All-glass 30" hood with light on the box there was nothing stating how many watts the buld was just that it was a Aquarium Florecent bulb. After spending 36 buck putting it on the tank I found the plate oon the back that said 20watt max. Made me want to slap someone in the head if 2watts/gal is low light why in the would a they put that in a 30" hood guess now I'm stuck? E-mail the company and heard nothing back. Can Java moss/fern and darwf grass live with only .68watts of light per gal?

Gargoyle

Okay the deal is they "can" it will just be VERY poor growth. The reason that light is in there is so you can look at your pretty fish. They have no intention of that light growing plants.

Now if your tank is near an indirect source of outside light you could try to take advantage of that as much as you can to help the plants. I would honestly recommend a dual T8 lighting setup at the minimum with the special plant growing bulbs installed. I had that on my 29 and it worked great!

I have a 55 now and just bought a new light for it. It has 4 54 watt T5's. With just 2 of them on it looks like a bright summer day in the tank! Which is exactly what you are going for to keep the plants happy and looking good.

Also if you are very serious abut the health of your plants you may want to look into a C02 setup whether pressurized or DIY as it can help the plants a bunch!

Any questions just ask...

Tio

i am in the process of making a custom hood for my tank so i only have40 watts for a 55 g tank and my plants are doing fine i have java ferns and the rest i cant remember the names all too long for me but they are all low lights and are thriving in my tank.my new hood will have approx 130 watts

Gargoyle

130 watts is good times for a 55.

For a 30 gallon I would think 40 watts would be good and 60 watts would be better. I had a 29 gallon with 40 watts of T8 bulbs and it did fine. The T5 HO's are simply amazing though. It's like the sun is shining right on your tank. Very nice color and illumination. But with 108 watts of T5 HO lighting it is bright!!

Jim

Right now, to make my Java moss pearl amd make my other plants bubble like crazy I am running 214 watts of light over a 46 gallon Bowfront, which works out to roughly 4.65 wpg. If I turn off one bank of lights to 172 watts (3.75wpg) the bubbles stop all together. I've experimented with the bulbs, and the magic number seems to be somewhere between 4.25 and 4.65 wpg to make my tank literally boil O2 bubbles. Also, for the record, I am running pressurized CO2 at about 3 bubbles per second, and my tank temp is set to 80-82 degrees. Change either of those 2 also and the bubbles slow.
Here's 2 links to my tank. the first shows the growth rate I've had at these settings, the second is some REALLY happy Java moss:
http://www.fishlore.com/fishforum/me...nth-later.html
http://www.fishlore.com/fishforum/aq...s-boiling.html

Gargoyle

Very nice! Thanks for the info! I won't feel bad about getting the other 2 bulbs of mine fired up when I get my C02 going. Right now during the day I have to run an air pump or the fish get kinda sickly looking. It would be nice to have a good amount of light and some C02 to take care of this little issue for me...

Once again thanks for the specs. Are there fish in this tank or just plants? I currently run about 79 degrees and 108 watts of light. Once I get the C02 I was thinking 1 or 2 bubbles per second depending on drop checker readings.

Jim

OK, about the fish, do you know about photosynthisis? Plants take in CO2 during the day and give off O2... but at night it REVERSES!!! This is hugely important, because i almost suffocated my fish a couple times overnight. Don't run your bubbler during the day; run it at night, that's what I do. See if this makes a difference in your fish.
As for my tank, check this post out, the complete list of plants and fish is here somewhere... I'm too lazy to retype it! lol
http://www.fishlore.com/fishforum/me...wamp-tank.html

Gargoyle

OK, about the fish, do you know about photosynthisis? LOL!!! Yeah... It is a new tank and all.. not sure if the plants have properly acclimated or if there was enough light for them to do so...

The bubbler was running at night and off during the day... Now it's on all the time because of the way the fish act during the day. One day when I am here and can babysit the tank I will turn it off during the day again just to see if the new light has helped the plants make 02 at all.

I had the fizzy plants in my 29 for while but I got sick of messing with the DIY C02.

hop2jr

I have a Hillstream Loach will C02 for thee plants hurt him at night because he needs high 02?

Jim

If you look at my tank now, you'll see why I have a problem. But back when I only had a few plants it was never an issue. Actually, it was the Angelfish Garden that I first saw it happen. The Angelfish Garden was this the same tank, but before I rebuilt it to it's present Swamp version. I first saw it with my neons. I was running a yeast fementer Co2 rig, and just got it right so some of the plants were bubbling a bit. But then I happened to call in sick one morning and catch all my neons at the top of the tank trying to breath. NOT good. That's when I started running a pump at night. The tank in the swamp version is much worse, and I've already killed a couple fish and shrimp before I got the timers set up. Opps.
Here's pictures of before the Angelfish Garden, and both the Angelfish Garden and the Swamp. As you can see, they're pretty heavily planted. But in the first pic I never had a problem. I was using about 120 watts of light then (if I remember right) and no CO2 yet. The Angelfish garden I ramped up the lights and started running CO2 (yeast). The swamp is running 214 watts of lights and pressurized Co2, and like I said, I can suffocate fish easily with this one.
I hope this helps.

Before the rebuild


The Angelfish Garden


The Mystic Swamp

Gamer

^ breathtaking.