frogster221

i am setting up a 55 gallon aquarium and i was looking for low light plants i need ideas and the plant geek website is not much help. so any ideas are welcome. thank you.

Shawnie

Hi frogster...I use this link when buying my plants

http://www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_lowlight.php

goodluck~

frogster221

cool websitebut is that all of the lowlight aquarium plants that i could get? and i bought a chain sword, the store person said it was low light, is it?

Barbrella

Chain swords are not really low light plants. They may survive for a time at lower light levels but won't grow much. You have less than 1 watt per gallon, so the only plants that will do well are the ones Shawnie linked to you.

Pet store employees aren't usually the best source of advice.

sirdarksol

Plant Geek not a lot of help? They separate their plants by lighting requirements. What more could a person need?

Anyway, the only ones that I would suggest for less than a watt a gallon would be Java fern and moss.

frogster221

i cant find java anything locally and my parents wont let me order anything unless its from a major company and i cant afford to pay for any of the major companies prices.

GuppyTeacher

I do not have alot of experience here but I can tell you that I have had no trouble getting Water Wisteria and Hornwort to grow in my low light level tank. I have not done anything special for either plant and both seem to be thriving in my tank quite nicely.

TFA101

Java fern i hear is a subdued light plant.

frogster221

o i have wisteria it grows ok it only grows on the very top of the plant. i also have anubias nana its doing great. i also have wat i believe to be some sort of val not sure though and its doing great it has runners on half of the back glass

sirdarksol

Yeah, I definitely wouldn't pay the major corporation prices unless you're setting up a huge tank. As much as I love Drs Foster and Smith, it's just not worth their livestock shipping prices unless you're getting a couple hundred dollars worth of stuff.
I can kind of understand where your parents are coming from coming from on this matter, though I think that Aquabid and eBay, because of their built-in security for buyers, not to mention similar security that the credit card companies have, are extremely safe.

frogster221

my parents arent worried about that they are worried that the person who sells it to me is going to stalk me or something whatever ill just have to find a few species that i like and then try to get the petstore to order it for me. would this work? how could i increase WPG without buying a whole new canopy? and will red or blue lights promote growth during the night?