Nano Novice Plant Questions

I used to keep fish tanks when I was younger, and I've realized I've forgotten a ton of what I know. I was hoping yall could help me with some questions about plants. I have two 5 gallon tanks with low bio-loads (a betta in one, a juvenile peacock gudgeon and a couple young wild guppies in the other)

I'm not looking to put a ton of plants right now. Just for future reference I'd like to know what I can do to keep my plants healthy. Right now both tanks have just sand, and I'm not dosing anything. I'd like to avoid CO2 if I can, and also I'd like to avoid switching to a new substrate. Thanks for any advice.

 

What light do you have on them? Light would play a big part on keeping your plants healthy. Along with dosing ferts. Depending on what plants you plan to use would decide that.

Plants like anubias, java fern and java moss are beginner plants that can do good without ferts and it’s recommended that you tie it to a piece of driftwood/decoration. But with most stem plants, you might need to actually start dosing ferts.

 

I second anubias, java fern, java moss and I'd also suggest amazon sword and duckweed.

 

Currently I have the kit lights so nothing too fancy, I want to say about 5 watts on each tank. I have amazon swords and two anubias nana in one tank, and some bolbitis heteroclita (let's hope I spelled it all correctly) in the other. Lights are something I can upgrade in the future and I've heard of the kelvin (spelling?) scale but I'd like to know more.

 

That light should be fine for most plants. I wouldn’t do the amazon sword, they get too big. Maybe a rosette sword?

Kelvin is the light temperature. You want a light that has 6500-8000k for best growth.
-Mak- can explain it way better lol

 

I'm working on a planted tank guide, this is copied from the lighting section:

Another factor people think about when choosing light is the color temperature, aka the kelvin rating (K). The actual K rating can come down to personal aesthetic preference, because PAR is far more important than color temperature. Note that PAR and color temperature are independent of one another, and a higher K does NOT in any way indicate a higher PAR. The K only determines how warm or cool a light appears to be. Even then, two lights with the same K can appear very different, because K is not on a strict linear scale. For example, one person’s 10,000 K bulb can appear white and another person’s 10,000 K bulb can appear blue. The reason 6500K to 10,000K is ideal is that it has a similar color to natural daylight. Plants use wavelengths of 400nm to 700nm, mostly in the blue and red areas. The K rating doesn’t necessarily reflect the wavelengths a light has, so a spectrum graph that displays the wavelengths given off is helpful when choosing a light.
https://riftlabs.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/siteimg/planckianlocus.png

I guess it's a really long way to say 6500K is ideal, but pay attention to the actual spectrum

I also recommend root tabs if you get rooted plants and a water column fert.

 

I'm working on a planted tank guide, this is copied from the lighting section:

Another factor people think about when choosing light is the color temperature, aka the kelvin rating (K). The actual K rating can come down to personal aesthetic preference, because PAR is far more important than color temperature. Note that PAR and color temperature are independent of one another, and a higher K does NOT in any way indicate a higher PAR. The K only determines how warm or cool a light appears to be. Even then, two lights with the same K can appear very different, because K is not on a strict linear scale. For example, one person’s 10,000 K bulb can appear white and another person’s 10,000 K bulb can appear blue. The reason 6500K to 10,000K is ideal is that it has a similar color to natural daylight. Plants use wavelengths of 400nm to 700nm, mostly in the blue and red areas. The K rating doesn’t necessarily reflect the wavelengths a light has, so a spectrum graph that displays the wavelengths given off is helpful when choosing a light.
https://riftlabs.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/siteimg/planckianlocus.png

I guess it's a really long way to say 6500K is ideal, but pay attention to the actual spectrum

I also recommend root tabs if you get rooted plants and a water column fert.

That was really helpful! I always heard people talk about K and figured that was most important. Is it accurate to say is more of an aesthetic concern once it's between 6500-10,000? Is there a specific root tab/water column fert I should use?

 

That was really helpful! I always heard people talk about K and figured that was most important. Is it accurate to say is more of an aesthetic concern once it's between 6500-10,000? Is there a specific root tab/water column fert I should use?

Seachem tabs are pretty good for low tech, a water column fert will depend on plant choice

 

Seachem tabs are pretty good for low tech, a water column fert will depend on plant choice

Just anubias nana, bolbitis heteroclita, and amazon swords (please excuse any misspellings).

 

Just anubias nana, bolbitis heteroclita, and amazon swords (please excuse any misspellings).

Flourish will probably do as long as there are root tabs