Low, LOW light options

I have recently setup a 125 gal tank I'd had in storage for quite a while.
I never kept plants in it before. Somehow, over the years, the original 1
tube hood/light cover got ruined. I build a new, flip top out of plywood.

Have you seen the prices on 6' long high-output systems? I'd have to take a
mortgage out to finance my hobby? So, I'm putting in more generic lighting
and will get about 1 to 1.5 watts per gallon.

I'd like to plant the tank for some of the healthier properties of having
live plants in an aquarium provide. What species of plants could live in
such a low-light environment? Here are a few of the species that I THINK
might work. Can I get your input?

Anubias barteri
cryptocoryne crispatula
cryptocoryne wendtii
vallisneria asiatica
hygrophilia polysperma
Java fern
Java moss
sagitaria subulata

Thanks,
Todd

"t" wrote in message
om...
I have recently setup a 125 gal tank I'd had in storage for quite a while.
I never kept plants in it before. Somehow, over the years, the original 1
tube hood/light cover got ruined. I build a new, flip top out of plywood.

Have you seen the prices on 6' long high-output systems? I'd have to take
a
mortgage out to finance my hobby? So, I'm putting in more generic lighting
and will get about 1 to 1.5 watts per gallon.

I'd like to plant the tank for some of the healthier properties of having
live plants in an aquarium provide. What species of plants could live in
such a low-light environment? Here are a few of the species that I THINK
might work. Can I get your input?

Anubias barteri - Yes, and try Nana, smaller, and finer leaves
cryptocoryne crispatula - yes, but needs iron I think
cryptocoryne wendtii - it'll grow ok, more light, it'll be a weed...
vallisneria asiatica ??
hygrophilia polysperma ??
Java fern - Very nice in low light..
Java moss ??
sagitaria subulata ??

Thanks,
Todd

t wrote:
mortgage out to finance my hobby? So, I'm putting in more generic lighting
and will get about 1 to 1.5 watts per gallon.

Use CF and aim for that. You'll be fine.

live plants in an aquarium provide. What species of plants could live in
such a low-light environment? Here are a few of the species that I THINK
might work. Can I get your input?

I have a 110 gallon tank with 1 W/gallon of CF light. I have grown several
so-called medium-high light plants, including swords, cabomba, sunset hygro,
crypts, aponogetons, etc.
My suggestion would be to get a package from one of the websites folks here
have had good luck with (see google for the urls), and see what lives and
what dies. That's what I did and the tank is gorgeous!

--
Victor M. Martinez

http://www.che.utexas.edu/~martiv

The following do well in my tank at 1.5wpg regular flourescent:
Hydrocoytle leucocephala
Aponogeton
Cryptocoryne wendtii
Cryptocoryne spiralis
Saggitaria sublata
Vallisneria spiralis and natans
Echinodorus amazonicus
Water sprite
Nymphaea lotus
Amazon frogbit (I think)
Bacopa caroliniana (floating - not enough light for planted)
Anubias nana
Java fern
Lemna minor (but believe me - you do NOT want this! It's a pest)

What didn't survive for lack of light:
Bacopa
Ludwigia repens
Rotala wallichii
Myriophyllum
Alternanthera reineckii

Cris

On Thu, 11 Sep 2003 18:10:30 GMT, "t"
wrote:

I have recently setup a 125 gal tank I'd had in storage for quite a while.
I never kept plants in it before. Somehow, over the years, the original 1
tube hood/light cover got ruined. I build a new, flip top out of plywood.

Have you seen the prices on 6' long high-output systems? I'd have to take a
mortgage out to finance my hobby? So, I'm putting in more generic lighting
and will get about 1 to 1.5 watts per gallon.

I'd like to plant the tank for some of the healthier properties of having
live plants in an aquarium provide. What species of plants could live in
such a low-light environment? Here are a few of the species that I THINK
might work. Can I get your input?

Anubias barteri
cryptocoryne crispatula
cryptocoryne wendtii
vallisneria asiatica
hygrophilia polysperma
Java fern
Java moss
sagitaria subulata

Thanks,
Todd

Of those you mentioned I have :
Anubias barteri
cryptocoryne wendtii
Java fern
Java moss

and they are doing quite well at 1.5w/gal, no co2 and a Flourite substrate.
Dan

"t" wrote in message
om...
I have recently setup a 125 gal tank I'd had in storage for quite a while.
I never kept plants in it before. Somehow, over the years, the original 1
tube hood/light cover got ruined. I build a new, flip top out of plywood.

Have you seen the prices on 6' long high-output systems? I'd have to take a
mortgage out to finance my hobby? So, I'm putting in more generic lighting
and will get about 1 to 1.5 watts per gallon.

I'd like to plant the tank for some of the healthier properties of having
live plants in an aquarium provide. What species of plants could live in
such a low-light environment? Here are a few of the species that I THINK
might work. Can I get your input?

Anubias barteri
cryptocoryne crispatula
cryptocoryne wendtii
vallisneria asiatica
hygrophilia polysperma
Java fern
Java moss
sagitaria subulata

Thanks,
Todd

You might find it more prudent to down size your plan here if $ is an
issue.
Try a 20-55 gallon tank etc.

Shop lights will work well, so will electronic ballast and DIY
installations and mylar for reflective material etc. You should be
able to get 240w of T-12's(6 x40w) in there no problem. That's enough
light for most anything you'll want to do.

Use CO2?
You can try to DIY but anything over a 55 gal is tough to do and a gas
tank CO2 would be the best thing to improve growth/health. Even at
1-1.5 w/gal, adding CO2 will make the tank do much better.

I'd like to plant the tank for some of the healthier properties of having
live plants in an aquarium provide.

Well then focus on the plants rather than limiting by not enough
light/CO2 etc. You want healthy plants then grow the plants well.

Don't expect there to be a plant that does well submersed, little
light, no CO2 added and lots of fish. Be realistic here.
Plants need light, CO2 and nutrients to grow well, nothing else is
going to change that.

What species of plants could live in
such a low-light environment? Here are a few of the species that I THINK
might work. Can I get your input?

They will poke along. Adding Excel, CO2 etc will help a great deal.
DIY hood will also make it easy to add as much light as you want.

You don't need a PC lighting set up but if you want to look around, AH
supply has good deals.

Try the DIY hood, look around for CO2 tanks/reg's etc.
The plant cuttings can pay for these items quickly FYI.

Regards.,
Tom Barr

Anubias barteri
cryptocoryne crispatula
cryptocoryne wendtii
vallisneria asiatica
hygrophilia polysperma
Java fern
Java moss
sagitaria subulata

Thanks,
Todd

Thanks for the advice so far. Please feel free to keep advice coming. (
btw, I updated my name from t to Todd, sorry if there was confusion).

Thanks for the species recommendation. I've already setup the aquarium and
have fish in it. My hood I built has 120 watts of light (4 30w full spectrum
bulbs). However, with the tank being about 21" deep, I think it needs a bit
more light. I appreciate the advice about making the effort of putting in
the proper amount of light for plant production. I am endeavoring to upgrade
the lighting in my hood, and I appreciate the advice on species that will
allow me to at least get started.

Warmest thanks,
Todd

"t" wrote in message . com...
I have recently setup a 125 gal tank I'd had in storage for quite a while.
I never kept plants in it before. Somehow, over the years, the original 1
tube hood/light cover got ruined. I build a new, flip top out of plywood.

Have you seen the prices on 6' long high-output systems? I'd have to take a
mortgage out to finance my hobby? So, I'm putting in more generic lighting
and will get about 1 to 1.5 watts per gallon.

I'm running a 125-gallon with 4 F25T8s on an electronic ballast, and
am having great success growing a variety of plants. No CO2 injection,
and I'm still pruning the faster-growing ones at least once a week.

The real fast growers are Limnophila sessiliflora and Vallisneria
spiralis. Bacopa monnieri is growly slowly but fine. Echinodorus
tenellus is slowly spreading. Floating Ceratopteris pteridoides does
great. Of course Christmas moss and Anubias have plenty of light.

I've read a number of articles that argue pretty compellingly that
larger tanks need fewer watts per gallon than smaller thanks.
Certainly my own experience seems to back that up. I don't think you
need to consider this a "Low, LOW light" setup.

- Jim

(Jim Seidman) wrote in message . com...
"t" wrote in message . com...
I'm running a 125-gallon with 4 F25T8s on an electronic ballast, and
am having great success growing a variety of plants. No CO2 injection,
and I'm still pruning the faster-growing ones at least once a week.

The real fast growers are Limnophila sessiliflora and Vallisneria
spiralis. Bacopa monnieri is growly slowly but fine. Echinodorus
tenellus is slowly spreading. Floating Ceratopteris pteridoides does
great. Of course Christmas moss and Anubias have plenty of light.

I've read a number of articles that argue pretty compellingly that
larger tanks need fewer watts per gallon than smaller thanks.
Certainly my own experience seems to back that up. I don't think you
need to consider this a "Low, LOW light" setup.

- Jim

I agree, I have 3x32W T8 tubes with electronic ballast over my 90
gallon tank making it just over 1WPG. It's growing all the plants you
mentioned quite nicely with nothing more than a fish load and rich
substrate. My main suggestion would be to use a rich substrate, I used
Flourite with a little peat moss and crushed flourish tabs as the
first layer, the rest was just flourite topped with regular gravel to
change the color a little. The statement about larger tanks needing
less WPG makes sense as the height changes little when you get into
the larger tanks, spread is more of a concern IMO, reason why I
decided to use 3xT8 tubes rather than 2x55w CFs. I also prefer the
option to mix different bulbs together with more tubes. I would choose
CFs if I were going with higher WPG but for a low light tank such as
yours I would probably start with 4xT8 tubes, makes it much cheaper
and will give you a better spread. Invest in CO2 when you want to
spend the extra cash IMO.

Here's a pic of my 90g:
http://67.89.4.174/aqua/photos/09_2003/img_0021s.jpg

Hope that helps
Giancarlo Podio

Where do you find the Christmas Moss??
Dan

The real fast growers are Limnophila sessiliflora and Vallisneria
spiralis. Bacopa monnieri is growly slowly but fine. Echinodorus
tenellus is slowly spreading. Floating Ceratopteris pteridoides does
great. Of course Christmas moss and Anubias have plenty of light.

- Jim