There are a number of very easy to grow plants which do not require hundreds of dollars in lighting equipment such as Java moss, Java fern, Anubis nana (small leaf), Anubis barteri (large leaf), and even Amazon sword. The lights that are sold in stores like Petco that sell other pet supplies usually do not produce enough light for plants even if they say they do. It's a scam that they say they are for plants. These lights are really only good enough to showcase your fish. There are inexpensive alternatives! For a 20 gallon 2 foot long tank I've grown the above named plants with the exception of Amazon sword, which needs slightly more light, with a 2 foot long shop light with 2 40 watt plant bulbs. I'm talking $20-$25 total for a 20 gallon tank! High output lights from the aquarium store start at a minimum $100.00. Bulbs need to be replaced about every 8 or so months, and the shop light 40 watt ones run about $5-$7 a piece. The high output flouescents start at about $50 a piece, which means the continued cost of shop lights is very much more appealing cost wise. A planted tank will help provide an ecosystem in your tank that sucks up nitrates, provides places for beneficial bacteria to grow, and is visually beautiful. I rarely have problems with the cycle in my planted tanks and the plants grow so well that I have to thin them out on a regular basis. Why not give it a try? PS I used a 4 bulb 4 foot flouescent shop light for my 60 gallon and it worked even better than the two bulb on the 20 gallon.

tried the live plants but my chichlid didn't like them. or should i say she thought they were delicious and i cant afford to keep up to her appetite with live plants

Ive got an Oscar and Chocolate Cichlid, and SURPRISINGLY they havn't discovered plants as food yet haha Hope they will stay that way.

i have a planted tank, and i hate it... i started out with arnubias and javafern, and now none of them thrive in my tank... i dunno WTF is wrong with it... at first i had a black algae problem... i got rid of that with bleach dips...

i tried everything from flourish, expensive PC lights, R.O. water and shrimps.... and i don't know why the arnubias doesn't thrive... i have nana and barteri... and my java fern leaves just die and give me a bunch of baby java ferns... they go everywhere and get jammed up into the filter... dude i hate this tank... hate it...


i think i'm going to make a thread about it... lol... sorry...

Kong. What sized tank do you have? Yes you can find them at Home Depot and most hardware stores. For the 60 gallon I was able to find a 4 bulb fixture that was the length of the tank, 4 foot, and I bought the 40 watt bulbs that are for growing plants, there's a whole selection. Someone said the "daylight" ones would work as well, but I went with the plant ones. If your aquarium has a glass or clear cover you should remove the light diffuser on the fixture so the light doesn't have to go through an extra and unnecessary window. If your tank is 2 feet long I've grown low light plants with a 2 bulb fixture, but I would try to either find a 4 bulb one 2 feet long, or see if you can fit 2 2bulb ones. Make sure you have the lights on at least 8 hours a day and not more than 12. If your tank is 2 feet long and can't find a 4 bulb fixture, you may (if you're a crafty person) buy a number of narrow fixtures and build a sort of hood where you screw the lights to the underside of the top (and this would be great for the 4 foot fixtures too). This would be the best way to go aesthetically and you can fit more in this way NOTE: These fixtures are designed to be either hung from the ceiling or screwed to a ceiling and they are not designed to sit on a surface let alone an aquarium, so it would be a very good idea to attach the lights to the underside of a nice aquarium hood/light housing or to build one yourself. Additionally, when I used only 2 2 foot bulbs I didn't have a cover between the light and the water at all, but I wouldn't recommend this for most people because the lights eventually got pretty rusty. This allowed more light to go into the aquarium and not get blocked by the glass, so the 2 bulbs worked on my 20 gallon, but I'm not going to recommend this because it could be dangerous. I want it to work for you, so if you only put two bulbs on, and have glass that is dirty at all, it might not be enough light.

yo peter...

my water is at 7.0 ph and 20ppm nitrate... everything else is flatlined... temp is a steady 78*F...

i really don't have time to be doin that to the java fern... sounds smart and i'm pretty sure it works... but every one of my leaves dies off and starts sprouting again... when i had the plant in my lake tanganyika tank he leaves were long and bright green... i'm thinking about taking it all out and putting it back in there...

also... my arnubas aren't doing the trick either... the leaves grow small and wrinkle up all ugly... i'll post a pic right now...


jeez it took me fo-eh-vah to upload...
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/gumbii/25g.jpg[/IMG]

i hope that works...

the anubas leaves wrinkle up, turn black and fall off prematurely... what could i be doing wrong... like i said i've tried everything...


edit: i guess the [img] tagging doesn't work in this forum... what a bunch of fail/aids...


here's the link...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/gumbii/25g.jpg