Low light plant info???

titansfever83

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Oct 8, 2007
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I'm looking at turning my 29 gal. into a simple planted tank for as little money as possible. Can someone direct me to a website that has info on low light plants?

Thanks
Jamie
 
can freshwater plants withstand hard water?

here are the results from my water in my 29 gal:

total hardness=120ppm

total alkalinity=140ppm+/-

and I use buffer to get my PH around 6.6-6.8


can anyone give a noob some advice for starting up a simple planted tank? BTW, I already have black flourite as my substrate, will that be fine???



Jamie
 
Thanks Cory Keeper, with that said, I have two 17 watt bulbs(not sure of the spectrum). It also gets some sunlight in the mornings from a window.

I have never experimented with CO2. I do have some seachem 'flourish' and 'flourish iron' that I have had for a LONG time.

Well, I really don't want to buy lights so what are some nice plants that I can get and what ferts will work the best without getting too complicated???


Jamie
 
yes they can. The main issue in a planted tank is lighting, CO2 and ferts, everything else doesn't matter.

I would have to disagree slightly.

Though yes lighting/co2/ferts are major components of a planted tank, one still has to look at the further break down of plant requirements. Some plants will prefer soft water and others prefer hard. Its the same with temperature. Some mosses will grow good in warm temperatures others will die.

Titansfever why are you adding a buffer?
 
I would have to disagree slightly.

Though yes lighting/co2/ferts are major components of a planted tank, one still has to look at the further break down of plant requirements. Some plants will prefer soft water and others prefer hard. Its the same with temperature. Some mosses will grow good in warm temperatures others will die.

Titansfever why are you adding a buffer?


My tap water is usually around 7.8-8.2

I keep SA fish and try to keep them around 6.6-6.8 Will the buffer affect plants?? I use a mixture of Seachems 'neutral regulator' and 'discus buffer' to maintain the lower PH.
 
Whats the ph of the tap after it was allowed to sit for a few hours/for a day?
Thats another thing, plants generally do better in more acidic ph. To help lower your ph naturally you can try adding driftwood to the tank or peatmoss. Then if that ph still isnt low enough you can work with chemical means.



Not sure, I've never tested day old tap water.

I have more than enough driftwood in my tanks and have tried peatmoss in my canister filter and really didn't do enough to get the PH where I wanted it.

I have a 50 gal plastic barrel that i fill with water and add the buffers. I then place a submersible pump in the barrel and turn it on. It is just weak enough to NOT blow the water out of the barrel. After about 20 minutes, I connect my Python to the pump and the go about refilling my tanks.

I add 4 tsp of neutral buffer and 3 tsp of discus buffer to obtain a PH of 6.7 and by adding 1 more tsp of discus buffer will get it to 6.5

Jamie
 
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