Light fixtures for plants

[Rebbie]

Hi All.... I'm a new member here.... have been an aquarist for about a decade now. I want now to focus a bit more on growing plants, along with my fish. My tank is a 55 gallon, and the fish are 12 tetras, 5 rainbowfish, and 2 angelfish.

My light fixture consists of only one fluorescent tube... a special 'sunlight' one purchased at PetLand.... and I notice that this seems to be what is generally offered in the stores I go to. I'm pretty sure this is not enough to grow plants successfully, and I want to have a more interesting variety in this tank.... presently I have only one swordplant and several Java ferns. I'm getting more and more algae which the snails cannot keep up with! I'm wondering also why fixtures with two light tubes are not more commonly offered.

Can someone suggest how to find fixtures with two light tubes in New York City? I'm very anxious to get started in raising better plants!!

Thanks for any suggestions!
Rebbie

[stevem]

First for a 55 gal tank even 2 flor tubes is not enough, recommended wattage is between 3- 5 watts per gal. So a 55 gal your talking atleast 150 watts. You are better off going on line for light fixture, better selection and alot cheeper. A resonably priced fixture is the nova or you can look at
www.aquatraders.com (http://www.aquatraders.com) as far as the algae, plant and algae fight for the same nutrients, If the plant grow rapidly they will win if not you get algae blooms. Keep on top of your water changes atleast 20% every 2 weeks. your fish load is fine for what you have. Also make sure you are not over feeding. My rule of thumb with most fish is once a day, and make sure it is gone in about a minute or you are feeding too much. Yoyur light should be on about 8-10 hour a day. don't forget t ofeed your plant too.

[Rebbie]

Thank you, Stevem, for your reply to my post. I see that I have spent all this time (a decade) in fishkeeping AND trying to grow aquatic plants even worse-off than I realized. I was always looking for low-light plants, though. I did understand that eventually I'd want better light.... but now I understand why most introduced plant varieties just were simply not growing satisfactorily. There is much I must explore.

Thanks as well for the link to aquatraders! This gave me good ideas of how to proceed from here. The prices are more reasonable than I had expected! This all still leaves me puzzled as to why SINGLE-light fixtures are even sold at all! Most people want to grow plants in their tanks, think, but the single-light fixtures are the only ones commonly available. Odd!

Thanks again for your help!
Rebbie

[stevem]

As far as the single light goes, it is fine for fish only tank.
There are lower light plants but not that low. As far aas which ones i am not an expert on that. you would would have to do some research on that. Don't always trust the guy in you local pet store.
You also need to feed your plants, and also using substrate like eco complete will produce better results.

[john fox]

if you like can make a co2 generator for plants in the aquarium all the information is on the Internet , it involves a 2 liter bottle ,aquarium tubing ,,sugar and yeast. I have a 3 gal tank on my widow sill in the kitchen and the plants , which are water sprite java fern , baby tears are all doin very good and there's no electric light heater ect , in fact I looked close 1 day and saw a guppy fry who had no food for at least 2 weeks and was swimming around like he just came out of the gym😃😃oh by the way I take a fork and take out some plants out of the 3 gallon put them in my fish tank and while there floating I dump a cup of gravel on them and wala instantly planted😱

[stevem]

Natural sunlight is great and cheep.
As long as u can regulate it, tanks with too much sometimes can get over run with algae

[robertprice]

Check out the website Yamatogreen.com. One of the best for fertilizers, light wattage and all aspects of growing plants

[john fox]

I'm usin miracle grow a 1/2 teaspoon per 10 gal. 😎👍😜

[stevem]

first r u sure it is fish safe
not all fertilizer is
second too much will promote algae growth as well

[john fox]

I

Yes with the miracle grow so far so good I use it spare ringley as the fish do some fertilizing too😱😱😎😎😜

[stevem]

ok sound good
keep us posted