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My tank has 4 watts per gallon, my ph is 7.4 and my temp is 76F I'm not sure if my water is hard or soft, (I get city water) and I was wondering what kind of plants would grow well under these conditions. I have 2 java ferns right now and one seems to be sprouting roots. I've had them for about 3 weeks. Thanks for any ideas

Well with 4 wpg you can grow anything you want.

But a word of warning running that kind of light with just Java Fern and no co2 is leaving an opening for algae.

If you can cut the light back to 2 wpg until you get more plants to use the light might be better.

As I say light wise you can grow anything so it's up to whatever you like best. Aim for a mixture with some fast growers in there to use the light and consume nutrients - keep that algae at bay.

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

i always thought that running more than 2wpg without co2 is bad for the plants? cause it makes them grow more intensely and they need the extra boost to stay healthy?

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"That's the trouble with political jokes in this country... they get elected!" -- Dave Lippman

I just want to make sure that I won't be killing my plants with too much light, is 10 hours ok or too much? So plants that like low light, should I stay away from them or will they like the extra light??

I should also mention that I don't have co2 in my tank.

The bright light won't kill the plants. Low light plants can handle bright light they just don't need it.

The concern would be with that much light, and plants that don't need it, is that something, other then the plants will use it- algae.

Also for plants to properly use the light thru photosynthesis they need a lot of co2,which is why, as moondog mentioned, very high light is recommended to be used with Co2 supplementation.

So the reccomendation would be still to reduce to 2wpg (it's better to reduce the intensity rather then reduce the period the lights are on - 10 hours is fine btw).Add some more plants, nothing too difficult and some faster growers would also be reccomended.

Once you've got this system running ok, you can consider doing co2 suuplemantation and using the full 4 wpg. At 4 wpg and co2 added you can grow pretty much anything you want.

Light is only part of the equation, as you increase the light available you must increase the plant stock and nutrients (including co2 as a nutrient) in proportion. Getting enough light over the tanks can be a big problem for most people so you've managed to overcome one major hurdle but you need to work on the others.

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.