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Well i finally got some nice new plants, i dont know any of their names but i will post pictures, now i just noticed one turned kinda brownish, i use plants food and i leave my neon(flourecent)lignt on for 12H-13H a day, now do i need a Co2 system or filter because its like 30$ so its kinda expensive!

10gallon: 8neons 5gallon: 1betta
1oto
2platys

If you have fish you need a filter. If you don't have fish you will need C02 most likely.

You might just need a light that is made for growing plants.... LFS sell them or you can go to hardware stores too and get general plant lights.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Well i have fish and i have a filter but i mean a Co2 filter, and my Neon light is for general aquarium my LFS owner told me to buy it!!!

10gallon: 8neons 5gallon: 1betta
1oto
2platys

Well it depends on what type of plants you have. Some plants don't need a whole lot of light or fertilization(including CO2). However, some plants need a lot of both. [link=tropica]http://www.tropica.com" style="COLOR: #FFFF00[/link] is a great site to browse through tropical plants, search plants by their requirements(click advanced search), and identify plants by pictures of the plants. I'd suggest picking out some plants(using the advanced search) that will do well in the conditions you are willing to provide for them.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

i dont know that whts the color temp of neone lights...but if u started keeping plants..it should be at 5000- up....simulating sunlight...i dont recommend leaving the light on for more than 12 hrs....ullend up with a problem-algae.
i always always practice to research plants 1st b4 buying it..coz..i wana know what its requirements...specially if im buying as expensive as that....the most expensive i bought was anubias nana..but that one is tolerable of any light or any temp conditions...so..its worth buying one. hope the plant survive...its hard to know how willur plant will end if we dont know the name of it...well..we'll wait for th pics so that we can access and help u with its requirements...till then....gud luck

Lights should be left on 8-12hrs depending on how much light you have and what plants. Also if all you have is a single fluorescent tube that came with the tank then it's likely you don't have more than 1wpg of light. That will only grow a few low light plants. Some plants will require 3-4 times that light to survive no matter what else you do for them. First to decide what plants you can grow take the amount of watts your light is and divide it by the gallons your tank is. If you don't know the watts then measure the length of the bulb and it's easy to look up the watts. You need at least .5wpg to grow anything.

OK my light is Aqua-glo 14watts is this ok to grow plants?


10gallon: 8neons 5gallon: 1betta
1oto
2platys

Well I'm feeling a bit cranky today but I'll try to keep everything nice

Well i finally got some nice new plants, i dont know any of their names

Would you put a fish in if you didn't know what it was ?
Out of curiosity how much did you pay for these plants ? Can you afford to throw that money away ? Save your money, learn about some easy plants and how to take care of them. Buy plants you can take care of or better still save the money to invest in lights or Co2 , if you decide to go that way.

now i just noticed one turned kinda brownish

Either not enough light or may not even be an aquatic plant in which case it's going to die no matter what. See above.

i use plants food

By plant "food" you mean a liquid fert ? Why ? Do you need to ? There is plenty of good stuff for plants in your tap water and fish poo, and it's free. Whether or not you need to add more depends on light, co2 availability and quantity/species of plants. See above on saving money.

and i leave my neon(flourecent)lignt on for 12H-13H a day

Too long. 10-12hrs is better. What wattage and what color temperature?

now do i need a Co2 system or filter because its like 30$ so its kinda expensive!

.
$30 for a Co2 system ? Maybe you mean the Nutrafin/Hagen systems ? These are glorified DIY systems and only suitable for small tanks. There are no co2 filters.
Whether or not you "need" it depends on what light is available and plant bio mass. Without enough light adding co2 becomes irrelevant.

Before you spend anymore money you need to do a little basic research on how a planted tank works. There's plenty of info here and elsewhere. There's a good sticky at the top of this forum and plenty of helpful threads.

Never never buy a plant when you don't know what it is or how to take care of it. It's more then likely a waste of money that you could send to me and I'll gladly spend it for you .

Growing aquatic plants is easy enough, deceptively so. But it requires a little ground work first. Once you know what's required implementing it is a bit of a walk in the park.

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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.

OK my light is Aqua-glo 14watts is this ok to grow plants?

On what size tank ?

Be ok on a 5 gal, absolutely useless on a 30 gal.

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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.

10gallon and i have 4 plant, one is a java fern the other is a type of floating plant i think anubis and i asked the guy if they would be ok to be added with my fish and he said my tank size and temp were good(but i'm sure that guy dosent work in that department) i want to get some picture but i cant kind my camer.

10$ for 3 plant, so i dont mind throwing it away, also the problem is it's a big petstore(nature) and they have all the plants in one aquarium and dont label them. But the LFS near my house has the name but ugly plants mostly java fern.



10gallon: 8neons 5gallon: 1betta
1oto
2platys

Oh and thanx alot /:'

10gallon: 8neons 5gallon: 1betta
1oto
2platys

Most anubias species will do well and so will the java fern in 1.4 wpg that you have. I'd keep the lights on for about 10 hours as everyone else suggested. Most likely you will not need any sort of ferts beyond what your fish produce to keep these plants healthy. Adding more will just create problems for you.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

I like aqua glo bulbs. They grow plants well and give the tank an interesting color. Much better than yellowish 6500k bulbs. I use 10,000k and actinic bulbs on my tank so it's bluish.
You have a plant bulb and you have 1.4wpg. Co2 isn't useful until at least 2wpg so don't worry about that.
Your still dealing with low light but not as bad as most people who buy a regular strip light with their tank. My lfs tried to charge me $50 for a 24" strip that would have grown nothing in my 55g. You should be able to grow most of the plants listed here:http://azgardens.com/habitats_easy.php
There are pictures of the plants if you go through the rest of the site.
Also if you go to tropica and use the advanced search you can put in your light level,tank size, and other needed info to get a list of plants that will work also with pictures:http://www.tropica.com/default.asp

Last edited by sham at 29-Jun-2005 14:18

ok, and i declorinate my tap water

10gallon: 8neons 5gallon: 1betta
1oto
2platys