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Hi every one! I am going to add plants to my 20g today and had a few questions:
How many hours do I keep the light on?
How do you introduce plants into the tank?
Thanks,
~Morgan

>no CO2, 1.5wpg by incandecent, plants are:
>>>>Hygrophila polysperma, H. corymbosa b. 'Stricta', H. difformis, egeria densa, hydrocotyle leucocephala, limnophila sessiliflora, and ceratopteris thalictroides. (I know the wisteria may or maynot work, but I am going to try it anyway.)


~Morgan~

Hi Morgan, welcome to the plant forums.

First I have to say that incandecent lighting will not grow plants. The best thing you can do is get a screw in compact fluorescent bulb rated at around 6500K. That's the color spectrum the bulb emits, and is in the range plants use to grow. The longest I'd have the plants in there with incandecent lights would be a day or two. That means you need to get out to home depot or walmart (or maybe your lfs has them) quickly.

So once that is settled, you'll want the lights on between 9-12 hours a day. Don't go over 12 hrs because the plants won't be able to use the extra light, and under 9 won't be enough.

Some people rinse their plants off real well under tap water, prune any dead spots and look for snails and that sort of thing before placing the plants in the tank. I'd say that's a pretty good idea.

Good luck

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

You certainly not grow plants using incandecent they might stay alive for a short time but that is about all. In my Betta tank I have 1 plant tube and 1 daylight tube. I also do not use CO2.

As to introducing plants to a tank there are several things I always do first make sure the tank where the plants came from is clean that means no weeds especially "duck weed" no snails if I see any of these things I never buy plants from that LFS.

When I get my plants home I wash them well under warm running water just to make sure they are clean then I will float them for up to two weeks to let them adjust to the tank.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

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I just want to add that if you get bunches of plants, make sure to plant them separately (maybe 2-4 stems together) and spread them out a little. Many plant beginners (including myself) plant bunches of plants together and the lower leaves die because they don't get enough light. Then you have a mess because decaying plant leaves can increase ammonia in the tank.

So when you get the screw in bulbs, just rinse, and plant the stems in small groups.

Good luck! You'll love live plants...

*Kristin*