How to: Natural Planted tank

[Perseusmom]

I dont have a planted tank I only have floating plants, Anacharis, Hornwort and some Pennywort. I have a fluorescent 10 watt 5100K . My plants do fairly well but sometimes the ends of my Ancharis will start to look yellow which I dont like and just end up pinching the ends off. I also do get a little bit of brown string algae which I just clean off when I do a water change. What I would like to know is if this bulb is a good one for the plants I have ? Thanks !

[Oldfishlady]

The 5100k is within the color range for plants-Ideally you want 6500k-Some species of plants will grow in the color range of 5000k-10,000k.

With florescent bulbs you also need to change them about every 12 months-due to the intensity can be lost/used up over time. We can see the light-but the plants can't....

The yellowing or die off can either be a normal die off or nutrient/light related. Pinching the ends or dead parts-like what you are doing is what you want to do-you might want get a 6500k when it is time to change your bulb or if the plants start to look worse. Also, you might want to add some ferts if you don't already and follow a photoperiod of at least 10h/day if you are not already. I stay on a 12h/day in the warmer months and drop to 10h/day in the cooler months.

[Perseusmom]

Thanks so much OFL thats sounds good I have had the tank for 7 months so soon I will get a new bulb for it. Yep mine it on around 10 hours a day right now. I have never used any ferts but would like to try something soon, I love my plants dont want to lose any although during the summer I lost some Hornwort is started getting brown and than lost all the needles dont know what happened besides the fact that I covered some of it up with a big IAL which could not have been good learned a good lesson there...lol

[imsunflwr1]

OFL... I see you mention your 1 gallon tanks. I'd like to do a couple of those, but am not sure about the lighting. What bulb do you use? Thanks Much!

[Oldfishlady]

I use the CFL 6500k...The few bulbs I do get in the fish section...lol...

[imsunflwr1]

ok... great! That's what I have, but I was afraid it might be too much for a small tank. As always, Thanks!

[DJjoey0812]

Thx so much been trying to put a real plant in my tank so Thx

[imsunflwr1]

Okay... I dirted my tank with Miracle Grow Organic, I added water and got it damp... then I added Petco black sand and am now adding water. I'm doing 2 - 2.5g and 1 - 5.5g. The 2 smaller tanks are filled, but the water is clear??? Did I do something wrong? I can tell that the sand isn't saturated yet. Should I just wait and then refill? Thanks Much!

[Oldfishlady]

If the water is clear-this usually means you didn't disturb the soil when you added water....which is good....lol....have you planted the plants?

[imsunflwr1]

No... the plan was to fill & drain, fill & drain, til the water was clear. Then drain it down to an inch or 2 and then plant. Should I go ahead and plant now? As alway... thanks so much!