Okay... so I have a light hood but I don't know what brand... but it's like two pieces, there's the bottom piece with the black full length flip open lid and then in the back it's glass. And then you take the light strip and put it over top of the glass part, right? Well, mine is just for a small 10 gallon so it can only fit one 15 watt light bulb... okay but here's the thing... it said faster growing plant species need a minimum of 3 watts per gallon of water, but all the 30 watt ones are too long for a 10 gallon tank? How's that supposed to work?
And, I have the AquaGlow bulbs... I have one already in my hood and one extra. They're nice and make a nice white light on the water, pretty and they're supposed to enhance fish color. Thing is, there's also the FloraGlow bulbs from the same brand and they're great for enhancing plant color and growth, I would love to have a lamp for my plants to make them look better and one to make my fish look better too... but I can't fit both in my current light hood. Is there any light hoods for 10 gallons that can fit two fluorescent bulbs?
Last edited by akjadestar; 11-11-2010 at 06:28 PM.
A 15 watt bulb will be fine for low light plants. In fact, wisteria and hornwort may still grow like weeds with only 15w. What matters more than wattage is kelvin temperature. For plants you want something in the 6500k range.
Okay... I think most plants I what are low light, but what about plants that need higher bits of light, like swords? And... I never knew wisteria were weeds? Can you buy them or do they just sprout of nowhere?
most swords are low-light plants, i believe. and alex didn't mean literal weeds, they just grow extremely fast, haha :)
i suggest looking thru thisthread and seeing if your plants are listed here. you can also see what kind of wattage people use with them, it'll be very helpful.
Instead of looking at watts look for the right kelvin rating for plant growth-5500-6500k....anything over 3wpg you will need CO2 or you may end up with an algae farm......
I have a 15 watt bulb and the only thing I have been able to grow is java moss and at the moment my anubias are fine, although I have only had these a week. As for amazon swords dont bother buying these with a 15 watt bulb, these require a lot more light as I have found out, although they do still give out new plants they come through glassy which means the light they are getting is not enough. Sorry if this sounds like a rant, I just lost track of what your question was about haha. With your lighting you may also be able to grow java fern, although I have never tried it so can't tell you whether it will do OK
Success with plants can vary from hobbyist to hobbyist and from tank to tank
Depending on how the plant was grown at the nursery-some are grown totally under water (submersed) and other are grown with their leaves out of the water (emersed) and once the plant is submersed the emersed leaf will die/melt and the plant will re-grow its new submersed leaf that is often different looking and texture than emersed leaf growth-and this often will confuse the new to plants hobbyist into thinking that something is wrong when it is normal growth and change...... or simply the transformation process from emersed to submersed growth.....
I was never able to grow anything, so y would I be able to keep aquatic plants alive. But I'm obsessed right now with marimo moss ball's..for the water qualitie benefits, I have three of them, they seems to be ok..for now *lol*
akjadestar if u wanna try ur hand at aquarium plants I wish u all the luck in the world, I hear it's a great hobby to take. :)
Check out the eBook Betta Fish Care Made Easy
Similar Threads
