What kinda of light bulb for plants?

[c4talys7]

I'm getting more plants this weekend for my tank and my hood came with fluorescent bulbs, which it probably why some of my Anacharis died. Anyways I was wondering if there was a special bulb you can get that will give the plants healthy light and is safe for fish? I have a 14gal TALL tank. I only get real sunlight in my room for about 4 hours.

[turtle10]

Originally Posted by c4talys7

I'm getting more plants this weekend for my tank and my hood came with fluorescent bulbs, which it probably why some of my Anacharis died. Anyways I was wondering if there was a special bulb you can get that will give the plants healthy light and is safe for fish? I have a 14gal TALL tank. I only get real sunlight in my room for about 4 hours.

No, it was something else. How did the anacharis look when you bought it and how did you plant it? I use fluorescent lighting on all five of my tanks and the plants are growing and thriving. The light that came with your aquarium hood should be fine for low light plants like java ferns or anacharis.

[c4talys7]

It was dark green and full when I got it, not it's light green and not as full looking. I had it planted in the gravel but now I'm letting it float so it can get more light and it seems to be doing better.

[turtle10]

Hmm I am not really sure what you mean. Did it grow at all? Because when my anacharis grows the top is lighter and thinner than the rest of the stem.

[c4talys7]

It hasn't grown that much. It went from Dark green to light green. A couple have grown a lot but I had to cut some dead brown parts off.

[turtle10]

Well how dark is dark green? Because healthy anacharis is pretty light colored. It may have been unhealthy when you bought it.

[c4talys7]

It was a forest green and the leaves didn't look as translucent as they do now. Given a few of my stems are starting to become more full without changing back to the forest green. I would like to get more of it along with something to help cover the view my Bettas have of each other. That's why I originally planted them but they started turning brown.

[turtle10]

Hmm I am not sure.

[c4talys7]

I just assume that light green was bad because the ones I got from Petco were light green and not that full and they died fairly quickly.

[turtle10]

I just haven't had any experiences from my anacharis dying. I bought one clump and it has grown so much I have been able to plant it in all five of my tanks.