The Puffer Forum

So every tank I have and have ever had has only had fake plants in it. I would really like to plant some of my aquariums and give them a much more natural look but the main thing that is holding me back is that on both of my 55 gallon tanks I only have a grand total of 40 watts of light going into them. This isn't nearly enough light for plants to grow right? For most of the easier plants to grow what type of wattage am I looking at needing? I looked into buying a nice hood and light for plant growth but I don't really have $200 to spend on that. Is there a much higher watt light I can just throw into my hood now and call it good or will the ballasts not light be strong enough or what? Also I saw a light fixture at home depot for like 30 bucks that was for plant growth and it put out like 100 watts. Could I just buy that and mount it over my tank? Sorry for all the questions but as you can tell I am kinda lost in all of this and don't really know much. One more thing....then we start getting into CO2 and plant food and all that....is that more just for the challenging plants or for all of them? Thanks for any help and be nice and forgiving for my lack of knowledge

Welcome to the green side

I don't think that's enough light to grow plants. You could try with some low light plants and see if it works. The spectrum and temperature of the bulbs also affects how helpful they are for plants. The general consensus seems to be that you want a temperature of around 6700K and I forgot the wavelength I think it's around 600 or 620 that you want a peak (as the bulbs don't have just one wavelength). Chances are any plant bulbs would be fine though Can you tell us more about your ballast and the bulbs you currently have? Are they T8?

Low light plants normally start around 1.5WPG and you have 0.7WPG. If you had a really small shallow tank with a white substrate it might work but I've never seen a shallow 55gal.

You shouldn't put any bulbs into your ballast that it can't handle. If it's only designed for 40W then don't put anything higher in there.

Chances are you would be fine with that fixture at Home Depot. You'll want to find a way to mount it right over the tank not too far from the water. You'll also want to look into making it's back surface reflective so you don't lose a lot of light. There is special tape for this.

With a low light setup you don't need to worry about fertilizers or CO2. We don't do anything in our puffer tank and it's as low tech as low tech can get. We have 1WPG (T8) and the plants are growing well. This works because we chose low light plants and the tank is long and low and we have a white substrate.

Agreed. You could try some easy crypt species, java moss or fern or anubias species.. but if your tank is 18" tall or higher, its really hard to get light down to the substrate.

The 100w light might work, depending on how it is set up. If its one bulb it might put out a ton of heat, and you'll only have the strong light directly under it. If its a longer setup that can do the entire 4ft of your tank, I'd say go for it.

You don't need to worry about CO2 unless you start getting over 2.5-3 watts per gallon.

Here's a short list of low-light plants you might try:
Anubias
Fontinalis
Flame Moss
Spiky Moss
Java Moss
Weeping Moss
Christmas Moss
Anchor Moss
Pearl Moss
As well as cryptocorynes

In our low light tanks we have crypts, vals, pennywort, and downoi (the cories and plecos wouldn't let it root and it's currently floating but doing quite well). Here are the pictures of our extreme low light low tech tanks. They have approximately 1WPG of either T5 or T8.

There are a few other factors also.

Does the tank receive any direct sunlight for a portion of the day? Is it located in a well lit room (lots of ambient lighting)? How tall is the tank (the further the lights are away from the substrate the less effective they are)?

you might want to check out some DIY reflectors if you don't have them I have seen some made from tin foil to some made from polished stainless steel! A reflector will greatly improve the volume of light entering the tank from your existing set up.

I my ballasts take regulator T12 bulbs and I just swapped them out and purchased full spectrum "grow out bulbs" from Home Hardware and that has worked wonderfully for the "easy to grow" low light types.

I have a 90g & use 2 double strip lights over it, which totals 4 bulbs:


I also swear by Yamato Green supplement.

Pufferpunk, that is a beautiful tank! I really love plant tanks. If your not sure about your lights I would try a java fern and then work your way up in difficulty. From what I can tell java ferns can grow about anywhere so if your java isn't doing well you will know something needs to change.

Thanks everybody for your help! I appreciate it! So I looked into things a little and my ballasts I have won't support any type of plant growth lights so I think I am going to try the home depot fixture and try mounting it somehow to my tank. If it doesn't work out then I am only out ten buck and no big deal. I guess the biggest thing for me is being able to pick out the right types of plants that aren't high light and high maintenance. Thanks for the lists on what some good low light plants are!

I guess the biggest thing for me is being able to pick out the right types of plants that aren't high light and high maintenance

Dont worry about that to much, every were you would go a plant has a little tag which says if it's a high or low light plant. Many if not all low light plants should be low maintenance

A very easy thing to do is get a two-bulb incandescent fixture, and fit it with two 10 to 25 watt (will be labeled as 60 to 100 watt incandescent equivalent)compact florescent bulbs, "bright day light" looks best, but all work at least OK. Then you can keep almost any plants you want. No building custom fixtures and you can get very cheap replacement bulbs.

Nick wrote:A very easy thing to do is get a two-bulb incandescent fixture, and fit it with two 10 to 25 watt (will be labeled as 60 to 100 watt incandescent equivalent)compact florescent bulbs, "bright day light" looks best, but all work at least OK. Then you can keep almost any plants you want. No building custom fixtures and you can get very cheap replacement bulbs.

Cool, is there a link that you would be so kind as to give me to get me on the right track to do that? Sounds like an easy enough gig to me!

I have 2 of these over my 90g:
http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.com/p ... catid=3817