# >>New to Aquarium Plants (Need Help with Low Light/Low Tech Plants)!!<<



## nap83 (Feb 7, 2006)

What's going on guys, I'm new to the forum, a little frustrated and way too curious. I need help with a bunch of stuff, here goes:

_1._ I run 1.5 Watts per gallon in my 55G tank with *Flora-Sun* by ZooMed, *does anyone have any experience on this*? 
_2._ I also run a Nutrafin Hagen CO2 System, just for the hell of it although I don't think it's working. My naive self tried to plant Purple Cabomba, Vallisneria & an Amazon Sword on a Low-Light System so the Cabomba had to go since it was just dying and making a mess, I also trimmed some stems off the Amazon Sword, they're growing *NEW* leaves but the old leaves it started out with seems to just die off, should I keep the Amazon Sword in the tank or is it a hopeless case?
_3. _The Vallisneria, I placed in the middle of the tank where I put an extra 60 Watt Clip-On Lamp on top of it, seems to be doing fine and getting some growth, will it survive? *What are everyone's thought of Vallisneria?*
_4. _I ordered some Low-Light plants as well because of my frustration, namely; *Anubias Congensis, Java Ferns, Java Moss, Crytocoryne Wendtiis "Green", any insight about this? *

Thanks a lot, I know it's a lot of questions but I'm such a newbie! My apologies, any help will do...


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## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

Swords will often shed a bunch of leaves when they're replanted. If the roots and crown are healthy they'll quickly put up new ones. These often have an enteriely new appearance if the plant started as emersed growth. Trim the dead & dying stuff off. It isn't helping the plant any and is just debris that will help out the algae.

Most vals are pretty tough. They'll probaly do ok. Usually they get tall enough that they look best in the back of the tank.

The crypts, ferns, and anubias will do just fine in low light. The bonus is that the plants are pretty maintainence free.


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## nap83 (Feb 7, 2006)

thanks! I put the vallisneria on the left hand side of the tank along the edges of the rock mountain i have in the tank where it receives most of the "added clip-on light", i did trim the amazon sword's dead and dying leaves (never knew that that was normal) and the new leaves do look different! 

any more answers out there are more than welcome!


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## nap83 (Feb 7, 2006)

any more replies?! i need help here!!


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## Laith (Sep 4, 2004)

1- Those lights are just fine.
2- It would help if you could make sure that your CO2 system is working. CO2 is beneficial even in low tech setups. Alot of people use the Hagen CO2 equipment but make their own CO2 mix (do a search for DIY CO2 on the forum) as the Hagen ingredients are apparently often less effective/old.
3- Vals should do fine in 1.5wpg.
4- The low-light plants you ordered are perfect for your setup.

Depending on your fish load, you may need to fertilize macros every couple of weeks. You will definitely need to add traces/iron (TMG, Seachem Flourish & Flourish Fe and others).

And welcome to APC!


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## Blazerfrs (Feb 3, 2006)

Is the clip on lamp incandecent or flourecent?

If it's incandecent it's probably not doing much to help the plants... their spectrum is very poor for plant growth. If you could get a screw in spiral flourecent bulb (usually sold as "energy saver" bulbs at the hardware store) in as high a wattage as you can find (probably 20w or 30w) it would be much more useful.


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## nap83 (Feb 7, 2006)

it's incandescent, i was thinking of getting a flourescent and will definitely do that! thanks.

do i need seachem flourish excel? iron? or fe?

thanks for all the replies guys!!!


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## Laith (Sep 4, 2004)

nap83 said:


> ...
> do i need seachem flourish excel? iron? or fe?
> 
> ...


Flourish Excel it an alternative source of carbon for plants and is good to use if you're not adding CO2 (some people add it even if they do have CO2). It's not as "efficient" as CO2 but I've had good results with it on low light tanks.

Iron? or Fe? Fe is Iron. The standard Flourish provides trace elements. Flourish Iron provides a source of iron. You need to use the two together.


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## nap83 (Feb 7, 2006)

i put TWO of these in my clamp-ons on top of the tank.










i had incandescent reveals but it got way too hot and doesn't have enough lumens (630) and didn't have enough life hours.

here's the specs of this one:
900 lumens
10,000 life hours
60 watts (though it says that that's the output, it uses 15 watts for energy)

so how many watts am i getting extra? 15 or 60 each? i know it would be less since it's clamped on. someone enlighten me!


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## jude_uc (Feb 7, 2006)

When people talk about wattage for aquaria, they are talking about the 15 watts. The 60 watts it says on the package of the bulbs means that it puts out the equivalent of a 60 watt incandesant bulb. If you look everyone in a while at walmart or other large stores, you can find even bigger florescents, but you've gotten yourself up to 2 watts per gallon which is already a reasonable amount of light.

-Adam


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## nap83 (Feb 7, 2006)

thanks (that makes me feel good!!), when i get the money, i'll get me some bright kits hehe.


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