[Stonecat]

Hi, everyone. This is my first post here. I've been keeping tanks for seven or eight years now, was even up to 19 of them at one point a few years back. I've kept plants before, but rarely had much success propagating them. I'm just now taking a great interest in, and wanting to get serious about, maintaining planted tanks going forward.

Anyway, I just got a couple regular Java Ferns and an Anubias barteri earlier today to grow in my 20g tall Swordtail tank. All of them are already pretty mature/sizeable. I know these plants are generally considered very hardy/low maintenance, but the light I have on the tank now is pretty poor. It's a who-knows-how-old, dim fluorescent hood light that doesn't even put out enough to grow Anacharis, so I'd like to order a new, higher-quality replacement light for this tank before my new plants start to wither. Any suggestions for something affordable that works well for low-moderate light plants?

Thanks in advance!

 

[minorhero]

Hi, everyone. This is my first post here. I've been keeping tanks for seven or eight years now, was even up to 19 of them at one point a few years back. I've kept plants before, but rarely had much success propagating them. I'm just now taking a great interest in, and wanting to get serious about, maintaining planted tanks going forward.

Anyway, I just got a couple regular Java Ferns and an Anubias barteri earlier today to grow in my 20g tall Swordtail tank. All of them are already pretty mature/sizeable. I know these plants are generally considered very hardy/low maintenance, but the light I have on the tank now is pretty poor. It's a who-knows-how-old, dim fluorescent hood light that doesn't even put out enough to grow Anacharis, so I'd like to order a new, higher-quality replacement light for this tank before my new plants start to wither. Any suggestions for something affordable that works well for low-moderate light plants?

Thanks in advance!

Beamswork EA (not the DA) will work for those plants in that tank. Or you could buy an LED bulb in the 5000-7000k temperature range to replace the fluorescent in the hood. You will also want a liquid fertilizer solution as well. Nicolg ThriveC is a good choice or Aquarium Co-Op Easy Green. Both require a 50% water chance once a week so be aware of that requirement.

 

[Stonecat]

Beamswork EA (not the DA) will work for those plants in that tank. Or you could buy an LED bulb in the 5000-7000k temperature range to replace the fluorescent in the hood. You will also want a liquid fertilizer solution as well. Nicolg ThriveC is a good choice or Aquarium Co-Op Easy Green. Both require a 50% water chance once a week so be aware of that requirement.

Thank for the suggestions. A friend recommended Beamswork to me, too. I've been debating between that or a Nicrew G2 or Plus. As far as fertilizer goes, I'll look into that Nilocg. I wasn't sure whether I'd need it with such hardy plants, but I suppose it couldn't hurt their growth, either! And no problem with the water changes, my regiment for this tank is already 50%/week, so that works out well. I do have a (Asian Bumblee) Catfish in this tank as well, and I'm not sure how Cats react to those trace elements with their lack of scales. I'll do some looking into that now.

 

[minorhero]

Thank for the suggestions. A friend recommended Beamswork to me, too. I've been debating between that or a Nicrew G2 or Plus. As far as fertilizer goes, I'll look into that Nilocg. I wasn't sure whether I'd need it with such hardy plants, but I suppose it couldn't hurt their growth, either! And no problem with the water changes, my regiment for this tank is already 50%/week, so that works out well. I do have a (Asian Bumblee) Catfish in this tank as well, and I'm not sure how Cats react to those trace elements with their lack of scales. I'll do some looking into that now.

The ferts are fish safe, you will definitely want to be dosing something, if you prefer to go with another system that's fine but your lack of previous success can likely be traced to this issue.

 

[Stonecat]

The ferts are fish safe, you will definitely want to be dosing something, if you prefer to go with another system that's fine but your lack of previous success can likely be traced to this issue.

Understood. I’ll be making some purchases today, thanks for the advice.