[rebus20]

I bought these at the local petstore and am trying to see if my lighting is suffiecient. They have been in the tank 4 days.

 

[rebus20]

Right now I have 2 18" t8 bulbs running it so its only 30watts. I dont know if these are good enough. I want to stay low tech and want slow growth but healthy plants. I am thinking of upgrading to a 48" dual t5ho light. The tank is 48" long and 24" high.

This is a full view. The other plants are fake. 7 live plants total.

 

[Hoppy]

I'm pretty sure those are all aquatic plants! The second one seems to be one of the sword plants, Echinodorus species, the 3 rd one is Anacharis, with a Cryptocoryne species growing below it.

 

[rebus20]

I googled the ones you mentioned and most are med light plants so I guess I need to upgrade my lights?

 

[meowschwitz]

The first one looks like hornwort.

 

[kamikazi]

do you run CO2? If you upgrade your lights you may have to starting injecting CO2 if you aren't already.

 

[rebus20]

No co2 and didnt want too. I was thinking of ordering a coralife dual t5ho, if thats too much petsmart has the 48" dual t5no that I could pick up.

 

[gordonrichards]

Seems like you have a radican sword... I think.

 

[nkambae]

No co2 and didnt want too. I was thinking of ordering a coralife dual t5ho, if thats too much petsmart has the 48" dual t5no that I could pick up.

The T5 NO fixture will be better suited to a low maintenance tank. Once you get into the T5 HO fixtures you will find your growth rate outstripping your available nutrients and CO2. Even with a NO fixture you might want to raise your light above the tank a bit. You will have to experiment to see what works best for your plants. Don't hesitate to fertilize your low tech tank. It doesn't take much and your plants will look much better because of it. You can fertilize once a week or so instead of the every day ferts in a high light, CO2 system. Good luck and make sure you have fun.

stu