Brewboy74

I have the hardware pretty well nailed down for my tank. I am starting to think about aquascaping and the plants that I want to add but I honestly have no idea where to start. Are there any references for plant types and which do well in different conditions? I will list my tank setup, and I welcome any ideas.

29 gal
55 watts AH supply T5
Aquarclear 50 powerfilter
Flourite substrate (Black)
DIY CO2 reactor

thanks

AaronT

Hi, welcome to APC.

Are you using only one 22" long 55 watt bulb over a 29 gallon tank? I'm not sure that it's long enough to provide good light coverage, though the wattage is likely sufficient.

If this is your first time growing aquatic plants some good beginner ones are:

Hygrophila polysperma 'Sunset'
Hygrophila polysperma
Saggitaria subulata (dwarf sag)
Java fern
Anubias
Cryptocorynes

Brewboy74

Yes it is 22" long. Will I have dead spots at the ends of the tank? Thanks for the recomendations. I have read good things about the AH lights and thought it would work fairly well for a moderately lighted tank.

oregon aqua

Browsing the plant finder is a good place to start. http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/f...c/plantfinder/

also http://www.aquabotanicstore.com/ browse his plants and check out the tech info he has on most of them.

I always wish that when i started i had just done easy to grow plants, fast growing stems and slow growing anubias and such. so i could have learned more how plants grow and react to my tank instead of trying to figure out why they died, or that stunted, or this is changing color, or this has holes in it.

some of my favorites in my easy to grow class are:
Anubias
Saggitaria
Aponogeton sp.
Bacopa caroliniana
Bolbitis sp.
Cryptocoryne sp.
Hygrophila polysperma? (is so hard to kill i think i could grow it in bleach lol)
red tiger lily (gets to big)
amazon sword (gets to big)
blyxia japonica (my first foreground to grow for me)

these are what i have found are easy to grow.

welcome to APC!
Jeremy

AaronT

Isn't a 29 gallon tank 30" long? That's a tricky length to light unfortunately. It should be sufficient light for the easier plants, but the "dead spots" at the ends of the tank could pose a problem for more difficult species.

Brewboy74

I see. Well I want to keep with the easier to grow stuff first so I should be ok untill I want to try some of the more difficult species. I can always add a second 55 light kit to a DIY hood and stager them to light the whole tank i suppose.

hoppycalif

When I had a 29 gallon tank I used two 55 watt AH Supply kits for several months. It was very difficult to avoid big algae problems with that much light. One of my bulbs quit working and I had to wait two weeks to get a replacement. The plants continued to grow just about as well, so I bought 2 - 36 watt AH Supply bulbs and used them for the rest of the time I had that tank. That worked best of all. (The same ballast was used for the two size bulbs at that time, but I believe they have since changed their kits so that one bulb is square pin and the other is straight pin.)

Brewboy74

Geez I guess I am up a creek and I was only worried about all the plant names overwhelming me. Well I have already ordered the 1 55 watt kit so I am going that route for now. I guess I will see what happens.

Bert H

You can also add a standard 20W flourescent strip to the tank. When I had my 29, I ran the AHS 55W kit plus a 20W strip and it did a good job with all the plants I had in there.

AaronT

It's not as alarming as it seems. The 55 watt light will work pretty well for now and you'll be pleased with the AH supply kits.