Hey all,
I'm back after a couple of months trying to have plants in my tank. As a refresher I have a 58 gallon Oceanic fish tank that I would like to have live plants in without having an actual planted tank.
I have just the light fixture the tank came with which supplies only about 30W of light or about .5 w/gallon. I bought a brand new bulb and added plants. I have friends who have used this method with success but I am not having that kind of success. I initially tried an Anubias nana and a water sprite but both ended up rotting (slowly) and causing a huge nitrate spike that I was having trouble keeping up with. I now have a different Anubias Nana and java moss but have my doubts they are actually growing or surviving either. I've tried adding Flourish Excell for a few weeks with no discernible difference. My tank gets very little natural light.
I have a 125 gallon tank I will eventually move my fish and plants into within the next year so anything I do has to have that factored in. I am thinking I need to upgrade my light but I have no desire to mess with CO2 and as I mentioned I don't want a heavily planted tank, just live plants in my tank. I need advice on how to accomplish this. If it were your situation what would you do?
Some questions off the top of my head:
1. If I buy a new light for the 58 gallon it will be 36". Can I just add another to use on the 125 (72" long) when the time comes or should i just get a 72" light and forget trying to grow anything in the 58 gallon?
2. Do I need dirt? I just have gravel and don't really want dirt in the tank. I figured I'd mostly get plants I could attach to driftwood/decorations
3. Do I need to fertilize or can I get by with just the fish in the tank?
4. What kind of light would you recommend?
Thanks in advance for any help with this.
I'm back after a couple of months trying to have plants in my tank. As a refresher I have a 58 gallon Oceanic fish tank that I would like to have live plants in without having an actual planted tank.
I have just the light fixture the tank came with which supplies only about 30W of light or about .5 w/gallon. I bought a brand new bulb and added plants. I have friends who have used this method with success but I am not having that kind of success. I initially tried an Anubias nana and a water sprite but both ended up rotting (slowly) and causing a huge nitrate spike that I was having trouble keeping up with. I now have a different Anubias Nana and java moss but have my doubts they are actually growing or surviving either. I've tried adding Flourish Excell for a few weeks with no discernible difference. My tank gets very little natural light.
I have a 125 gallon tank I will eventually move my fish and plants into within the next year so anything I do has to have that factored in. I am thinking I need to upgrade my light but I have no desire to mess with CO2 and as I mentioned I don't want a heavily planted tank, just live plants in my tank. I need advice on how to accomplish this. If it were your situation what would you do?
Some questions off the top of my head:
1. If I buy a new light for the 58 gallon it will be 36". Can I just add another to use on the 125 (72" long) when the time comes or should i just get a 72" light and forget trying to grow anything in the 58 gallon?
2. Do I need dirt? I just have gravel and don't really want dirt in the tank. I figured I'd mostly get plants I could attach to driftwood/decorations
3. Do I need to fertilize or can I get by with just the fish in the tank?
4. What kind of light would you recommend?
Thanks in advance for any help with this.