I have a marineland 55 gal. with the led kit, I beleive it has 84 white and 6 blue. To my understanding this is not enough light for a wide variety of live plants, but was told there are numerous low light plants that will be just fine is this true? If so is there anything special that needs to be done as far as the gravel on the bottom of the tank for good growth for the plants?
Low light plants
- Thread starter zbp0088
- Start date
Welcome!
The standard LED hoods that come with the marineland kits are not intended to maintain plants. I tried it with my 10g marineland/LED kit to no avail. It's a shame because their light output is great and they make the tank look excellent. From what I gather, they just don't kick out the PAR required for plants.
If your tank gets good ambient light, you might be able to grow java fern and anubias (probably others too) regardless of the LED hood.
Special gravel isn't a necessity.
The standard LED hoods that come with the marineland kits are not intended to maintain plants. I tried it with my 10g marineland/LED kit to no avail. It's a shame because their light output is great and they make the tank look excellent. From what I gather, they just don't kick out the PAR required for plants.
If your tank gets good ambient light, you might be able to grow java fern and anubias (probably others too) regardless of the LED hood.
Special gravel isn't a necessity.
java fern and anubias as freshy said are really good as they take nutrients out of the water column and require pretty much no added ferts. they do pretty good in low light conditions as well. but they are not fast growers. my anubias is 2 months old in decent light about half way up in my 55. in that time it's gained 1 leaf lol. chrismas moss and java moss is another option, with caution. they are terrific beginer plants and if u are able to kill them then there is something incredibly wrong with the tank lol. now i say with caution cause it's like duck weed. once it's in the tank it's very hard to rid the tank of it if you so wish. there are rumors about people having java moss on deco and taking the deco out of a tank and letting it sit dry for a year or more and putting it into a new tank just to have the java moss come back. never seen it myself but it's one of the things floating around out there about it being so hardy. another option is crypts. they are very hardy and do good with low light. they are root feeders so fertaliser tabs are needed UNLESS you go with dirt. in my opinion i think it's the best rout to go. don't have to remember fert tabs or anything liek that. and dirt is considered a low tech method of keeping plants. get any organic potting soil. mirical grow organic is the most recomended, I went with a company called happy frog. my plants go nuts in it. and from my understanding plants in dirt grow very well in lower lighting then in a high tech tank. now this is what i have heard but don't know if it is true, but plants that require 2 watts per gallon can survive and thrive on 1 watt per gallon with dirt. when i first set up my 20 gallon with dirt i was running dual t5 pushing out 24 watts total, just a hair over a watt per gallon. plants did just fine. did better after i jumped up to a t5ho and 40 watts total. but in my experience dirt is the way to go. if this is an avanue you would like to explore look up "dustins fish tanks" on youtube or go to aquaticjungles.com. thats his plant sale site. that is where i learned everything i have about a dirted tank and i am planning to dirt all the rest of my tanks as well.
175. How much light do I need on my planted fishtank? - YouTube this is an example of lighitng needed for a dirted tank. also some hardy plant species Hardy Species of Aquarium Plants. 8 Great Hardy Aquarium plants. Species Sunday - YouTube
