Do all plants need special lighting?

crazy4fish

i've never had real plants in my tank only fake ones but i've wanted 2 have real ones for a while now. but i just have a regular flourescent light (dont know exactly what kind off the top of my head). are there any plants that would be okay with that kind of light or do basically all of them need spcial types of lighting? thanks for your help, im a complete newb with plants

Angel079

Just unscrew your bulb and see what it say's on it once its cold/ off.

Plants simply need sufficient light, something close to the natural thing which is bulbs around 5-6500 kelvin and a proper wattage or X tank size.

beetlebz

ditto... even stuff like Java Fern and Java Moss require very little light and are readily available almost anywhere :)

Austin

I bought a bulb that was 6.88$ at walmart that I'm told is going to work just fine for my plants. You need around 6500k and a daylight light will work I'm told. I recently bought it and haven't had really any plants yet so I can't say from experience yet.

crazy4fish

how much wattage for a 29 gallon tank? and wats the difference between a daylight light and any other light?

crazy4fish

and where would the kelvin be written? i looked at the light but didnt see anything about kelvin or wattage?

Austin

I have a 29 gallon tank and this is what I bought:

Considering live plants...

It's on this page of the thread and you can see what people had to say about it.

Like I said I don't have experience growing plants with it yet but some very experienced members told me they will work so I think if you get that light from walmart you'd have the correct lighting for plants. Then you just need a good filter (internal filter or sponge filter or canister... i'm told internal or sponge for my 29g) so that you keep the CO2 in your water to help the plants thrive. You can read up on my thread too I got some recommendations on filters. :] I have the same sized tank as you and all so it might be helpful.

It's surprisingly not too expensive to make your tank have proper conditions for plants. :D

crazy4fish

thanks i'll be sure to read up on tht thread ....but i still dont know how 2 figure out what light i already have?.... and would regular gravel be okay for plants?

Austin

I'm not sure how to figure out what you have either. It probably says the wattage on the bulb but that's probably about it. If it came with the fish tank I'm guessing it's not the proper lighting. It's probably too low with the Kelvins. The lights are really cheap so your best bet is to just buy one that you know is good for the plants. Oh and if it came in a package deal thing, it might be written somewhat what the light is.

Byron

Crazy4fish, Angel in her response suggested you look at the end of the fluorescent tube; at one end it has the name, probably wattage, and maybe Kelvin rating. If you just post all that's printed on the end of the tube, we'll know and advise.

On the gravel, yes, plants will grow fine in regular small-grain aquarium gravel. Large-grain gravel (like pebbles and such) is not so good biologically.

I explain lighting in more detail in part 4 of the stickies at the head of this section, here's a direct link:
A Basic Approach to the Natural Planted Aquarium--Part Four

Byron.