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Originally Posted by johnnyjiron  Most of the advice that i get from my LFS tell me that just with the proper lighting I would do fine... |
This is one of those times when the advice of your lfs is bang on. Plants are easier to manage than fish...the reason so many aquarists starting out with plants have a terrible time (and too often give up) is solely because the basic premises aren't understood. It is not rocket science, and it need not cost a lot of money.
Light is the single most important part of success with planted aquaria. As others have already mentioned, you can use a single-tube T5 fixture running the length of the tank, or a dual-tube regular fluorescent fixture (also full length). Assuming your tank is 4-feet, both would be 48-inch fixtures and tubes. The benefit of dual-tubes is being able to mix the type of light, whereas with a single tube you have one type of light. And the appearance is important, because you want the colours of the plants and fish to be natural, at the same time as providing the type of light the plants can best use.
Without going into all the background, plants respond best to blue and red light (they absolutely need these colours to photosynthesize) and having green light in the mix creates a natural appearance. Full spectrum and cool white tubes provide this; cool white alone will work for the plants but the aquarium takes on a somewhat "cold" look as the light is high in the blue area. The so-called "plant" tubes are high in the blue and red, which turns the aquarium quite purplish. Full spectrum provides the blue and red but balances it with green. With twin-tubes you can use one of each, i.e., one full spectrum and one cool white. This is basically what I have on my three larger tanks and you can see the effect in the photos. I can suggest specific tubes once you have your decision on which fixture.
The other thing in the equation for success is nutrients. Plants need 17 nutrients in porportion to each other. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is one of these, and very important. The fish and biological processes at work in the aquarium provide the CO2 in a natural or low-tech setup. The "trick" is to balance the light with the available CO2 and other nutrients, which usually have to be added through liquid or substrate fertilizer since all of those required will not likely be available from fish food, tap water and biological processes. Once you have the light at the best intensity (the single T5 or dual regular), the duration controls the balance. We can talk more about that too. But this will get you started.
Byron.
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