[sugar379c]

Hi,

I'm looking into getting some floating plants for the dwarf gouramis in my 75 gallon.
Preferably ones that are very easy to maintain, as I've never had live plants before.
Any recommendations?

Thanks!

 

[lilnaugrim]

Frog-bit, Salvina, Dwarf Water Lettuce, Water Sprite. I don't suggest Duckweed or Greater Duckweed if you ever want to get rid of it, you can't. Once you have it it's like a disease that always stays with you lol.

Most if not all floating plants are pretty low maintenance and easy to grow. What kind of lights do you have?

 

[sugar379c]

Honestly, I have no idea what lighting I have. All I can tell is that they are fluorescent bulbs. It brand is odyssea and it is separate from the tank, so obviously didn't come with the tank sa package deal. I picked up some frogbit today. The guy at my LFS said it would grow well under almost any conditions and lighting so I went with that.

 

[lilnaugrim]

Yup! Loved my frog-bit when I had it! It grows just as well as duckweed but doesn't take over your tank as quickly and easy to remove when needed ^_^

Fluorescent is a good start! Basically we need the kelvin rating but sometimes it doesn't say on the bulbs. What you're usually looking for is a Kelvin raiting of 6,500K. This is the color temperature of which the sun is at in its peak on a nice sunny mid-afternoon day which is the best time to grow plants. But 6,500K and anything higher will do. For small tanks this can sometimes achieve high lighting but for large tanks like yours, it may get to Medium lighting situation but you should be able to grow all low light plants like Java Fern, Anubias, Water Wisteria, Water Sprite, Anacharis and more.

 

[Cspencer83]

I was wondering this my self I have a Tropic Sun 5500K Daylight Fluorescent Bulb and was wondering what kind of plants i could use with that. I am using a 20 gallon tank and until i get a more suitable substrate I want to go with floating plants.

The Light came with the tank but from what i read on the light bulb it is likely Amazon.com : Zoo Med Tropic Sun 5500K Daylight Fluorescent Bulb T8 15 Watt, 18-Inch : Aquarium Lights : Pet Supplies

 

[lilnaugrim]

Well the light itself isn't the only thing you need to worry about when it comes to figuring out which lighting situation you have. There's a thing called PAR; parabolic aluminized reflector rating, this is how you determine low, medium or high light. Basically it depends mostly on your light wattage/kelvin and then how far away the light is from the substrate. So a bulb that is 6,500K will not have the same lighting situation in a 12 inch tank as it will in an 18 inch tank. The further from the substrate the stronger the light has to be in order to get high light. And then the last part is the reflector, is all of your light being reflected into the tank? You lose a lot of light if you don't have the proper hood/set up so that's also a factor.

 

[Cspencer83]

this is the aquarium

At the moment i am in the chat too if you want to meet me in there.

 

[lilnaugrim]

You said this is a 75 gallon?? Do you mean 75 Liter? This looks like a regular 20 gallon high tank. But anyway, your light does look good and the floating plants should have no trouble growing fine anyway

 

[Cspencer83]

There were kinda 2 of us posting Sugar379c started it but i was also curious so i asked for me too. He has the 75 gallon i have a 20 gallon.

Sorry for the confusion with the tanks and i am glad to see that my tank can support plants.

I figure that any additional questions that i ask will help him/her if he/she doesn't know the stuff as well.

So my next question is, i need the liquid fertilizer stuff for any plant right?

 

[lilnaugrim]

Oh lol, I see that now! Never mind!

You'll probably have a low light situation but that is still a big category of plants ^_^ You don't needliquid ferts but they certainly do help! Especially plants that take their nutrients from the water column like floating plants. I recommend SeaChem Flourish Comprehensive (Excel is a co2 additive and not a regular liquid fert), it has a nice concentrated amount of nutrients and trace minerals in it which will be great for your plants

 

[Cspencer83]

I actually have a question about how to clean something, I have this white stuff i am thinking is calcium all over the tank and where the light goes through. I have no idea how to safely clean it here are some pics.

Also i got this tank second hand and it already had this stuff on it and i don't know what there water was like or anything so that is why i am not sure what it is.

 

[sugar379c]

Frog-bit, Salvina, Dwarf Water Lettuce, Water Sprite. I don't suggest Duckweed or Greater Duckweed if you ever want to get rid of it, you can't. Once you have it it's like a disease that always stays with you lol.

Most if not all floating plants are pretty low maintenance and easy to grow. What kind of lights do you have?

i checked them today and there's two 12,000 kw bulbs, that good?

 

[lilnaugrim]

Cspencer: looks like either salt or hard water stains. Most likely though, it's just hard water stains (calcium) which you can clean off with white vinegar but you'll have to take it off the tank to do that and then rinse/wash off with hot tap until it no longer smells like vinegar.

sugar: I assume the lights are fluorescent tube lights? If it's 12,000K then you should be set to go! Anything higher than 6,500K is great! 6,500K is more like blue light if I remember right and then higher is more white light. Could have mixed that up though....I'll have to do some rereading lol