# 20Gal Lighting REQ's



## Tropicana (Feb 15, 2009)

hey i have a 20 gal setup currently and im tryin to get a few plants growing in their for my German rams, what sort of lighting should i have?. atm i have an 15w flora bulb. 

Thanks.


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

With that lighting, you'll probably only have sucess with really low light plants - I have an Anubias that for the longest time has been under a crappy old 14W flourescent bulb and it doing ok.

Try out Java fern, and cryptocorynes also.


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## Tropicana (Feb 15, 2009)

hehe allrighty i was thinking about that. i was also considering buying a dual bulb hood and take the old top off of the aquarium. maby ill toss a couple t6 flora grows in their and try to get some higher watts.


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## dori (Feb 21, 2009)

for an 18-20 gal tank an 18-20W T8 daylight (and right now marine-glo... which looks blue and dark but plants love it) will do wonders for plants like Hygrophila Polysperma (really mad growth like overnight with 2.5 times larger leaves then the lighting they got before: 2 13w compact fluorescents) and Hygrophila Diformis...

The other plants are just there, but polysperma is sure to quickly turn your tank into a jungle... I initially thought it would stay low and nice (glosso style) so I put it in the front but it got too big and obscured the back... then I put it in the middle for some bushy look but it spread around (when it hits the top of the water it keeps growing leaning to a side and fills your whole tank with shoots/runners (roots and new stems from every pair of leaves on the main stem).

Oh, so I got fed-up with it so I read online about it and people love it... I may have wanted to use it the wrong way. Right now, my last attempt is to have it planted densly at the back as a bushy plant wall that can get jungly yet still look good (as long as it doesn't obstruct view to other plants).

I have some pruning remains of poly and diformis if you want them... these plants you can even bury (long stems sideways) and they will shoot along the stem all over. I'd be interested in (any tinyness... just to seed) some foreground plants (glosso, dwarf hairgrass, Hemianthus callitrichoides - which also floats I think) or mosses or floaters (lesser duckweed style), or anything... I like variety if you have any but of course not required .

I don't know who eats these plants but they are very lettucey (I prune by squeezing stems/leaves between index finger and thumb nai when Im lazy to find my scissorsl).


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