HELP ON PLANT

[sakda702]

how can i keep my plant healthy in a tank. i have a 60gal with guppy.

[tina1]

What type of plant is it? What does it look like?

Generally speaking plants should have about 2 watts of light per gallon for good growth. So for 60 gallons you would need roughly 120 watts of light over the aquarium. This can vary though, some need much more and some can do with less. If you just have one guppy your plant probably needs more nutrients so you could get a liquid fertilizer. Make sure it says "safe for fish" on the label though. Also you'll need a medium sized aquarium gravel for the roots to develop in. If the plant is in a pot I recommend taking it out so the roots have room to expand. This should help your plant stay healthy!

[sakda702]

i just got a power compact 4*55watt equal to 220 watt. is this too much for my plant in my 60gal. i have lots of plant with 20 guppy and 20 babies guppy. it come with 2 white light bulb 10,000k and 2 bule. i was wondering what does the blue bulb do??? will it harm my plant or fish? and does it give of light just like the white bulb???

[tina1]

Its just going to give off a different spectrum of light. It won't harm your fish or your plants. Sometimes they sell the different spectrums so that you can give your tank a "moonlight" effect if you want to give it a different look at night. They look pretty cool usually. 220 watts puts your tank in the high light category which means that most plants will do very well and you can choose from a wider assortment of plants to put in your tank. It also means that your plants will need more fertilizer and possibly a c02 system for them to acheive their maximum growth.

[sakda702]

So the bule light is just the same as the while, but in color?have you ever heard of ferterize plant stick??? you put it under the plant's root and it supose to give of ferterize. each stick last of a year. the pet store told me that its very good. Do i really need a c02 system??? does fish give off co2? i have lots of fish in my tank. And will my plant die lack of co2? Do you know how much does co2 system cost? i also heard that too much of c02 will kill my fish...is that true?

[tina1]

c02 systems aren't necessary, your fish will give off some c02 but a lot of people with planted tanks want extra so their plants can grow their best. I personally don't really see the need, the less time I have to spend pruning my plants the better! I was just saying that you might want to look into it. A good c02 system will run you at least $100 from what I've seen at my lfs but your plants will not die without it. As to the fertilizer sticks, I've seen them but not used them. I've had some problems in the past with too much fertilizer poisoning my fish and I don't want to risk putting a year's worth of fertilizer in all at once. That just my reasoning though.

And your blue light is different in that it puts out a different spectrum of light. Most plants are good with full spectrum bulbs so as long as you have one of these too you will be ok. Sometimes with blue and purple bulbs the plants can't use the light as efficiently so they won't grow as fast. I'm no expert on lighting or co2 by far, I mostly just decided to stick with simple stuff and see how things go. I keep only full spectrum lighting, a simple liquid fertilizer, and a good substrate and all my plants grow just fine. In fact if they grew faster I'd probably start to hate them!

[sakda702]

what my plant leave turn brown. r they dying?

[tina1]

Did the leaves turn yellow before turning brown? This can indicate an iron deficiency meaning you should add an iron rich fertilizer (make sure its chelated iron). Or if you've had the plant a while its probably just old leaves dying off to make room for new ones.