# Can I grow live plants?



## Malawi- (Oct 21, 2008)

So this tank I have has a Eclipse hood and it has 2 - 18W 24" T8 bulbs... They same pretty bright, alot brighter than my single flourscent bulbs on my other 29g tanks... Do you think I could grow some live plants, if so, what level of plants.. Like low light, medium, or high light requirement plant. Thanks very much.


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## rchan11 (May 6, 2004)

You'll need 4wpg for best plant growth.


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## Malawi- (Oct 21, 2008)

Im not familliar with the term "4wpg" sorry. So those 2 lights are unable to grow plants?


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## maknwar (Jul 16, 2007)

get some anubias, java moss, java fern, crypt or another low light plant. Worse case is they die, but you should be able to grow some plants, or at least keep them alive.


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## Malawi- (Oct 21, 2008)

Awe just figured it out, 4 watts per gallon. hah.

Okay, I will check out the plant thread on low light plants, and print off the names so I can try buying some at a LFS.. I rather not just keep them alive but have them grow and thrive. But im not adding more lights to the tank so I was wondering.


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

maknwar said:


> *get some anubias, java moss, java fern, crypt or another low light plant*. Worse case is they die, but you should be able to grow some plants, or at least keep them alive.


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## Malawi- (Oct 21, 2008)

Great thanks guys.


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## Doktordet (Sep 22, 2006)

sorry for the thread hi-jack, but since we are on the topic of watts per gallon, the new light fixture I got has (2) 21w t5 bulbs. the tank is a 40 gallon. When computing for wpg, do i add up the total of the 2 bulbs. (ex: 21 watts x 2 bulbs = 42 watts total for 40 gallon tank = a-ok)?


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## Malawi- (Oct 21, 2008)

Ya so thats little over 1w per gallon. Low light.


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## maknwar (Jul 16, 2007)

Usually the rule of thumb for lighting is 1-1.5 wpg is low lighting. 1.5-2.5 is medium, and anything over that is high light. For low lighting, you should grow low lighting plants. http://www.plantgeek.net/plantguide_list.p...amp;filter_by=2

Medium lighting you can grow medium light plants and low light plants, and with high lighting you can grow anything.


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## Malawi- (Oct 21, 2008)

Perfectly posted.


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## maknwar (Jul 16, 2007)

I have seen a lot of different rules for wpg. Some say that 1 to 2 watts is low light, 2-3 is medium and 3+ is high light. I think 1 wpg can grow anubias, moss and crypts just fine.


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## Malawi- (Oct 21, 2008)

Hope so because I have about 1wpg! ha!


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