# Low Tech 5gal Planted Tank



## Cryztyle (Feb 28, 2014)

Hi all,
In the past year I've had to move two separate times and during the first move I had to give up my awesome 10gal. I am now in my permanent place but I have down graded to a 5 gal tank (its one of those aquaponic ones) I have put in fluorite as my substrate and I want to know what plants I can get that will do well in the tank as I love the look of a heavily planted tank. Unfortunately I do not have the space for CO2 or any of those fancy things. but my tank have small LED lights and will get indirect sunlight for 8 hours a day. I would love any recommendations. I am looking to put a betta in the tank but I am waiting until the tank is planted and cycled to purchase and introduce one.
Thanks!


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## ryry2012 (Mar 31, 2015)

Is the LED light sufficient enough for low light plants? I'm asking because I wouldn't recommend to depend on natural sunlight. It might not be strong enough for plants, or might be too strong so that it can grow a lot of algae... You don't need CO2 unless you have high light. 


These are low light beginner plants
Anubias Nana, Jave Fern, African Water Fern, Cryptocorne.


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## Cryztyle (Feb 28, 2014)

Thanks for your response, yea the led light is pretty small there is a larger light up top for the regular plants but I doubt any of that will make it into the tank. I've had anaubias before and I liked it I guess I just wanted to branch out and do something different for this tank hahaha I'll look into some of the other plants you listed


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## ThatFishThough (Jan 15, 2016)

ryry2012 said:


> Is the LED light sufficient enough for low light plants? I'm asking because I wouldn't recommend to depend on natural sunlight. It might not be strong enough for plants, or might be too strong so that it can grow a lot of algae... You don't need CO2 unless you have high light.
> 
> 
> These are low light beginner plants
> Anubias Nana, Jave Fern, African Water Fern, Cryptocorne.


Sorry for the off topic question; Is the Asian Water Fern in the PetCo tubes the same thing?


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## Cryztyle (Feb 28, 2014)

ryry2012 said:


> Is the LED light sufficient enough for low light plants? I'm asking because I wouldn't recommend to depend on natural sunlight. It might not be strong enough for plants, or might be too strong so that it can grow a lot of algae... You don't need CO2 unless you have high light.
> 
> 
> These are low light beginner plants
> Anubias Nana, Jave Fern, African Water Fern, Cryptocorne.


So I was thinking I could buy a light that clips to the rim and point it into the fish tank for more lighting options. would that be sufficient for better growth? I really want to carpet the bottom of my tank and I know that Light is pretty much a must for that.


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## Rainbo (Nov 23, 2015)

Cryztyle said:


> Thanks for your response, yea the led light is pretty small there is a larger light up top for the regular plants but I doubt any of that will make it into the tank. I've had anaubias before and I liked it I guess I just wanted to branch out and do something different for this tank hahaha I'll look into some of the other plants you listed



My tank is a 5 gal Aqua Culture, https://www.walmart.com/ip/Aqua-Culture-Aquarium-Starter-Kit-5-gal/20693704, if your light is like the one that came with my tank it will allow things like anubia nana, and anacharis to grow it you put the plants right under the light. The light that came with my tank concentrated the light in the middle of the tank and left the rest of the tank in shadow. 

What I ended up doing was getting rid of the lid that came with the tank and replacing it with a glass one. I never could find a lid that fit perfectly but the one I did find is only around 1/8 of an inch too long so it works. I also replaced the light, first I went with a cheaper LED one, but this week I've upgraded to Finnex Stingray. The light just came yesterday so I'm still waiting to see how my plants do. 

Ugh forgot to say, after I got the glass lid and new light I started adding in more plants. So far I've got Crypt Lucen , Buch Green Wavy, Anubias, Anacharis, and Ruffled Amazon Sword. I have had a banana plant but it got mad at me for cutting off it's lilies and died off. 

Here's a picture of my tank taken today, the growth of the plants is all from the cheaper light. I'm using soil as my substrate, and the livestock in the tank is 1 Betta and who knows how many Malaysian Trumpet Snails. I do not use CO2 or anything like that. The tank does get a few minutes of direct sunlight on the right side in the late afternoon.


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## Cryztyle (Feb 28, 2014)

Your tank is very pretty! Removing the top and replacing it is not really the option I want to go with because I light the idea of growing plants on top :/ but maybe this is one of those you cant have your cake and eat it too situations  I will only be housing a betta a snail and depending on how much of a diva my betta is a few shrimp


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## ryry2012 (Mar 31, 2015)

Cryztyle said:


> So I was thinking I could buy a light that clips to the rim and point it into the fish tank for more lighting options. would that be sufficient for better growth? I really want to carpet the bottom of my tank and I know that Light is pretty much a must for that.


I know many members on here use Finnex Stingray. It's good for low - mid plants.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NAFQ6BO/ref=twister_B00NFB51M8?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1


I also know some members use desk lamps. I'm not familiar with them, but if you look up this forum, you can see threads/posts regarding it.




ThatFishThough said:


> Sorry for the off topic question; Is the Asian Water Fern in the PetCo tubes the same thing?


No idea. I haven't been to Petco for a long time. I don't trust what Petco sells claiming fully submergible ferns though. It's not Asian but African Water Fern whose formal name is Bolbitis heudelotii. It's supposed to be an easy beginner plant and beautiful.


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## ryry2012 (Mar 31, 2015)

(I already correted the post) . What I wanted to recommend was Finnex STINGRSAY. Fugeray is for more advanced plants. The shortest size available is 12", so it might be too for your your tank.


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## Rainbo (Nov 23, 2015)

ryry2012 said:


> (I already correted the post) . What I wanted to recommend was Finnex STINGRSAY. Fugeray is for more advanced plants. The shortest size available is 12", so it might be too for your your tank.


I have the 12" Finnex and actually wish I had gotten the 16" for my tank since my 5 gal tank is around 16 1/2 inches long. I think if I had the light would have been brighter.


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## Cryztyle (Feb 28, 2014)

I got a couple branches of water wisteria tonight... its looking pretty raggedy right now but we'll see how this goes


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## Alynine (Jul 5, 2017)

Is that as bright as the light in the tank gets?


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## Cryztyle (Feb 28, 2014)

Alynine said:


> Is that as bright as the light in the tank gets?


Yea I had to mess with it some because I noticed that the light was a little dim as well as one side being less bright than the other, I realize that it's due to the wiring all of the lights are hooked to the same cord which has a splitter to connect the light on top to the light on the bottom so I unplugged the top light and the bottom got much brighter but I think it's a single circuit (or whatever you call it its been along time since I was in my shop class haha) so the light closest to the socket is a lot brighter than the other  I'm going to see if I can find a way to plug the lights in without having the split the cables


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## Veloran (Jun 28, 2014)

ryry2012 said:


> I know many members on here use Finnex Stingray. It's good for low - mid plants.
> https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NAFQ6BO/ref=twister_B00NFB51M8?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
> 
> 
> ...


I've used a Desk Lamp on my 5 gallon, bought a separate CFL bulb for it. It looks neat, it's a few bucks less than a Finnex Stingray but I also did it for the desk appeal.

Edit : https://www.walmart.com/ip/Mainstay...included/23760347?variantFieldId=actual_color


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