keeping plants alive?

If that's a pick of the current tank I would cut down to 8 hours as you may get an algae bloom with the small portions of plants

Do you possibly know the conditions the plants were kept on as in the hours the life have been on per day? I've killed my fare share of plants from shocking them with 12 hours of light a day when they received 4-6 hours a day. Apparently plants also need to acclimate themselves which makes sense but gradually increasing the time they are exposed to light will ensure they have the best chance of living.

Your current set up seems fine but the type of lighting is also important so I would start at 4 hours a day and increase the time by a hour each day until you hit your 12 hour mark. Plants can result in a decreased amount of light and the actual power of the light with no problem but too much light, too fast, too powerful is the main killer of plants imo.

Other than using fresh bulbs (GE Deluxe white mixed with a GE "plant and aquarium" bulb for better spectrum coverage from home depot are my choice) i use a splash of flourish once or twice a week. Though if you're using plants that feed mainly from roots, a root tab or two for each wouldn't be a bad idea. I'm using four 4' t8 bulbs on a 180 gallon, and only put plants in the middle section where they overlap. Seems to be doing well for me.

Much easier than my old high tech setup with CO2, PH regulator, daily dry ferts, blah blah blah.

Honestly amazing lighting/adding nutrients wont really do anything unless you have a c02 system. Co2 alone will make the plants thrive with no nutrients or any over the top lighting. If you really want good growth I would suggest a dirtied tank and that's basically all the nutrients you need for the current plants you have and lighting can be piss poor with nice results.

You should check out dustins dirtied tanks,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjHtchu5YRg
dirtied tanks last foreverrrr! But if you do decide to go all out and get some crazy hard to grow plants some iron or clay in the dirt would be a good idea. Its basically free as its in your back yard!


But for any growth over the top, c02 is a must.

Don't do a dirt tank. I had a few and honestly you can grow plants just as well in plain sand. Lighting is more important then soil. Put a plant in a pitch dark place with the best soil in the world and it won't grow. Float any plant in water and hit it with high light and it will grow or at least live. Light is more important then soil

Lepisosteus said:

Don't do a dirt tank. I had a few and honestly you can grow plants just as well in plain sand. Lighting is more important then soil. Put a plant in a pitch dark place with the best soil in the world and it won't grow. Float any plant in water and hit it with high light and it will grow or at least live. Light is more important then soil

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lol you cant be serious. A dirted tank is the easiest, simplest, cheapest way to get results. What you are saying is get a 300 dollar light and it out weighs the growth of free dirt with natural nutrients. A simple t5 lighting fixture is more than sufficient to grow most plants. A plants necessity is water and light, you need BOTH not just one like your example states.

Lepisosteus said:

Put a plant in a pitch dark place with the best soil in the world and it won't grow. Float any plant in water and hit it with high light and it will grow or at least live.

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You didnt do a dirtied tank correctly if you saw no better growth. All dirt isnt the same, adding in nutrients that is depleted in the dirt is needed in some cases. Saying that plants grow just as well as in no nutrient sand verse nutrient rich dirt is just plain wrong and ilogical.