# Growing plants in a 5.5 Gallon aquarium?



## jsankey88 (Nov 6, 2016)

Boots said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> Just picked up a 5.5 Gallon long tank... Which my betta is currently being housed in... I had to move him to this tank after my other betta arrived from shipment who is stressed to minimize it. My betta being housed in the 5.5 Gallon use to have many plants and driftwood, but since I am gonna probably be keeping him in the 5.5 Gallon for now on, I would like to know... IS this light OK https://www.amazon.ca/NICREW-Aquari...WII2/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8&th=1 -- for growing live plants? I know nothing about lightning, and don't want to order it if it won't do much for me.
> 
> ...


Hi boots 

This light looks perfectly fine for the plants your going for. The only thing you might have issues with is algae. Are you going to be dosing with anything? 


Thanks 

Jamie 

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## Boots (Aug 10, 2017)

jsankey88 said:


> Hi boots
> 
> This light looks perfectly fine for the plants your going for. The only thing you might have issues with is algae. Are you going to be dosing with anything?
> 
> ...


No, I am still new to plants, what should I dose with  I do have Seachem Flourish tabs. Do I need Co2? Etc?


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## Piedmont (Jun 12, 2017)

Co2 is an expensive feature, not worth it for a 5.5 gallon beta. 

That's a powerful light by the looks, one thing I recommend when starting a planted tank is do not skimp on the number of starting plants. Algae and plants compete for the same resources, a mistake I think people make in a newly planted aquarium is try to save money by buying 1 plant of this because it will spread over time, 1 plant of that and they'll split it as it grows, and another plant of something else again it will spread leaving a very sparse planted aquarium, 15-20% plants. That means, 80-85% of it is prime for algae... it's going to take a long time for there to be enough plants to begin competing against algae and it causes a lot of frustration. 15-20% plants just can't compete against 80-85% algae. Start your aquarium 60-80% full of plants instead, and that only leaves 20-40% left for algae to compete... but your plants also have a strong foothold and will beat the nutrients out of the aquarium before algae can making for a far more enjoyable experience.

I would use Seachem Flourish Excel, it's cheap, adds Carbon, and hinders algae all good things for a planted aquarium in the beginning and don't skimp on the number of starting plants. Just be aware that Flourish Excel shouldn't be thought of as a fertilizer... plants need Fertilizer, Light, and Carbon and Flourish Excel helps with the Carbon part. Be aware it isn't the same as Co2 since it's chemical based it's a little harder for the plants to take in. Tanked Co2 > DIY Co2 > Flourish Excel > Nothing but for what you have probably all you need.

If you find algae becoming a problem, you can tone down the light by putting a window screen under the light. That will block some of it.


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## jsankey88 (Nov 6, 2016)

He's hit the nail on the head 

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## Boots (Aug 10, 2017)

Piedmont said:


> Co2 is an expensive feature, not worth it for a 5.5 gallon beta.
> 
> That's a powerful light by the looks, one thing I recommend when starting a planted tank is do not skimp on the number of starting plants. Algae and plants compete for the same resources, a mistake I think people make in a newly planted aquarium is try to save money by buying 1 plant of this because it will spread over time, 1 plant of that and they'll split it as it grows, and another plant of something else again it will spread leaving a very sparse planted aquarium, 15-20% plants. That means, 80-85% of it is prime for algae... it's going to take a long time for there to be enough plants to begin competing against algae and it causes a lot of frustration. 15-20% plants just can't compete against 80-85% algae. Start your aquarium 60-80% full of plants instead, and that only leaves 20-40% left for algae to compete... but your plants also have a strong foothold and will beat the nutrients out of the aquarium before algae can making for a far more enjoyable experience.
> 
> ...



Thank you very much. :smile2:

I agree with you on the amount of plants. I never knew how big a 5.5 Gallon is... I only had tall tanks, so planting those were the worse... I see so much room giving me so many options, so I am for sure gonna load it with plants. I also found a store located in BC, that will ship with me, and good prices for healthy plants... So I am for sure gonna load up on plants, it costed me $50 last time for only 3 plants from PetSmart which was absolutely ridiculous, and were in OK quality.

I decided that I'm gonna go with some driftwood and cover some of it with some java moss, 2 Anubias Nana Petite,
2-3 Java Fern, 2-3 Medium Anubias Congensis, 1 Medium Anubias Minima....And then I might look for some small Amazon swords around me, since the ones they sell are very large according to the website. I don't think the 5.5 Gallon can take a very tall Sword. 2-4 Moss balls and 2-4 Pygmy Chain Swords... And 
I am also gonna get some Frogbit when they get into stock.

I am also wanting to put some Frogbit at the top, I assume my betta would love it. 

I wanted to also get some Dwarf Hairgrass, but, I only have National Geographic Sand Sub (which is kind of like a gravel, but it's sand.) I'm not sure if I need soil or some sort of thing for Dwarf Hairgrass.


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## frenziedpace (Dec 17, 2016)

I had one of these on a 6 gallon. It grew easy plants, no problem.
Photoperiod was about 6hrs/day.


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