Well, I guess the question first and then the boring questions I've got a 60 gallon tank with all low light plants, and I was wondering if anyone knows what sort of light I should be using for it(or should this post be going in the regular planted tank section?) Right now it only has the 30 watts of NO light that it came with, and the plants are doing okay, but I'd really like to add more light so they don't have to work as hard to grow. Would moving one of the 30 watt lights and putting a small power compact light on the other side of the tank give the plants enough light to grow without making it too bright for my baby fantails? Whatever solution needs to be pretty cheap(and there are no tank compatible shop lights in the area, I've already checked ) since I need to spend a lot of money on my actual planted tank soon and can't afford in my wildest dreams a second co2 system, especially for fish who are hard on their plants. . . . I do intend to put plants in there specifically FOR them to munch on so they don't get bored and hungry and try out my desired plants. And ALL OF the plants I am going to even try to keep in there are low light plants. Anubias, java ferns, moss balls, bolbitis. Once I can dig some out of my planted tank I'm going to try a bit of water clover. It stays nice and short in my planted tank, so I'd assume it'd do nearly that in the big one too. All hardy stuffs Oh, and I've seen it said not to put cabomba in a goldfish tank. Is that JUST because they'll eat it, or because it is poisonous to them when they do? I'd like to keep a rotating list of plants to add to the tank JUST for them to munch on, and had always heard that they love cabomba. I was going to try to grow some riccia as a once in a while treat, plus giving them anacharis, would cabomba be a good third? Any other cheapo plants(or easy to grow ones that I could just toss some in a container of water and then toss in with the fish when I get too much of it anway) I could try just for giving them munchies? I also hear that they like a lot of the floating plants. I don't want to introduce duckweed, it took me forever to rid my tank of it when I got some by accident. Would something like salvinia or pellia work?


A full tank shot. Doesn't look great since my camera doesn't take good pictures.


The right side of the tank


And the left. . .


And a shot to show the bottom of the tank. Before I got my goldfish I had an oscar, whose attitude left a LOT to be desired and to try to make tank cleaning easier I put some slate tiles over sand to keep the bottom easier to clean instead of churning endlessly through gravel. I used a bit much sand, and that picture was before I brushed the tiles off and before I moved the plants around. It's also the only picture where you can see the tiny babies to some detail?. And yea, they've got some rosy barbs in there with them. I got those guys as supposed dither fish for my oscar. Didn't work. But they can stand cool-ish water and unless they start to pick on the goldfish I am going to try to keep them in there. From all I've read so far they eat about the same stuff anyway, and as of couple of days they've been together they haven't tried to pick on the goldfish and haven't been too pushy at feeding time to keep them away from their fair share so far.

Anyway, that's my tank I'm still trying to get pictures of my goldfish, but have the feeling that they've got some growing to do before I can!

cabomba is a great food for goldies, -riccia is great, but duckweed is better, and let me assure you, goldies eat it with relish, it will not take over your tank, I have never been able to propagate duckweed when there have been goldfish in my tank! I can understand it would have been annoying when you kept oscars, but they dont eat duckweed. I have to BUY duckweed on a regular basis because I cant maintain a supply.. -Salvinia will grow, but goldfish wont eat that, and it will just take over your tank(like duckweed in an oscar tank) not sure what pellia is thought it was like a liverwort that grows on land, but I could be mistaking that for something else, (I'm not really a botanist)

I'm not sure about your plants, I'm guessing that if bolbitis is a true fern then it'll have some noxious tasting compound in it that will deter your goldies from eating it, pretty much, the rule is if it's soft enough to rip off, then goldies will eat it, water clover mightn't do so well with your fish. it's best to go with things like your java fern, java moss, and anubias plants. I've also had a lot of luck with blue stricta, it's got softish leaves, so the goldies will have a go at them occasionally, but they're not that interested in the stuff, and that's pretty cheap.

I'd reconsider having sand at the bottom of your tank, I used to have sand, and as you well know it's a pain to keep clean, I like your idea about using slate as a 'substrate', but I'd be worried about anaerobic bacteria growing under the slate in the stagnant sand, this could eventually be pretty dangerous for your fish. -maybe you could take out your sand and just leave the slate, I do like the look of the slate! -if you wanted to vary it you could put some larger river stones over the slate cracks to mask the bare bottom if you don't like that aesthetic.. I love the natural look of your set up with java ferns tied to driftwood.

Goldfish aren't sensitive to strong lights, -as long as they get a period of darkness where they can sleep they're fine with bright light, the more light the beeter they'll look too! as the more 'sunlight' the better their colors will stay (their colours are a bit like a tan, they will often fade/lose their black if they don't get enough UV)

I'm taking most of the sand out, since I put way too much in there to start off with.. I think I'll try to get some rocks to put around it if I can find big enough ones. I usually just use snails to avoid the anarobic spots *shrugs* I can get as many trumpet snails as I need from one of the local stores since they're ALWAYS giving the snails plenty to eat and just throw them away when they have too many(*cringes*) All those ones do is eat any extra food and bury themselves in the substrate to look for more.

I'll keep looking for an affordable light then to see if I can get a good wattage one for it.

Thanks

yeah i would take the sand out for sure. I was thinking of taking slate and smashing it up a bit and arranging it in my 55 gallon to create a cool looking bottum.