I just put a java fern and an Anubias nana in my tank. I have never had plants before. How many hours of light do they need, "minimum" and can I get away without adding any fertilizer? If not, what's would I need?

I would say 8 hours of light minimum (I do mine for 12). No liquid fertz needed, but I would suggest some root fertilizer tabs. That's it, I think.

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Officially fishless until after the move....tune in later for details!

The root fertilizer tabs... Is that for when you put them in or is it something you do routinely?

I used to do Jungle Brand root tabs weekly with my water changes. However, if you go the extra mile and put in some better substrate like Floramax, Eco-Complete, Fluorite, etc., then you won't need to worry about root tabs.

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Officially fishless until after the move....tune in later for details!

:(. I just have plain black sand from petco. Is this something I will always have to do or just until the roots take and the plant is thriving? I can't just keep adding expense after expense. I'm not even sure I want a light on that long.

Sand is good for plants, but they will need some additional nutrients to thrive. Alternatively, you could go with moss or anubias, that root onto driftwood and need no ferts, just fresh water and light.

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Officially fishless until after the move....tune in later for details!

Just try natural or organic products. Try not to use chemicals.

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55 Gals. Plants Anubias,Amazon Swords and more. Tetras: 6 Sarpaes.4 Red Eyes,5 Black Skirts,4 Giant Danios,2 Lemons, 2 Emerald Cory,4 German Blue.
10 gals. tank : Plants, Full of Guppies; 20 Gals. Tank planted Full of Guppies: 1 gal tank filled with Guppies

I dose flourish excel opposed to root tabs for my plants, it combats algae and helps plants grow. Also you will need to minimally keep your lights on for 8 hours a day. If you are that worried about extra expenses I would honestly suggest fake plants and 0 lights. Or get cfl bulbs they last longer and are much more energy efficient

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Root tabs every week? What kind were those? Most last 2-4 months before having to add more.

I would plant your plants and see how they do...go from there. Excel is a nice additive to control algae, but can be done with the light. Most can get by with a liquid fert of some type.

More impotantly on the light is that you have a bulb in the right kelvin. A gro bulb from the lfs should be good enough.

Those are great plants and I'm sure you will love them!

If you planted them in the sand, make sure just the brown roots are buried but the horizontal green rhizome (the thing that the roots and the leaves grow off of) is above the sand or the plants will rot.

A real easy way of keeping those 2 plants, is to anchor them to a piece of drift wood or rock with some cotton thread or elastic band. Eventually the roots will anchor to the rock themselves. And, if they are planted this way, root tabs would be pointless, since they aren't in the substrate.

Both are considered a 'low' light plant... I've got mine with about 7-8 hours of light per day (still at 7 hours... checking for algae with the increased lights I put in,) and I've never had an issue.

I use dry fertilizers, but that's because I have a ton of other plants in the tank. I used to use a liquid fert' but was told that was pretty much pointless as it's mostly water. I'm pretty sure that both those plants will be ok with no ferts since they are low maintenance plants... but ferts will always help. I had 1 Java fern that I tied to a rock and tossed in the very back of a low lit 10g for months... when I switched to a 20g, I pulled up the rock and found a clump (between soft and hardball size) of Javas - it had many many babies, lol.

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20g Heavily Planted http://www.aquariumforum.com/gallery...00&ppuser=8981
36g Bow Front Heavily Planted http://www.aquariumforum.com/gallery...00&ppuser=8981