Setting up a planted aquarium

[tramca]

Not been around for years, forgive me! We ended our fish keeping a while back, but now my OH has decided he wants to try a planted aquarium.

A few years back I tried my luck at a planted 10g, which housed a few tetra, but had no luck with the plants. (used gravel only )

Anyway, since we're going to be starting from scratch, I was wondering if any of you guys could give me a step by step set up guide to setting this up, and also is there anything specific that we will need.

We're looking at buying a 200 or so litre tank, with an external filter. We'll be having community fish in there eventually.

 

[Newman]

see if you can get flourite or Eco-complete as your substrate. Or if you have money to spend you can order some GLA or ADA amazonia substrate online. all of these are good for plants.

Get good lights, T-5 with a High output (HO) reflector would be nice. and go with DIY CO2 for starters, and if you again, have a lot of money to burn get a CO2 system w/ a pressurized tank. try to stay wound 4.5 watts per gallon with your light.

Thats all said and done for a high-tech, high light setup. if you wanna grow some low light plants like simple java ferns and mosses, then you wont even need the T-5s, or even the DIY CO2. although they will help. just by simply having fish in there, youll be providing all the CO2 and fertilizer the low-light plants need.

 

[tramca]

Thankyou. I think it will be mostly Java fern we use, OH likes that

So, I put substrate in, plants, water, then let it cycle? OH gasped when I informed him of co2, are there any other plants which will do as well without?

Thanks for your advice *thumbsups

 

[stoddern]

I have anubias and wisteria in both my tanks I don't use co2 in the 20g I have flourite and use flourish every few weeks, I also have around 2 WPG for light but the bulb is a GLO brand Aqua-Glo T8 18000k with very high peaks in blue and red light with a medium spike in yellow, this bulb is an 80 on the LUX scale with 555 Lumen, 9000 k, this bulb makes the fish's colors pop very well and I have to trim my wisteria weekly.

 

[mattmctyre]

if your having a community fish tank and talkin livebearer hornwort is good for the babys to hide in

 

[Newman]

yeah, wisteria, hornwort, cabomba, java fern, all anubias, marimo moss balls, sword plants, dwarf sag, and even dwarf hairgrass can handle a tank without a forced CO2 injection. there are tons of others, including just about any moss you can think of. and riccia ._.

 

[tropicalcrazy]

also another thing to add get yourself a good bottle of liquid fertilizer, and sometimes with fertilizer you dont necessarily need the CO2 setup. lighting is good but do research on each plant whether low, medium, or high lighting. i will say your plants will flourish, be greenier, and grow better ALMOST everytime if you use CO2. i dont currently use CO2 but my plants grow slow. i use a liquid fertilizer that i can apply twice a week. works great. the java fern that i have really flourishes with that fertilizer and lighting i have. everything i have is in my signature. also if you want a couple good sites to look up plants here they are: Aquarium Fish: Tropical Freshwater Fish and Saltwater Fish for Home Aquariums click on plants or fish whatever you desire or here is another plant site: Aquarium Plants

my best advice and the LITTLE experience i have with plants, DO RESEARCH ask questions and do more research.

i know it sounds like a lot but in the long run will save you lots of money and time and hassle and you wont kill your plants like i have done myself in the past. also keep in mind that certain fish WILL destroy your plants so do research on them also to make sure they are plant friendly and if you cannot find an answer hop on here and shoot it to us.

glad to hear you are going planted they are fun. i wont go back to plastic/fake

 

[tramca]

Well, the ball is a rollin! Me and OH (well his decision really) decided on a Juwel Trigon 190. We snapped it up for £130, second hand, excellent condition, no filter, but we have a filter which will do us for now.
The one question I have about that, is OH was wanting an external filter. Is this possible with the tank model we bought. Or will our crappy Fluval 4 have to do, or maybe buy another one and have 2 running?
Sorry so many questions, we always just rushed setting tanks up, lost fish and plants in the process, then gave up. So we want the tank of our dreams so to speak with this one.

We're going to go with those above mentioned plants that can manage without co2 and see how they do.

We decided on a community of a few schools(or shoals? LOL) of different types of tetra, few cory's, (is a plec a good idea with plants?) some guppies, maybe one or two bala's. Any ideas from you guys are more than welcomed

So Iwill update this thread as I go, might as well keep our progress all in the one place eh?

Once we get the substrate we want (ecocomplete) and plant plants in there, I'll do a few picss, and then add pics here as we progress.

Oh, what are the lights like in the Juwel's? Decent I hope!

 

[Newman]

dont know =/ They should be fine for planted if theyre at least T-8. T-12 arent as good with lightoutput, and T-5 are ideal. For 50 gallons youre gonna want a total of about 100 watts over the tank...

Schools of tetras and especially cories will work great. i think balas should be passed up because youll want at least 5 in a tank, and 5 will never really fit into a 50 gal. they need 100+ for that many.

Go with sone bristlenose plecos. make sure to get some males and female (buy 3?) so that theyll stay happy. they shouldnt eat plants, but dont just feed them algae wafers...feed lots of green fresh veggies as well. anything from sweet peppers to romaine lettuce wil be eaten.

You should use two filter, canisters being my preffered choice. but its up to you and OH.

 

[tramca]

I'm happy with the bristle noses LOL. Will probably take your advice and get 3.

Ok, when we look at the tubes, how do we know if ours are t-5 or T-8 etc, because theres nothing on the buls to say.

 

[tropicalcrazy]

on the filter question im not quite sure.
when doing those plants even without CO2 make sure you use a liquid fertilizer to give the plant the proper nutrients
pleco's are not a good idea if they are bigger than 6". they will uproot your plants constantly. i would suggest with a planted tank go with a bristlenose pleco or dwarf plecos and they do really good with planted tanks. you could also do some oto's (DO NOT DO CHINESE OR GOLD ALGAE EATERS) they will destroy your plants and can get very large
hope this helps out

 

[tropicalcrazy]

i have a bala in my 55g. i had 2. one didnt do so well with the old puffer that i had in there and the puffer actually killed my bala. my 1 bala does pretty well in the 55g but like newman said, balas are mainly schooling fish that like 5 or more together and they can get really large (upwards of 12"0) more often than not i see my bala shoot across the tank and jump kinda outta the water and smack the lid on my tank and there just isnt the proper room in there for him

 

[tramca]

Thanks TC.

I've rung round most of my local Aquatic stores, and NONE stock any kind of substrate for live plants I don't get that, since they sell tanks, fish, and plants.

Anyway, it looks like I'll have to buy online. I'm just wondering how many bags I'll need. Also, I saw somewhere that you can mix it with a fine gravel. Woul 60% gravel 40% eco be ok? I'd buy a fine black gravel I think.

Roughly how long will the cycle take, once all the plants and substrate are in?
We have a filter running in a small tank so can put the media in the new filter it that will help.

 

[tramca]

We bought plants and substrate today *BOUNCINGS

Heres what we have so far. Not sure what all the plants are, I know the java fern of course, but there are others that the shop didnt say what they were

The bogwood we bought in pic 1

The java fern Pic 2

Attached to bogwood pic 3

Dont know what this plant is pic 4

They said this was an Anubis pic 5

 

[tramca]

The next pic they just said was grass, I liked the look of it so got some.

I'm open to critisism, bear in mind I'm not good at aqua scaping!

 

[Newman]

PIC 4 plant wont work. its a bog plant and will just melt in a few months. blame the LFS for selling the likes of it...
Thats grass...also looks like it wont work (was it mondo grass?) same bog-plant situation.
*bog plants are raised emersed, ei. in a humid environment, not under water.*

Java and anubia will be great. just dont burry the anubia rhizome (green root strip-part) into the gravel. that needs to have light.
Looks like you have a good midground layed out there what will you put in the background and foreground?

This is just blunt critisizm, sorry i dont have the time to make it sound nice

I can give plant suggestions if you want

 

[tramca]

No, it's all good.

I didnt think the pic 4 one would work, but OH liked it.

And the grass too, was a long shot. I hate though when the shop people dont know what they are selling!

The Anubia I have buried right in, so I need to lift it a bit? The shop said to put it on the bogwood, would that be better? Will it be ok for say 8 hours till I can do it tomorrow?

 

[Newman]

should be ok. It took a month for my anubia to melt off from being even partially buried.

Thats not to say that thos bog plants wont grow. they might. so if you feel like it leave them in there and see what you get. but when they start to yellow out turn black or melt on you, you should probably move them out of the tank ...

 

[tramca]

Thanks for the advice. I'm going to lift the anubia a bit, and hope it doesn't float off. I was right to take the sponge and lead weights off wasn't I?

I know the java fern is a really slow grower, I will be happy for it to root and grow at all.

 

[Newman]

yes make sure you always take the rock wool and lead weights off. ferns arent really that slow growing, you should see new growth in a week