MAdkins82

OK I have an established 55g FW angel tank. I have basic gravel substrate HOB filter and heater. I bought some seeds from Walmart and threw them in just like it said and they took off. So then I bought a different bulb to put in my basic flourescent light fixtures. They are GE freshwater/saltwater bulbs. They are 15 W and 9725 K I believe. My question is, since I already have fish and stuff in there is it too late to add the plant substrate and stuff now? Would I need to move all my stuff to another tank to set everything else up and what else exactly do I need? Are there plants you can grow well that don't need Co2 bc honestly where my tank sets I don't really have anywhere to put a tank, it sets on a ledge in my stairwell. I would love to get some plants with color to them, the ones I have are aponegeton or something and those thing grow like CRAZY, like an inch or 2 a day but are just green, a pretty filler plant but I would love to get a little color.

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75g FW Discus tank
55g FW Planted Angel tank
45g FOWLR salt tank
soon to bee 55g Salt reef

Jay

Hi MAdkins82,

To answer your question yes you can do what you need to do with fish and substrate still in the tank.

Flourite, which is a fracted clay substrate, excellent for plants, can be mixed 50 -50 with gravel. I assume by basic gravel you mean larger than sand smaller than a pea. If not you may have to scoop some out.

Depending on the fish load in a lightly planted tank supplemental nutrients may be necessary, we can discuss that later.

Light needs to be a minimum of 2 watts per gallon distributed evenly over the tank. That means for a 55 gallon tank you would need a minimum of 110 watts of light.

The light "type" is not crucial so long as it produces the intensity needed. You do not need to buy expensive "plant grow" lights.

CO2 is not necessary to be successful with plants. It only becomes necessary when you have a large plant mass and increase your light above 2.5 watts per gallon.

When you buy plants the vendor should be able to tell you what light intensity is needed, or I can supply you with links for research.

You should probably also look into a source of carbon (not CO2) like "Excel" from Seachem.

Read through the posts in the plants forum for some more basics and get back with questions.

It's easy!!

Regards,
Jay