Im thinking about planted

orb4me

I thought, and wrong at that, that a planted tank was a murky yellowy tan colored water with plants and mud. Im so wrong!!!

I welcomed mralgae to the forum and he has a picture of his tank. How beautiful, I had no idea, none!

So, my first question is where do I start? I have 10, 30 and 55 gal tanks. gravel for substrate. High ph, alkalinity and hardness water from tap. fish are all small, and one black shark about 5 to 6" long. other than Mr. Shark, the fish can be moved around. I read the sticky in this topic, but im lost about what they are talking about. So far, I havent found a basic information site, so I think best place to start is on this forum.

Thanks for any help and advise.

mralgae

Hi orb4me.
Planted tanks are as hard or as easy as you wish to make them for yourself. The first thing you have to decide is what typw of tank you wish to have.

Low light lowtech= easy all the way.

High light high-tech = more work as in dosing the correct ferts schedule and more maintenance.

I will try and add some pics if I can as I cant link off site. But you could start off low and when you have a feel for it slowly add to grow the tank into a high tech tank.
At the end of the day a lot is down to water changes as it is with your fish.



below are some low tech tank.

book large 1 8x6.png kittis lowlitetank.jpg bills lowlitetank.jpg

mralgae

Plant care.

A Very Basic Guide to caring for your plants:

Introduction:
This is merely a guide to answer the very basics questions of plant keeping.

There are 3 main elements that aquarium plants need for photosynthesis.

• Light
• Temperature
• c02

All of these are fully dependent on each other, that is to say if there is enough of 2 of them and the 3rd is in short supply then the 1st 2 will reach a plateau way below their needs.
There is of course other requirements needed but these three are by far the most important as if the plant can?t get these resources they will not be able to use any other of the elements needed to grow.

Types of light:
Plants need light for photosynthesis to take place. In nature that would of course be sunlight and we have to try and replicate this as much as possible.
Always make sure that the lighting you use is suitable for aquarium plants and can be in a wide variety, tungsten, fluorescent, metal halide. The spectrum of the lights can have an effect on plant growth.
Duration:
Lighting of the correct type will be of no use at all if the amount of time is
In-correct. This can be from 8-12hrs depending on the set up you have.

Types:
There are many types of substrate that can be used. Plain gravel, coloured gravel, sand, and don?t forget a good planted tank will always benefit from a ?plant substrate? under the gravel or sand to help feed the roots.
Depth:
The depth should be approx 2? at the front of the tank rising to approx 3? at the rear of the tank.
Then of course you can fit in landscaping with rocks etc to form terraces to complement you aquascape


This can be a very complex subject and will not be possible to discuss this fully here since one part effect another in so many different ways and each aquarium is different to the next.
So much so that in general we need a pH around 7, nitrates around 5-10, and depending on if dosing or not low to zero p04 etc etc.
Most tanks are in the mid range of 75f/24c and most plants and fish will live in harmony with each other. A good few plants do prefer a cooler environment.


A wide range of plant foods are now available and are down to personal choice and cost. One excellent liquid feed, of which I have used, is ?tropica plant nutrition? used n conjunction with tropica plant substrate can produce excellent results.
Also available are plant tabs that are used in the substrate at the roots of the plants.

? under gravel filter
? internal filter
? external filter

? Under gravel filters are not normally recommended for planted aquariums but I know of a few that use these with just as good results as any other filter available.

? Internal filters can be as good as external filters depending on the overall set up of the tank

? External filters are and have become the normal so to speak for most planted and fish tanks. They offer excellent flow rates and durability and cleaning outside the tank for fewer disturbances to the tank in general.


For some reason most people dislike snails in their aquariums but are an important part of the tanks eco-system. In part snails don?t eat your plants but waste food and algae. If snails are on your plants it is most likely they are eating algae or rotten plant matter. There are of course plants that snails will enjoy snacking on and if this is a problem then fish in the form of clown loaches will soon sort this problem out.

There are of course some fish which will devour most plants in an aquarium, Oscars, silver dollars, large plecos etc. other small to medium fish will be more than happy to live in your planted tank.


Stems & Bunches:
If you have a plant with a single stem with leaves coming directly off the stems, then they can be planted directly into the gravel and should root fairly quickly.
If they are shooting roots at points up the stem then they are plants that can get their nourishments directly from the water column. E.g. Elodia, Cabomba, Hygrophylia.

Single plants:
Most single plants can be planted directly into the substrate without any problems.
A few exceptions are those that come to a central point at where the roots emanate from and these plants must be planted with their crown visible above the substrate.
If they float after planting them then bury them for a couple of days then very slowly ease them up above the top of the substrtae.
There are too many to even think of listing them here but include, vallisneria,Echiodorus and sagittaria.

Bulbs:
There can be confusion over bulb type plants as many tend to bury them as they do with garden bulbs. Aquarium bulbs should not be buried as they will end up rotting away in most cases. Simply sit the bulb on top of the substrate and let them do their own thing.

E46er

planted tanks are very appealing and worth the extra work and money in my opinion..
here is a pic of mine

orb4me

Oh what pretty tanks. After checking around and reading these posts, I want a planted tank It will be about 2 months before I can afford another tank, so that will give me lots of reading time. Thank you for responding so quickly and giving me the basics. wheeeeee, whole new issue!!!! I' will be back soon.


Mralgae, I tryed to subscribe to you site, but something got lost in the shuffle.

mralgae

any help you need just give a shout. i am sure jay and my self can point you in the right direction.

the most important thing is to get it right at the beginning. that is if your going planted then start with a decent plant substrate and geravel. then the tank can grow as you wish in time.
have a look at the tropica plant site as they have just released this years plant catolouge and is the best they have ever done. this wil give you an idea as to the type of plants available and what sort of lighting would be needed for the tank.

Jay

Unfortunately we can not buy directly from Tropica, nor do they have distributors here in the US. Although I agree it is a great resource.

Jay

mralgae

ah thats a damn & blast. i knew no direct purchase from tropica but totaly unaware of no distributors. how or where do you guys buy your plats from?
that is the only thing on opposite sides of the world you have things we dont and visa versa

orb4me

I bought a plant today while I was at the LFS, Golden somethings, followed directions and stuck it in the tank. prices are not as bad as I thought, snail free it says. I'll keep an eye on it and see what happens, sure cant hurt that 55 gal at this point.

Thanks for posting pictures, you all are giving me a new addiction

Judge

I am with you ORB..I gotta have one. I wanna planted tank with Discus. I've had them in the past..way,way in the past and as soon as I can get my SW the way I want it I am going to start planning. YAHOO a new twist on my addiction. Can't wait. It's all Mr Algae's fault....Thanks!!