A Bit More Help Needed For My Small Planted Setup

[Ed Green]

Hello

Just doing my last online 'shop' before setting up my small planted tank and need some advice.

my 35 ltr tank will have some bog wood (bought from aqua essentials) and as carpet of HC. How much HC should I buy? I have no idea? the background i think will have some Staurogyne sp. and I may put a few others in but generally i want HC - inspiration comes from this sort of thing:

anybody got any idea of quantities i would want to buy??

CO2 -

in a previous post i got some helpful advice re CO2. because im on a bit of a budget i dont really want to fork out for a pressurised one just yet so have been looking at Hagen Nutrafin's system. Do i need to get anything else for the plants? will the Hagen system have everything i need to satisfy the plants co2 and nutrient wise? or are other fertilisers neccessary? help on this would be apreciated!

Do I need bubble counters? and a drop checker? or are these not totally neccessary?

I just want to be sure I havent missed anything from my list before I start next week.

Thanks for reading

Ed G

 

[SexyFishKeeper]

Have a quick look at my journal. In there is less than a pot of tropica HC.
I bought two thinking one wasn't enough but had to sell the other one.
Remember that plants will grow in so don't worry if you don't buy too much from the start.
Whilst the tropica plants should always have the same amount in them, I've seen that Staurogyne amounts can differ. The good thing about Staurogyne is that you can cut off the top and then replant.

To get something like George Farmer's 'Mini Mountain' you'd need to add co2 and ferts. I'm currently doing TPN+ and EasyCarbo for CO2 as a yeast based system seems too much faffing for me.

If you're going EasyCarbo you don't need a drop checker and bubble counter. But if you are doing yeast CO2 then you will do.

 

[Ed Green]

Have a quick look at my journal. In there is less than a pot of tropica HC.
I bought two thinking one wasn't enough but had to sell the other one.
Remember that plants will grow in so don't worry if you don't buy too much from the start.
Whilst the tropica plants should always have the same amount in them, I've seen that Staurogyne amounts can differ. The good thing about Staurogyne is that you can cut off the top and then replant.

To get something like George Farmer's 'Mini Mountain' you'd need to add co2 and ferts. I'm currently doing TPN+ and EasyCarbo for CO2 as a yeast based system seems too much faffing for me.

If you're going EasyCarbo you don't need a drop checker and bubble counter. But if you are doing yeast CO2 then you will do.

Hi thanks for the reply!

would easycarbo be as good as the yeast option? ie will the plant growth be as good? id definetly go for it if it was, i dont want to clutter up my tank any more than I have to.

Also could you recomend a good fert?

Your tank looks great in those pics - would that ammount of HC spread and make a think carpet as in my picture above? i was under the impression that you needed to plant it thicker.

You have been very helpful - thanks

 

[SexyFishKeeper]

Easycarbo is a liquid based co2 option. It won't be a good as pure co2 injection but I dont think it's far off. Not all plants like it, but algae hates it.

I use Tropica Plant Nutrition Plus (TPN+) but there are others. If using the Tropica, make sure you get TPN+ as just TPN alone won't be enough. Or you can do DIY TPN+ using dry ferts and over time that works out cheaper.

The HC will eventually spread out to make a carpet as pictured and hopefully won't take too long. The best method to plant HC is to plant each stem individually which I've done. That way, a single pot goes a long way and after a while it'll fill out into a nice carpet.

 

[Carter]

please don't take this the wrong way, but HC can be very hard to grow... by looking at the photo above, it appears that they have a MH system in... what lighting were you planning on getting?

 

[Ed Green]

please don't take this the wrong way, but HC can be very hard to grow... by looking at the photo above, it appears that they have a MH system in... what lighting were you planning on getting?

Hi, thanks for your input -

I have X two Arcadia 11w Original Tropical Compact Lamp over a small 35l tank - should be fine for hemianthus callichtroides with CO2 shouldnt it?