A Good Size To Learn On?

[markandhisfish]

im currently watching a 2 1/2 ft tank around 130L on fleabay . is that a good size for learning the planted art ?

 

[ian]

personally, i think and i'm sure people with disagree, but 60-90 ltr is a great tank size to practice on. This was the size of my first planted tank and i loved it. I wish i still had room for a 60ltr.

are you going the whole hog Mark, and setting up a C02 system?

 

[markandhisfish]

i will be going co2 eventually ian but for now il most likely be doing low tech as im going to need to keep any costs to the absolute minimum , altho i have been reading supercoleys thread about his more stable yeast fermentation method which i may play with . but i think given that im a proven plant killer it may be wise to stick with low tech easy growers 1st , learn the basics and graduate onto the more hi tech side once that is mastered.

 

[ian]

totally agree Mark, if there is one piece of advice I, llj, Arron, Andy and the rest of the gang would always advocate would be to learn to grow the plants first. When you know you can grow them, you can then start to experiment a little. I think every successful planted tank owner did it this way. I know i did, i started with the old Anubias and Java in a cold water tank a few years ago, then once i got my 60ltr it got hold of me! I did low light and nothing to begin with, stuff died, so messed about with ferts, grew some stuff. I then upgraded the lighting and started with the liquid C02. It all went from there...

you know we are all here if you need advice.

 

[markandhisfish]

i think thats where i went wrong when i tried to plant my discus tank , i expected too much straight away , i had all these visions of a lush green underwater world , and when the reality was diatoms on the leaves , plants dying back and generally looking untidy etc , i just lost heart and ripped all the plants out .

which leads me to a few early questions

i got the plants fro the discus setup from thegreenmachine , all tropica plants. great plants they were too ( well when they arrived anyway ) and i ended up throwing about 90 quids worth of plants in the bin. i wasnt impressed with the likes of plants alive etc . sure they were cheap , but tiny scrawny little plants .

where do you get yours?

also i really like cambomba , i just love the way it looks . would that suit a low tech beginners tank?

 

[ian]

I actually get most of my plants from my LFS, he will order them in for me, or i either go to MA in East Bridgford. They specialise in planted tanks. I have ordered online from TGM, personally i have found them to be very very expensive. I bought some HC Cuba from them a while back and paid £16 (before postage) for 2 pots, a few months down the line i ordered 4 pots from my LFS (aquafluer plants) and paid £11. They were of the same quality as well.

I always find that i get the plant as it would arrive on the same day as well from the LFS. There are some cheaper online places at the moment. One being Planted tanks They are reasonable and of good quality, you do have to wait a week for delivery though.

and yes, Combomba is OK for low light, do expect bits floating all over when you plant it though.

 

[markandhisfish]

great stuff cheers , i can live with the floating bits , i can always scoop them out with the net . lfs round my way are pretty poor really , il check out that link . as i saisd this 1 is going to be a slow burner , but im sure il have loads of questions as it gathers momentum . for now im going to have a good read through the pinned topics .

 

[aaronnorth]

60l - cheap to fill with plants and hardscape and if you ever want a change (and you will lol) it doesn't cost much and it is easy to play about with

Gettig the balance right is harder in a larger tank as circulation and CO2 distribution becomes an issue. You will need more light aswell which gain raises the costs.

Thanks, Aaron

 

[Joshwainwright]

My first planted tank is going to be a Fluval Roma 125. I would have got a much larger and much cheaper tank however my mum wanted "something that would look good in the living room." Obviously I didn't argue against getting a new tank...

 

[markandhisfish]

at the moment it looks like its going to be a juwel rekord 120 . simply due to price . the people on ebay want eunrealisti prices for ropey 4 year old damaged scrathced tanks i saw 1 that the bid got more than the tanks worth and it still hadnt met the reserve , and for £74.99 i can get a brand new rekord 120 with free delivery and a manufacturers warranty .
ive already got most of the equipment so other than the tank id literally just need to get plants and ferts .

ive found some very helpfull info in the planted pinned threads so far . the plan is to master low tech before i even think about pressurised co2 etc . ive not had good results with plants before ( mainly down to lack of effort if im totally honest) so i think a gentle introduction would be wise .

do you rekon the built in internal in the juwel combined with my spare eheim internal ( rated for tanks up to 200L) would give me good enough flow for a 120L low tech?

 

[SuperColey1]

125/130ltr sounds like the perfect starter size to me.lol

AC

 

[markandhisfish]

brilliant . as its pretty much 99% ertain thats what size il end up with