A Noob With Soft Water

[BubbleBaby]

Hi I have a 36 gallon aquarium with sand substrate and around 6.0 PH and practicly no KH.(fully matured tank)
Ok so basicly I'm a noob at planted tanks...I've always wanted the natural beauty of a planted tank but have never had any luck(back when I had no idea what I was doing). Now I am looking into it and am very excited yet discouraged......I have very soft water and I've been reading this new book I bought and now I'm scared. I of course want to have fish in with the plants and I'm worried about the affect that the rise and fall of the ph will have on my fish and plants( I also want to raise the ph and kh to the liking of guppies). I also have been having problems fully grasping all the different systems for CO2 injections. So basicly I'm wondering if anyone can help me figure out what plants, CO2 system,water buffer,substrate,lighting and anything else that will be good for my tank. PLEASE OH PLEASE RESPOND!!! PLEASE!!!

Thank you for any advice!!!!
-Bubblebaby

 

[aaronnorth]

take a look at the pinned threads, it explains the different types of CO2 machines available. If you dont want to inject CO2, then stick with low light. My reccomendation would be
40w of T5
OR
60w of T8

By sticking to low lighting it means CO2 and nutrients are less demanded. Nutrients may still need to be dosed, however, you can get away with no CO2, or if you wish there is a product called easylife easycarbo which is a liquid source of carbon.

 

[BubbleBaby]

take a look at the pinned threads, it explains the different types of CO2 machines available. If you dont want to inject CO2, then stick with low light. My reccomendation would be
40w of T5
OR
60w of T8

By sticking to low lighting it means CO2 and nutrients are less demanded. Nutrients may still need to be dosed, however, you can get away with no CO2, or if you wish there is a product called easylife easycarbo which is a liquid source of carbon.

I do want to have CO2 because I want a pretty heavily planted tank... do you have any suggestions on a CO2 system that works for you. Also what does T5 and T8 mean ?

-bubblebaby

 

[aaronnorth]

you can have a heavily planted tank without CO2 injection.

George Farmer

that has 2 x 24w for 7hrs. With easycarbo dosing daily.

CO2 will make the plants grow up to 1000x faster that a non-injected tank. I use a fire extinghuisher as a source of CO2, check out the guides in my signature.
there is pressurized, fermentation CO2. See the pinned thread for advantages & disadvantages on each.

The 'T' tells us the diamter of a light tube.
T5 = 5/8th of an inch
T8 = 1"

T5 penetrate the water further, and they also give out more watts per square inch, meaning you need less light, thani f you were to use T8. If you are going with CO2 then you can have higher wattage's than i stated above