Advice On Planted Tank

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meguro

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I don't have much experience with planted tanks but I am currently in the process of setting up a 36"x14"x20"(h) tank with plants. The substrate is currently a 3-4cm layer of sand (the sand is wet from being washed but there is minimal water in the tank, no visible water line anyway). I've read that sand isn't very good for plant growth and was wondering how worthwhile it would be to put a layer of laterite underneath the sand. If so, how much should I put?

As for the light I was looking at getting one of these. Would that provide sufficient light? What combination of tubes should I use?

The plants I was hoping to grow are java fern, amazon sword, hygophila difformis, anubias etc. as they're good beginner plants I've read. I also have some seachem flourish tabs, flourish and flourish excel.

I wasn't planning on any CO2 injection. I've also read that air stones aren't usually used in planted tanks. How detrimental are they? Would dosing flourish excel be fine for a planted tank with air stones?

Thanks for reading.
 
Sand is fine for a substrate. If you already have it in, don't worry about a nutrient-rich substrate, just do your dosing through the water column. I have sand, and it is fine, though I did manage to put laterite in some tanks as a first layer. It is not a big deal.

IMO if you want a lower-light tank, don't bother with T5HO. Save your money. You'll be fine with regular T5s or even T8s. Stock lighting should even be enough to grow what you're planning, or at most a twin tube fixture of T8s, or two singles, spaced apart. For what you want to grow, aim for about 1-1.25WPG. Anymore light will require that you provide more stable and higher CO2 levels that you perhaps want to. A single tube will even grow java fern, anubias, and crypts and you won't have to do much except dose ferts once in a while, no CO2 if you don't feel like it. You can go down to about .6 or .75WPG if you keep to crypts, anubias, and java fern. Below is a link to my journal. I have a very low-light tank and barring the bad cherry barb incident (not plant-related), the tank has done very well. I'm growing most of what interests you, except the hygro difformis.

http://www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/295754-tales-of-the-crypts-lljs-36g-low-light/

I do not use airstones, but I do have excellent water circulation under the surface. Aim for about 10x water turnover in an hour. Good filtration is a must, spend your money on that rather than on the lighting.

Hope this helps

llj
 
Thanks for your reply. I did some more reading on layered substrates (eg. fluorite, laterite, cat litter etc. with sand over it) and I probably won't be doing that. Seems a little too involved, especially if you end up making a mistake or two. What's a good depth to use for sand?

As for the lighting, what if I used one tube instead of two? That way I would still have the option of additional light if necessary.

The filtration is an eheim classic 2215 which should give a turnover of around 4-5x. Is this ok for the plants I'm after or too low? As for the air stones I got them purely out of habit and aesthetic appeal, though apparently they would reduce CO2 levels. So I should avoid using them?

Some good information in your journal and the pictures too. Pity about the barbs though.
 

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