Advice / Support Needed For Budding Planted Aquarium Newbie

[Gingerj]

Hey,

Loving people's planting setups! Really jealous, and I want to get involved.

But I have a few questions, is it possible to help me get to grips with the subject please?

- I have no substrate, just novelty gravel probably 2cm deep. Is that a problem?
- I presume I need a piece of CO2 Fermenting kit?
- What is a good CO2 diffuser (nano maybe?) to use with a 60L tank? Do you need one with a Fermenting kit?
- What is a drop checker and do I need one?
- Lighting I have a blue stunner and a separate white strip.
- I have a hexagon tank, and I have not seen any aquascaping examples? Does anyone have any plant recommendations?
- I think I need some fast growing plans (how fast is fast btw?) that can eat up Nitrates such as Aquafleur Hygrophila pinnatifida or Aquafleur Hygrophila guanensis. Would you say they are safe bets?

Any help or advice please let me know.

Warm regards,
James

 

[Gingerj]

On top of my previous questions. I would love to know if I could create a carpet of Aquafleur Hemianthus callitrichoides it looks beautiful.

 

[gregswimm]

CO2 isn't required if you don't have too much light. Some plants you can grow with a small amount of substrate are Anacharis, Brazilian pennywort, water sprite, basically, if it looks like anacharis and isn't red it should be fine. I think wisteria might work with a small amount of substrate, but im not sure. Vals should work, but they might need root tabs.

Some slower growing plants that don't need a ton of substrate is anubias and maybe hygro. You can do java fern, just make sure not to bury it.