At What Point To Add Plants?

[Wayno265]

Hi. I'm converting my 75g reef into a planted freshwater aquarium. I'm currently in the laborious process of filling it with RO water and I'm OK with the principles of the fishless nitrogen cycle and when to add fish, but I'm not so sure about the plants. Can anyone advise? I'm keen to avoid a spike of algae, so if early planting will avoid this, then I'll do it. However, I don't want the plants to die. Any advice gratefully received.

Thanks

Wayne

 

[pseud]

Are you using high or low lighting?

Injecting CO2?

 

[Wayno265]

Are you using high or low lighting?

Injecting CO2?

I will be using 1 WPG lighting and will not be injecting CO2, unless strictly necessary. I got out of marines because I was fed up with all the work involved.

Wayne

 

[George Farmer]

I got out of marines because I was fed up with all the work involved.

Wayne

Then a planted tank may not be for you either!

Try running a Google search for "low-tech planted tank" or "Diana Walstad".

 

[Jen]

Yeah.... as GF said... Planted tanks are not for someone who is looking to cut back on the amount of work they have to do. It is very time consuming and not to mention expensive.

If you are looking for a few nice real plants in there, then look at some amazon sword (I have had luck with it in a low tech tank), Java fern is good too. Anubias grow well in low light as well. There aren't many plants that like low light, but it is possible to have plants without all the high tech equipment that most of us use.

As for when to add them, if you arent going to be using any fertalizers, then I would wait until you have fish in there to give off waste to feed the plants.