Bit Of Help Needed

[slick990]

Hello All!!


I have been playing about with tanks for the last couple of years. Currently i have a 5ft tropical, 4ft goldfish and a 4ft frog tank dotted about the house. However i have never done a planted tank. After seeing alot of palnted tanks recently i thought it would be a nice challenge. I would also like to use my 5ft tropical tank and convert, is this possible as there is still water and fish in there

So hopefully some of you can help me out.

If you need to know anything just ask as i am quite confused by all this.....should make a good blog though

Thanks

Craig

 

[smegforbrains]

I wouldn't consider it a problem adding plants to an already stocked tank. Just not add them all at once (maybe over the course of two weeks or so). I would keep a constant eye on the water quality during this time. You may need more frequent water changes as the balance re-settles. You may also notice a slight PH change too.


May I suggest Amazon Swords, Camboba, Stardust and Java Moss?

 

[slick990]

I wouldn't consider it a problem adding plants to an already stocked tank. Just not add them all at once (maybe over the course of two weeks or so). I would keep a constant eye on the water quality during this time. You may need more frequent water changes as the balance re-settles. You may also notice a slight PH change too.


May I suggest Amazon Swords, Camboba, Stardust and Java Moss?

I was thinking of doing it slowly as some of my fish dont like being annoyed for to long.

Ive added a picture for where the tank is, it needs a clean just got back from holidays!

What about Co2 systems and lighting etc?

thanks

 

[RadaR]

How planted do you want to go mate?
You can easily achieve a nice planted tank without going too high-tech on it.
Not sure what lighting is on there. However, if we were starting from scratch then I would get 2x39W t5s connected to t5 ballast. Reflectors for the bulbs too.
For nutrients, I would dose 10-15ml of Tropica Plant Nutrition +, each day. Try doing it every other day at first, and if it works then carry on with that.
CO2, ideally you will want a pressurized system. Here is the easiest way. DIY yeast CO2 would just be too small for that size tank.
Down size the lighting to 2x24W t5 and you might not need CO2 and you can dose 10ml of EasyCarbo daily. But ofcourse, you wont get as good a growth.
Hopefully the tank has a filter generating a lot of flow (your going to need it). Idealy you'll want rougly 3000lph(litre per hour) filter/pump power in there.
I'd try do at least 30% water change a week.
Plants you could try are:
Amazon swords
Anubias
Java fern
Any mosses
Crypts
Ludwigia species
Hygrophlia species
Aponogeton species
Bacopa species
Lilys

 

[slick990]

Filter is a Fx5 hidden away down in the side cupboard. I want a nice display nothing to mad really as my plec could uproot quite a bit, though i do have a plan for getting round the uproot problem. Lighting at the moment is using a T8 twin light setup which can be changed if need be.

At the moment i am using sand as the substrate i gather this would need to be changed to somthing else. I do like the plants grown on bog wood. How is this done?

Sorry for all the questions, thanks

 

[RadaR]

You don't necessarily need a special plant substrate instead of the sand. Plants can absorb nutrients through their leaves. For plants like crypts and amazon swords though I would push root tabs under the roots if you used sand because they are quite greedy.
The plants you usually seen on bits of a wood are Java fern species, Anubias species and moss. You could make a lovely plant aquarium just by using a variety of these on several bits of nice, branchy looking wood. Also means you can move the wood around if you get bored of the layout. The plants don't demand much at all. Your current lighting could be enough for them (if bulbs are older than a year then I would buy replacements.) and the waste produced by the fish could happily sustain them nutrients wise.
These plants (except the mosses) have a rhizome. These need flow over/around them (hence why they are tied to bits of wood) and you can easily tie the rhizome to the wood using cotton thread or fishing line.
Moss can be attached using a similar method, just wrap the thread around the piece of wood with the moss on and eventually, the growth should hide the thread. Hairnets can also be used for a more secure fit.
Keep the questions coming, all helps the learning process.

 

[slick990]

Thanks for your help. I will have to pop out to the lfs in the morning to see what i can get. My bulbs are just coming up to a year old so will change them just to make it look ncie.

there will be more questions just give me time to think of them!!!