Going For Planted Tank

[Zikofski]

okay i have decided to go with plants in my new aquarium, now i am a newbie with this so bare with me and please correct me if my research is wrong, the one thing i want is a non CO2 tank co2 is far to expensive, and tbh i don't mind if the plants grow slowly or not at all, alongs they stay alive.

from looking on the web with regards to lighting, i was thinking on getting 2x 54W tubes making 108W of light in total the tank is 330L thats 87 Gal this makes for 1.2 W/G but i know we will not have the full 330L of water so il raise the 1.2 to around 1.5 to 2 W/G which means il have a low to medium light setup according to this website

my PH of the water at the current time i think is 8 i know this is way to high for the fish i am using but there alive and well i guess they have adapted, now i want to get this substrate but i was worried that on the site is stated that it changes the Ph level down to 6.5 now i have angels and torpedo barbs according to this site the torpedos are okay in 6.5 not 8 so all gd there is guess and my angles it says they don't really have a set but will adapt now the substrate in question is Colombo Flora Base Brown - Fine 2.5 Litres from AquaEssentials i was going to put this down with sand ontop if this a gd idea with the fact i don't want co2? or is it best to have no substrate if no co2? is there any liquid Co2 i can get to put to add co2? i don't know but the plants that want to get from the same site are as follows:

- Aquafleur Echinodorus Ozelot Red
- Aquafleur Cryptocoryne Nevellii
- Aquafleur Ludwigia Peruviana
- Aquafleur Anubias Nana

now those plants on the site state there gd for co2 tanks and non co2 tanks and are within my temp and both ph ranges that i stated above so as far as i know all is gd there

another thing i have seen is liquid fertiliser if i get the substrate will i need this? if so then what is best sorry for so many questions i really do want planted tanks that avoid co2 i don't really want plants to grow fast just to stay alive if they grow its a bonus

thank you all for advice and tips all is welcome

 

[kylealastairlove]

im a bit of a newbie too but may be able to help i have a planted tank and i also didnt want to use co2, i have river sand as my substrate, and i dont even have any plant fertilizers or nutrients under the layer of sand as i didnt know about ti at the time, but my plants seem to be doing fine when choosing plants, just make sure you pick out the ones that will do well in your temp range and your ph i've got through a lot of plants, a lot of them dying off. but i did a bit of research found out which are best suited to my water conditions and now they seem to be doing fine, at the moment im just using a liquid fertilizer dosing once a week, i have a 64L tank with two 15watt bulbs and everything seems to be going fine liquid fert is pretty decent especially if you pay that bit more money for a better one, if not you can use fertilizer tabs which you place at the roots of the plants sorry if this wasn't that helpful to you as i said im still a newbie but i do hope my advice will have helped you somehow

 

[Zikofski]

no thats perfect thank you, what liquid fertiliser are you using as the site has like 50 different wind and like 10 from the same manufacture so very confusing which one to use but that has given me some idea thank you

 

[minnnt]

There is no need to use a special substrate, but it will benefit you. A 2.5L bag will go no where in a tank of your size, and in all honesty, i wouldn't bother. Save your money and put it towards your plants.

When starting out, it is often better to start with easy to grow plants like Anubias, Crypts, Java Fern and Mosses. All will grow in pretty much any light and any water conditions. Your Anubias and Fern will need to be tied to rock or wood as they need to have water flow across their rhizomes. If you don't, then they will rot. There are a fair few species of Anubias available, Barteri, Barteri Nana, (and gold) Heterophilla etc etc, all different sizes so will fit pretty much anywhere in your tank. There are also a few different varieties of Java Ferns, i like the narrow leaved ones personally. Crypts, well, they're endless really. My favourites are Amicorum, Bullosa, Wendtii Green and Brown, Tropica, Balansae (sp??) and Beckettii Petchii. They are the main staple of my planted tanks as they are so reliable once they have melted as they adjust to your water conditions.

You can also dose a liquid carbon additive, but for a tank of your size, i would say that would cost you a small fortune over time. So i would stick with a good quality fertiliser and go from there. I would also dose daily rather than weekly as to even out the nutrient content. The more stable a tank you can provide the less chance you will have of getting algae.
You could spend a fortune on something like TPN or TNC so your would probably be better off looking into EI methods of providing fertiliser. Basically a dry salts mix that you make yourself. I cheat and buy something from ebay called "Green Low" and i have had great results from it. EI would be cheaper, but i couldn't be bothered buying all the salts and making it

If wanting to dose carbon/Co2, then a FE setup would probably be the cheapest option in the long run after the initial cost.

Keep your tank lights on to a maximum of 8 hours a day all in one go.

Also, with regards to the Limpopo lowering PH, alot of members on here have reported the opposite. They started with 6.5 and it raised it to something like 7.8. I have it in my tanks and my tap water is usually around 7.2-7.4, but my tanks sit at roughly 6.8. But then again i do use a fair bit of wood in my tanks as you know.

 

[Zikofski]

okay for the 2.5L bag there is a 10L bag where they are bigger i did spot that after i posted this, but I'm sure i can add this later when i plant more heavily

and i what i was going to do was say buy one of each plant to see a where they look gd going and to get more experience with a wider variety of plants, and for the smaller ones like you said attacking them to my wood would look kl was going to get like 2 or 3 of those

yes that is kl i shall not bother with the liquid carbon,I shall look into the EI method i did see it in another post but was all to confusing for me, il do more research into that.

we keep out lights on for around 6 to 8 hours already so thats no problem and with regards to ph my large wood i think will lower my ph as well so and i probably won't bother with the fert under the soil

what do you make of the tablet ferts under the soil they are less expensive worth getting in the short run?


- Aquafleur Echinodorus Ozelot Red x 1
- Aquafleur Cryptocoryne Nevellii x 2
- Aquafleur Ludwigia Peruviana x 1
- Aquafleur Anubias Nana x 2

that is what i shall get for now i will get more if they don't die and when i learn more about plant keeping

 

[minnnt]

Up the Crypts. Crypts love root tabs, Crypts are heavy root feeders so they will thank you for it.

The problem you have, is... YOUR TANK IS MASSIVE AND YOU ARE BUYING 6 PLANTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Zikofski]

Up the Crypts. Crypts love root tabs, Crypts are heavy root feeders so they will thank you for it.

The problem you have, is... YOUR TANK IS MASSIVE AND YOU ARE BUYING 6 PLANTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

kl i shall get them for the crypts

"YOUR TANK IS MASSIVE AND YOU ARE BUYING 6 PLANTS"

you saying for me to buy more, or less?

i will be buying more 1 month down the line, i would rather if they die, wast money on 6 plants and then work on getting equipment for plants, than getting like 20 plants and loosing the lot if you understand where i am coming from

so would you say 4 crypts then for a newbie

 

[minnnt]

If crypts die then you might aswell give up now. Lol. They will melt when you first get them, but the new leaves will be fine and very healthy. I would get 10 personally and leave the ludwigia. Then get 3 massive bunches of java fern.

 

[Zikofski]

If crypts die then you might aswell give up now. Lol. They will melt when you first get them, but the new leaves will be fine and very healthy. I would get 10 personally and leave the ludwigia. Then get 3 massive bunches of java fern.

okay thank you i shall get around 10 of them ditch the rest my n my gf don't like the look of java fern but i shall give the Anubias a go and attach it to my wood

 

[minnnt]

Java Fern is a very reliable plant. I love it. If you get some decent bunches of it then you can quickly create the look of a planted tank.

Anubias is great, i have a few varieties. Heterophilla is great, nice and big and offers alot of structure to your tank.

 

[Zikofski]

kl sorry for the delay in replying, i had a look at the EI method and way to confusing for me IMO so i think i will go with your Green Low idea only 4.99 on ebay and they state it lasts a year in a 200L tank so in my eyes can't go wrong with that and if you say it works one thing i noticed when looking in my LFS was the pellets
a) i couldn't really see any
b)when iasked they said with ones

so my next question is what is the best pellet fertiliser for my crypts?

 

[minnnt]

Root tablets you mean? I don't use them, but tpn and tnc do them. Have a gander on fleabay mate.

Green low is ei, but pre mixed. The quote of lasting a year is a bit optimistic imo, I have upped my dosing to 4x the stated amount and getting great results. I am using it in all 3 of my planted tanks, can't fault it one bit tbh.

 

[Zikofski]

Kl I Was looking at seachems flourish tabs 40 for around £20

Didnt know it was EI just per made haha kl so cheap I was expecting it to be like £30 to £50 but its £5 but il bare that in mind and get 2 to 4 packs of it il dose one dose for a week or 2 then slowly up it see how things go

 

[minnnt]

All depends on how heavily planted the tank is really. It comes as powder and you add a litre of water to it.

With regards to the tabs, I would save my money.

 

[Fishball7]

Lol. If your tank is going to have no additional co2, you don't need strong light which for t5 wpg doesn't add up directly, no ferts and doesn't really matter for substrate. Adding ferts and strong light with no co2 will only equal tons of algae.

edit to say: plant growth depends on light and co2. these two are the primary factors with ferts balancing out the rest. too much of either means tank haphazard regardless of ferts. I suggest you reconsider co2 (DIY is cheap as) if you want to go ferts; or save yourself the trouble (though much less growth). a quick search told me that dosing carbon is not as good as providing co2.