Help - Please

[LisaV]

fairly new to fish tanks and would like some advice on the best way to plant out my tropical tank, it is 150lt 42" long (picture included). The fish are fine but my plants look - sad lol, any advice you guys can give would be verry appreciated. also keen on the idea of CO2!?

many thanks for reading and hopfully any advice given

Lisa

 

[fishing4exotics]

What kinds of plants do you have already?

 

[paulioo]

You need to match your tank specifications to the type of plants you can keep. So we need to know how many watts of light you have above your tank and how big the tank is.

From this you can then select the type of plants that you can keep.

Generally CO2 is not required in tanks under 2watts per gallon i.e 60Watts of light over a 30 gallon tank.

If you want to really get into planted tanks you can upgrade your tank to grow just about every plant available. But be warned, it can become expensive once your addicted to creating the perfect planted tank.

So first things first, whats your current lighting and size of tank?

Then we can sort of your plants, fertilising routine etc...

Only look at the following link if you wish to get addicted to planted tanks, and throw endless supplies of money into your tank Dont look... ah go on.

Paul

 

[LisaV]

You need to match your tank specifications to the type of plants you can keep. So we need to know how many watts of light you have above your tank and how big the tank is.

From this you can then select the type of plants that you can keep.

Generally CO2 is not required in tanks under 2watts per gallon i.e 60Watts of light over a 30 gallon tank.

If you want to really get into planted tanks you can upgrade your tank to grow just about every plant available. But be warned, it can become expensive once your addicted to creating the perfect planted tank.

So first things first, whats your current lighting and size of tank?

Then we can sort of your plants, fertilising routine etc...

Only look at the following link if you wish to get addicted to planted tanks, and throw endless supplies of money into your tank Dont look... ah go on.

Paul

Hi
Right, this is my second tropical tank,my first was quite small but this one is 100cm by 40cm by 35cm, it has one 30w sunglo tube and one 30w aqua glo I think that works out about 1.5w per gallon.
I already use plant food which slows the plant death rate though not by much
. at the moment I have cabomba, dracania(?) amazon sword lobelia, jap grass and palm fern. The amazon sword plants are the only ones doing okay.
I would love the plants to look perfect, I'm a bit of a perfectionist and what I really want is for people to walk into the room and say wow! I assume this would mean upgrading the lighting ? Would I have to buy new starter motors do you think? The tank was second hand (in really good condition) but I havn't taken the lid apart to look at the motors so I don't actually know what's in there.. I'm assuming they're the originals.
Thanks for the help, Lisa
p.s.I did look and if the sale of my children goes through okay I want all those tanks.

 

[George Farmer]

fairly new to fish tanks and would like some advice on the best way to plant out my tropical tank, it is 150lt 42" long (picture included). The fish are fine but my plants look - sad lol, any advice you guys can give would be verry appreciated. also keen on the idea of CO2!?

many thanks for reading and hopfully any advice given

Lisa

The pinned articles are a good start Lisa. The biggest "downfall" most beginner planted hobbyists have is lack of light, most aquariums come supplied with far too little to grow anything but the least demanding species.

Glad to hear you're keen on the CO2 idea. With extra light it is essential and you will get good results, quickly. Once you have your lighting and CO2 sorted you then need to consider fertilisation.

As I said try reading the articles, if there's anything you don't understand then ask.

 

[LisaV]

thanks a lot, I'll get reading

 

[Ami]

Only look at the following link if you wish to get addicted to planted tanks, and throw endless supplies of money into your tank Dont look... ah go on.

Paul

Gosh.

Really does make my puny attempts seem even more pathetic. If only I hadn't decided on buying that house to live in - a large wooden shack would have had lots more space for tanks as well. Oh well.

 

[BoSelecta]

Same problem here , I have a 500 Ltr Tank and yet I WANT MORE MORE MORE !!! ...... maybe just another little one soon (If I can get it passed Mrs Select@ that is )