I Blame All Of You!

[FishOwner]

It's all your fault!

Here I am, an innocent passerby, minding my own business. Looking at pics of people's tanks and then you, yes, YOU have to go and post pics of your pretty planted tanks, with your cories and your angels and your discus and all the lovely green plants and all.....the cardinals and pearling riccia...oh yeah. Making me feel bad because I don't have a planted tank anymore. So because of all of you, now I have to go and start another one up. I'm telling my husband on you guys!!

So seriously....I did have a planted tank at one point. (Actually several but that was years ago) Then for whatever reason, my blood parrot who had never bothered the plants in the 5 years that I've had her, woke up one morning and declared war on all the plants in the tank! She didn't just dig up the plants, she shredded them! I ended up throwing everything away, they were just that damaged. The planted tanks I did have were never the "high end" jobs but rather the low tech tanks which were nice but I think I want to go with the more Amano look now.

So, when the refund check comes in, and everyone is switched around, I'll have a 40g tall tank to play with. I'd like to have a pair of angels, some otos, and 12 - 15 cardinals or rummynose tetras. Is this tank too big for the DIY CO2 unit? If so, do you have a particular brand of CO2 dispenser that you prefer? What else am I going to need for this? How often do you guys and gals have to trim the plants? Did you buy your plants at the LFS or did you buy a package on-line?
Give me any tips you can and feel free to post pics of your tanks! I really DO love looking at them!

 

[kamel_007]

It's all your fault!

Here I am, an innocent passerby, minding my own business. Looking at pics of people's tanks and then you, yes, YOU have to go and post pics of your pretty planted tanks, with your cories and your angels and your discus and all the lovely green plants and all.....the cardinals and pearling riccia...oh yeah. Making me feel bad because I don't have a planted tank anymore. So because of all of you, now I have to go and start another one up. I'm telling my husband on you guys!!

So seriously....I did have a planted tank at one point. (Actually several but that was years ago) Then for whatever reason, my blood parrot who had never bothered the plants in the 5 years that I've had her, woke up one morning and declared war on all the plants in the tank! She didn't just dig up the plants, she shredded them! I ended up throwing everything away, they were just that damaged. The planted tanks I did have were never the "high end" jobs but rather the low tech tanks which were nice but I think I want to go with the more Amano look now.

So, when the refund check comes in, and everyone is switched around, I'll have a 40g tall tank to play with. I'd like to have a pair of angels, some otos, and 12 - 15 cardinals or rummynose tetras. Is this tank too big for the DIY CO2 unit? If so, do you have a particular brand of CO2 dispenser that you prefer? What else am I going to need for this? How often do you guys and gals have to trim the plants? Did you buy your plants at the LFS or did you buy a package on-line?
Give me any tips you can and feel free to post pics of your tanks! I really DO love looking at them!

Hello,

Everyone with me started from nothing, i had bought many plant's then dead and wasting my money,

So, i read and read and read, still read, looking for everything new and more beauty.

To run a planted tank you need NPK ferts plus CO2 system,

I used to DIY before, but i found it bored and not professional,

Then i've got Cylinder, and that's depend on your tank size. you decide the best,

Go on black sand it's really GREAT look much nicer 100%.... yes

Keep trying.... *((Don't Cry, Just Try))*

 

[fishie_bird]

Hi, i have what I call a "semi-planted" tank, LOL cause its not "fully planted" but it has A LOT of plants, i have an itsy bittsy pic in my sig, but i can post a bigger one if needed! and i dont even have a co2 i just add fertilizer, but most of the plants are anchiarious (sp) but.....

 

[zig]

A good place to start is to read the pinned topics and decide what type of tank you want, high or low lighting, high or low maintainence, try and decide what you want out of the tank and take it from there, also your budget will play a not inconsiderable role in any decisions you make, it can be expensive if you go all high tech. Anyway start of with the lighting article as thats the most important aspect initially.

 

[WendyinWichita]

I agree with Zig- sort out your lighting first. I have several tanks, 55 gal to 10 gal and all of them are fully planted. Since my tanks are in different rooms, I am using DIY on all of them. The 2 55's and a 45 have 2 two liter bottles on them, plumbed into the canister filter. The smaller tanks (29, 20, and 10 gals.) use one 2 liter. I swap one of the two two liters each week and ust the week old one on the 10 gal.

I do 30% or so water change on all tanks weekly and trim as necessary at that time. The reason all of my tanks are planted is because it was too hard to trash the clippings. I have no choice now but to toss the clippings.

I don't add fertilizers, I found that when I added I got more algae. I have well water and it is high in Iron etc (I have added nitrate occasionally, I do test) That is my situation however, I live in Kansas and my property is surrounded by tilled land and fertilizer is added frequently around me. Might hurt me I suppose, but the water tastes great and my plants do great.

Lucky you, living in Florida. You should have no problem being able to find great plants and fish at your LFS. I buy mine at the LFS, or onlline here from other members.

Rummynose would be great. I have a school of 13 in a 55 with a breeding pair of Angels and they make a nice mix.

Good luck and keep us up on what you do!