I'm New To Planted Tanks

[halfbloodprincess]

I need suggestions, advice, tips you name it! So I am starting out with the ten gallon I lowned to my friend but she gave it back since she got a bigger one for her fish (she started with a 1 gallon tsk tsk). Then I am moving on to my 29 gallons. First suggestions, advice, tips ect for the 10 gallon. Thanks for the help in advance!

 

[ICE CUBE]

i keep my big plants at the back and the small ones at the front but youl get more help on that sort of thing

 

[halfbloodprincess]

Thanks!



Tips, suggestions, what I will need to do, anything! Keep em comin!

 

[excaliborg]

Planted tanks look better natural in my opinion, therefore you'd have to steer clear of bright pink gravel and ornaments in there! First of all you'd be best starting out with some hardy, easy to grow, and easy to find plants and see how you do with them. Plants that are easily available that i've started out with are:

Anubis
Java Fern
Amazon Sword
Ambulia
Elodea

Take a look around planted aquarium websites to get an idea of the sort of aquascape you like the look of, you can then aim to make your own aquascape in a similar fashion, researching the different substrates, plants, rocks, wood etc as you go.

 

[dasmall1]

29 gallon tanks are easier to handle than 10 gallons if you plan on have a "hight tech" setup. If you plan on having just the basics, low light, no CO2, limited fertilizer, etc., it doesn't make too much of a difference. It's just more difficult to control the water parameters in a smaller tank and smaller tanks take more time and maintence. Doing your research is the best advice I can give anyone and don't buy anything until you have a detailed and (almost) fool-proof plan.

 

[n3ont3tra]

Try reading the pinned articles.

 

[halfbloodprincess]

Thanks everyone!

Can I have some tips from you guys from your past experiences in planted tanks?

 

[halfbloodprincess]

Advice wanted!!!

I have been doing research too! So what is everything that I will need? The 10 gal. is totally empty so... Please give me a list of what I will need, and the aproximate number of plants ect.

Thanks!!!

 

[ICEEGRL]

Hi. I can't tell you what you need, but I have learned this... Open questions get less answeres. If you tell them what you like and what you are thinking of doing, they will tell you if it will work and what changes might need to be made.
Pick what you think you will need and list it along with what plants you would like to get. Then they will tell you what is missing or wrong. You can get suggestions from there. Good luck and happy hunting!

 

[halfbloodprincess]

Thanks!
Well having never had a planted tank I have no idea! Well I will give it a try.
filter
heater
sand
1 Cabomba caroliniana
2 java ferns
1 amazon sword
I dont know any other plants. I know pathetic aint it.

 

[atmmachine816]

Are you still making your 10 gallon planted, if so what's your lighting, is it standard tube, if so are you going to upgrade?

 

[confusion]

I'm still figuring it all out too - great success in one tank, terrible failure in another...

Anyhow, the important things are:
Buying real aquatic plants
Keeping your CO2 around 30ppm
Fertilizing properly
Proper lighting for your plants

Then, you have to understand that there is a balance between the amount of light you provide and the amount of CO2 you must add.

Getting the lighting/CO2 ratio off will cause terrible algae. I can vouch for that. Beyond that as ICEGRL said, you need to ask specific about your set up.

 

[halfbloodprincess]

Ok so what is a good brand of fertilizer? What do u suggest for good beginer plants?

 

[n3ont3tra]

If your looking for plant ideas, try looking through the Members Planted Tanks Thread, and find some you like. Some of the members have lebeled them, others haven't, and you'll have to PM them, or ask around here. That's what I did. Another thing to do is look through the 'journals'. Then you'll know exactly how everything was done. Just hang out at this forum and you'll learn a lot, even if it isn't as active as Tropical Chit-Chat or other places.
Good luck,
Leah

 

[atmmachine816]

Before you look at plants you need to figure out how much you are willing to spend on your lighting and if you want ferts. You also need to be able to have the time for taking care of a tank if you go the high tech way. Go to plantgeek.net and they have plants under light requirements which will give you a good place to look at plants.