Just Some Good 'ol Questions

[K.J.]

Since my 10G is quite a bit overstocked, i'm trying to get my other 10g up and running, so I have some questions with planting:

Does it have to have co2...?
When cycling and dosing with ammonia, will this hurt or kill the plants or will it feed them?
What kind of lid and light bulbs should it have?
What kind of nutritional substrate? I can't find any at the chain stores, but methinks the petstore will order it for me.

Thanks!

 

[nry]

Since my 10G is quite a bit overstocked, i'm trying to get my other 10g up and running, so I have some questions with planting:

Does it have to have co2...?
When cycling and dosing with ammonia, will this hurt or kill the plants or will it feed them?
What kind of lid and light bulbs should it have?
What kind of nutritional substrate? I can't find any at the chain stores, but methinks the petstore will order it for me.

Thanks!

* CO2: Don't need CO2 but even in low light tanks it will have a positive affect on plant growth and health.
* Cycling/Ammonia: It won't harm the plants at low levels, they may even absorb some, if you have enough plants at the beginning then fishless cycling is often of no use as the plants will take in ammonia and nitrIte whilst the filter matures: if you have a tank already then you can seed the new filter with media from the old tank and pretty much remove the need to cycle completely.
* Lid/Lights are your choice. Move much beyond 1.5 > 2wpg and CO2 is probably essential for plant health and algae control. Either pick a tank with a hood/light setup already or consider some form of luminaire/pendant hanging over the top.
* Substrate is also your choice, but for first timers things Tetra and JBL both make decent stuff that goes under a layer of gravel/sand and work well. Other things like EcoComplete are a complete substrate choice so no need for additional gravel/sand etc. EcoComplete is also really drak grey/black and can look really good.

 

[K.J.]

Thanks!

Okay, so when you finish cycling but - for example - you need to order fish, if you keep on feeding the cycle bacteria, will the plants absorb all of it and then will it do a minicycle? Even though I doubt I'll have to order fish.. this tank is mostly for my paleatus

The substrate sounds good, what plants go good in that tank? In my other, I have wisteria, crypts, java ferns & moss, anubias, and ludwigia which will likely die. I kind of want to add some more plants.

So two watts per gallon is 20 watts, right? Hmm... should I use incandescent? Are they better than fluorescent?

And, after that, what do you think the entire cost of this should be? Minus the tank.

EDIT: Actually, nm. I can't do the second tank, but I can redo the 1st. But what should I do with the fish? Full grown, I'll have 17-ish inches of fish. Will they all die if I keep them like that? Sorry for going off topic, but I don't want to create another one.

 

[K.J.]

Bumped up... sorry for the spamming.

 

[ICEEGRL]

Incandescent does pretty much nothing for growing plants. fluorescent is much better.
As for the cycle... it is my understanding that a properly planted tank will not go through a cycle. It will never spike because the plants will use it before it can build up high enough to be considered a real spike.
I could be wrong though. Double check. I am still learning.