New Planted 55 Gallon

[StingrayKid]

Okay, you might have heard a lot about my future 55 gallon tank, but I want to heavily plant the tank with tons of different plants and rocks. I'm probably going to use a fine substrate, allmost sand, but easier to clean and manage. Anyways, my LFS has a few very large swords and other plants in stock. I've seen some really cool tanks that have TONS of plants in them, and I kind of want to do that too. Could someone tell me how I should approach putting lots of plants in like that? I've also found that plants can really turn your water green, how do I prevent that? I'm really new with planted tanks so, I could use some help. Any other ideas or help is really needed.

 

[clutterydrawer]

Okay, you might have heard a lot about my future 55 gallon tank, but I want to heavily plant the tank with tons of different plants and rocks. I'm probably going to use a fine substrate, allmost sand, but easier to clean and manage. Anyways, my LFS has a few very large swords and other plants in stock. I've seen some really cool tanks that have TONS of plants in them, and I kind of want to do that too. Could someone tell me how I should approach putting lots of plants in like that? I've also found that plants can really turn your water green, how do I prevent that? I'm really new with planted tanks so, I could use some help. Any other ideas or help is really needed.

Get a lot of plants. Plant them in your substrate.

I don't think I understand the question. sorry

Are you sure that it was plants that turned your water green? I have never had such a thing happen

 

[StingrayKid]

It happened to my friend. I think it was algae on the plants though. He didn't wash em' before he put them in his tank. My main question wasn't posted before, but here it is: How much lighting will a tank with swords, maybe some java moss and other leafy plants need? If I left the aquarium light on most of the time would that be okay? Like I said, I'm new to planted tanks!

 

[clutterydrawer]

I get it now. The trick isn't leaving it on longer, but having the right "strength" of light. you should elave the light on twelve hours per day to give to plants a "day" and "night", whihc might not sound important, but it is to a plant. trust me.

If you are wanting a really nice heavily planted tnak I would recommend 3-4 watts per gallon. So, in your case, 165 - 210 watts. If you are literally only going to have java ferns and swords then this isn't so critical - java ferns can survive in 1wpg and I have swrds surviving in that amount too, although they would prefer more.

However if you are wanting other plants you need to check out their light requirements - some, especially red ones, need the 3+ wpg that I mentioned earlier. If you have a look on www.tropica.com you can look up individual species to see what their requirements are.

Other things you might wanna think about: fertiliser. Plants need food too! And CO2. I dont think think is essential as such but it is definitely beneficial especially in tanks with high light.

I think your friend would have got algae in his tnak whether he had put those plants in or not...cos algae will grow just in a jar if you leave it in some light. If you have algae problems you could jsut try getting an algae-eating fish. Although hopefully all these plants will out-compete the algae for nutrients so there won't be a problem

k I've written laods...I hope some of it's useful

 

[StingrayKid]

Yes, it was very useful! This is what I'm going to do: I'm going to buy Extra large swords and lots of driftwood and such. I'll put a lot of wood in there, and then add the big old swords, and maybe some Java Moss. Thanks for the help!

 

[clutterydrawer]

Sweet. you might wanna get some root tabs for thoe swords cos they feed from their roots.

 

[dan dan the fish man]

if u add latarite to your substrate this will help your plants (mainly your rooting plants thrive) also keeping in cheek all your Fe and nitrate and phosphate levels my tank is heavily planted and it will use all the nitrate in 1 day so i must replenish it daily i also add a daily fertilizer i don't have any trouble growing my tiger lily with my 2.8w p g and its a redey-purpley plant ,all seem to grow well ,but take a look at a tank you like the most and try to copy it adding your own thoughts to it as you go alone thats what i have done