New Planted tank

[mark2513uk]

I am going to set up a 65gal(U.K) tank soon and am looking to make this a planted
tank.What i need help with is do i need to use a UGF? also any other suggestions on what substrate to use and any other general tips to help me on my way.

 

[Silly me]

a UGF might not be a good idea, as it will suck all the nutrience you add to the roots out off the gravel and push them into the water, causing green water, not green plants, but you could get some plants that doesnt need to be rooted ( like Java fern, Ricca ) these plant wouldn't mind the UGF

in general UGF is old tech.??

UGF does make water clear but you can't add anything the the substrate

 

[Tednol]

65 gal!!!! thats more than 4x bigger than my 15gal!!!
How do you maintain such a beast.
i have trouble with two 15's

 

[clutterydrawer]

You don't need a UGF. I will not go on a UGF rant but i will say that I've heard plants don't enjoy the constant strong water movement past their roots.

As far as substrate goes...a lot of people just use plain gravel but you'd probably get ebtter results using a substrate designed for plants like laterite or summat. Also...make sure you have enough light! My main frustration with my tank is not having sufficient light to grow healthy plants.

 

[mark2513uk]

65 gal!!!! thats more than 4x bigger than my 15gal!!!
How do you maintain such a beast.
i have trouble with two 15's

It's not set up yet, but when it was it looked after itself except for the bi-weekly water change,but then again it didn't have many plants so i'm looking forward to the challenge this time around

 

[mark2513uk]

Also...make sure you have enough light! My main frustration with my tank is not having sufficient light to grow healthy plants.

Hopefully i have enough light, i have approx 2 wpg plus i'm hoping a co2
unit will help.

 

[clutterydrawer]

65 gal!!!! thats more than 4x bigger than my 15gal!!!
How do you maintain such a beast.
i have trouble with two 15's

Why do two 15s give you such trouble?

larger tanks are generally more stable so apart from the effort of carrying more buckets of water I can't imagine they'd take _that_ much time....there are people here with tanks that are 100+ gallons....*drools enviously*