new tank

[bettaboi]

im starting a new tank and its gunna be a 20 gal long planted it has 19 watt light
could u guys give me a rundown on what i can and cant do thanks

 

[jimboliana]

bettaboi,

well done on getting a new tank, i think your a bit vauge on what you mean, i think you will need a bit more light if you want to grow plants. about 1-3 watts per litre is what you need, good filteration and maybe some CO2

Hope this helps

 

[StarOrbs]

Well I can tell you what I know at the moment anyway. You will need 2 Watts per gallon or above for medium lighting required plants. You will need 3 or above WPG for hight lighting plants. You also need to stay within the correct color spectrum, 5000K to 7100K. From what I have read it's good to vary the color spectrum. (make sure they are full spectrum)

Also it's not required to have nutrients in gravel but if you want your plants to grow well it's suggested. From what I've read there are a few ways to do this. Get Seachem Flourite, you would need 2 bags of it probally for your tank. You could also get laterite and layer it then put some type of sand or gravel on top of it. ( I didn't want to do it this way because with my luck I would screw of the layers). You could also get whatever gravel you want and put flourite tabs near the roots of your plants.

If you have over 2WPG it seems to be suggested to have CO2 because it's beneficial. Personally I feel the best way to do this is DIY and try and find the best way to get the CO2 levels right in your tank. Without fish in the tank would be best, they don't like major PH swings.

There are also things you can get such as Iron in a bottle but if you have laterite and/or seachem flourite you probally won't need it.

There are probally a few other things but I can't think of them at the moment.

 

[bettaboi]

ok thanks guys keep them comin and any i dea on what kind of community fish i can have that will gaet along and when im done putting plantsin my tank what is a good estimate on how much of the tank should be coverd with plants

thanks in advance