New To Aquarium Plants

[eaglesaquarium]

Anyone have thoughts on the moss balls? Do they need to be turned, or do they move about on their own (with the help of some fish)?



The fluorite arrived yesterday. How deep does the substrate need to be for the plants roots? 2inches, or closer to 3 or 4? Does it work to have a "tiered" substrate? I was thinking of planting heavily in one corner and along the back wall, but not really going all the way across the back of the tank. I was thinking of having a higher tier (maybe 4-6 inches) and sloping down to about 1-2 inches of sand in the front area. Does that sound feasible? Will it work with the plants? Sorry if these questions are too "newbie". I can't help it... I'm a newbie!

 

[CrazyAirborne]

you can have your substrate multiple depths, varying across your tank. it looks alot better this way and gives texture. if u worry about your substrate being too deep and trapping bad gasses, look into getting some MTS to keep your sand aerated.

i still think 18 watts over 56 gallons might be darker than you want, just for viewing the fish! let along the plants growing.

good luck and keep us posted.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Yeah, I was worried about that at first too, but with the tank empty, the light looks plenty bright for viewing fish! I think that because of the lack of light, that I will stick with a light colored sand, although I was seriously considering black sand for a while, before I knew about the lighting. I might need to upgrade that light eventually. It should be easy to do, as the light currently just rests on the top of the glass lid. I could just add another light fixture (that is the right width) if I find that I need it.

I will most definitely get everyone updated. This forum has provided me with much appreciated knowledge. Granted, I still don't have fish yet, but I am becoming an expert in cycling!

I'm not too worried about gases building up. I figure the roots of the plants will help to take care of this. The unplanted areas should have very thin substrate by comparison, no more than 1.5 inches. The deeper sections will have some sort of rooted plant to allow for aeration.


Thanks for the encouragement.

 

[StandbySetting]

Even if gasses do build up they're nothing to worry about, Hydrogen Sulphide can build but it is instantly oxidized on contact with oxygenated water:

2H[sub]2[/sub]S + 3O[sub]2[/sub] > 2SO[sub]2[/sub] + 2H[sub]2[/sub]O

 

[eaglesaquarium]

That's what I've read. When I first heard about the gases building it concerned me, but recently it doesn't. If they escape they will use up oxygen nearby, but that shouldn't be too big an issue ultimately. Thanks.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

welcome to the dark side eagles, you will be fine to drain the tank and scape. Plant it up, and i would recommend 1-2 day 20% water change for a couple of weeks until the plants start to get used to their new surrounding. This is where a few people slip up, they will plant and then leave it. You will get some 'melt' die back from certain types of plant. The water changes help to rid you of excess ammonia and gives you chance to trim the effected leaves.

you'll also struggle to find a planted tank keeper who owns a test kit as well.

ianho,


I keep coming back to the highlighted section. I don't understand. I just don't get it. Seemingly, a planted tank would have MORE things that need to be tested than an unplanted tank. With that said, how can a planted tank keep NOT own a test kit? Don't you have to watch your lighting, CO2, phosphates, nitrates, and a zillion other trace minerals that the plants need to survive, as well as keeping an eye on ammonia and nitrite from time to time, just to ensure that you don't go through a mini-cycle?


I just don't get it... help would be appreciated.

 

[ian]

why would we want a test kit? Maybe a bit of Ph regent and thats about it. Nitrate test kits remain the most un-accurate things in the world! We dose things that may contain ammonium, which in turn would register on a test kit. The plants actually tell us more about whats happening in our aquariums than any test kit. If you spot a kind of algae, we now if it's related to N or P or lack of it. Nitrate isn't as dangerous as many think/thought. Phosphate is another thing that you need a lot of to cause you any problems. Test kit are just not needed in a planted tank. When i say planted tank, i mean 70% of substrate covered by plants.

Have you read about silent cycles?

Have a read of this

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/299827-why-we-should-not-fishless-cycle-planted-tanks/

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Yeah, I had read that before. I guess what I didn't realize was that you were mentioning that planted tanks are 70% of the substrate. I'm not going to have near that much planted. Maybe I'll have 25%-30% planted. I am going to have one corner heavily planted, fairly heavily planted along the back of the tank, and a few mixed in around the mid and foreground. I may expand that as time goes on, but to start I don't want to go too crazy with plants.


I suppose your reasoning makes perfect sense. As a gardener, I can determine what is going on with my vegetables based on what I see with the plants themselves. For example, when the tomatoes are rotting on the bottom of the fruit, it is caused by calcium deficiency, etc. Thanks for explaining it.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

As you can see from my sig now, the tank is becoming a bit more decorated. No longer a bare tank... I've added fluorite in the back and right of the tank (you can see some of it poking out in the sig pic. Then I added play sand over the rest of the tank. The next step was larger rocks added to the right and slightly to the left, and then finally I added a few "caves" made from some slate I had. (I had to break them up into smaller bits to get the look I wanted.)


I suppose the next step is specifically to determine where the plants are going to go... The question is what goes where?

 

[StandbySetting]

From those images, if it were me I'd lower the wood a little, so that it is in a similar position, but is at more of a 45[sup]o[/sup] angle, then I'd rest the stones against it, to the wood I'd grow moss on the bit that sticks out proud, and then Microsorum pteropus on the main part of it, maybe some Anubias also, I'd then use crypts and other plants around the surrounding areas to blend the transition of substrate to taller plants.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Yeah, java fern was something that I was planning to add.

I thinking of switching the wood to go more into the right corner... And I'm thinking of adding a second layer of rock to the right side, and having the wood rest on top of that.

Thanks SBS!

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Just added some plants - 2 anubias, which you can see on the driftwood. 2 amazon swords that you can see to the left. Obviously I need to add more, but I want to see how these go before adding more. If these do alright for about a week, I will look to add some more.


Any suggestions for how long to keep the light on?

Just a reminder: It's a T8, 18W daylight bulb. I am going to leave the light on for about an hour or two tonight, but how long tomorrow?

 

[ian]

is it still cycling with ammonia? If so 3-4 hours of light will be plenty. If not and cycled, then start with 4-6 hours until the plants get used to their new environment. Don't be surprised if the swords start to brown off and get brown leaves, if they do, just trim them right down at the crown of the plant, you'll soon get more growth.

Here comes the fun bit, messing about with plants...

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Yes, it is still cycling with ammonia. So I will go with 3 hours. The cycle is still on going, but is winding down now.


Thanks.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I'm thinking of adding some anacharis. Is that possible in this low light? Would I need to use it only as a floating plant, rather than planting it in the substrate?


My brother grows some in his ADF tank, and he doesn't even have a light over the tank... Any thoughts?