New to plants. Could I have live plants?

[stegoodall]

Hi
i have never had any live plants and am relatively new to fishkeeping. I have a 30G (36"x15"x18"h) with a sand substrate. It has one 18W light. I am planning on upgrading my lights, possibly to interpet power compact t5's. I would like to keep live plants but i'm not sure of a few things:

1) If the substrate is OK to grow plants
2) Do I need more light, if so how many watts overall
3) Do i need CO2?

I appreciate any help

Stephen

 

[IovaykInD]

1) Sand is a good substrate for plants, but would be a little harder to use fertilizers if your certain plant needs ferts from the roots.

2) Yes, you need more light. Preferably 2-3wpg, meaning you would need 60-90 watts of light.

3) CO2 is only needed if you have more than 3wpg, but would help a bit even with 2-3wpg of light.

Isaac

 

[stegoodall]

Thanks Isaac,
I have seen some fertilisers which you hang in the tank, sort of like tea bags. Don't know if they work or not though. I was considering either a twin 36w or twin 55w light setup so that will be 2.4 WPG or 3.6 WPG. Are these OK. If I need CO2 anyway then i may aswell get more light, right? or not?

Is DIY CO2 reliable?

Stephen

 

[zig]

Have a look at gf225s pinned article on lighting at the top of this section of the forum, it will probably give you a better idea about light levels, if you go with 2.4 or 3.6 WPG you will definatly need co2 IMO, you would also want to be on top of your fertiliseing routine at these levels also, if you went a bit lower on the light you may get away without co2, but co2 will help at any light level, it just really depends on how much maintainence you want to do and what sort of plants you want to grow.

3.6 WPG would be considered a highlight tank, but things can go quickly south at those levels if you dont stay on top of things, but if you did your homework and were prepared for things it would be a nice level of light.

2.4 WPG is also a nice level of light and should enable you to grow pretty much anything it will just be a bit slower than light at 3.6 WPG.

Also if you were considering 3.6 WPG running T5s i would probably consider 2 independent ballasts to be able to run each light individually rather than a twin ballast which would only enable you to run both lights together.

But have a look at gfs article.

Good luck with it.

 

[stegoodall]

Thanks
I'll probably go for the 2.4WPG. I'll read more about the DIY co2 systems and look at commercial systems. I'll check out gf225s article aswell.
Stephen