New To This

[karawr]

Hello all. I have a 20G which is fully cycled (have yet to add fish) but I want to add in some plants first!! Being completely new, I want low-tech. Oh and I have sand substrate.

The bulb I have is a 15W 120V T8; 8,000k full spectrum. Do I need Seachem Flourish or Flourish Excel?

Is there anything else I need to have?

Thanks!!

 

[karawr]

Bump.

I am thinking of:

- Cryptocoryne nevillii or parva
- Weeping Moss or Pearl Moss
- Narrow Leaf Java Fern
- Anubias Barteri Petite or anubias nana
- Dwarf Sagittaria
- amazon sword

Are these good plants for low tech/beginner?

 

[hensonc4098]

They sound pretty good You shouldn't need to dose fertilisers if you don't want to with those kinds of plants, providing you are doing fairly regular water changes etc, they should be able to get enough to grow without. The only thing you'll have to watch is with the sags and swords that they have enough iron. Signs of deficiency will be pale looking leaves, and if this shows up then you will probably need to dose some sort of ferts. Meanwhile though, try them without and if any of the plants are looking pale and not growing much, that's your sign that they could need ferts

 

[karawr]

Okay are ferts just the normal Seachem Flourish? I don't mind adding flourish if this will help with growth.
My friend is saying I *have* to add seachem excel though, but I don't think that's correct. Isn't that liquid CO2? And Co2 isn't always necessary... but what do I know. That's why I'm double checking here!

But I will try without and see how it goes!!

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Yeah I'd start without ferts and CO2 as those plants don't really need it, depending in how densely you plant you might be better off using some in the future but a good thing about low tech is you can't really get a disaster so there is always room for adjusting if needs be.

 

[karawr]

Okay I will keep an I on it.

Now, I don't know how much I need to buy. I have a 20g tank but I'm not looking at making it heavily planted. Just a few here and there.

I am looking at:
- Narrow Leaf Java Fern (1 bunch or apprx 20 leaves) - for back corner
- Anubias Barteri Petite (1 rhizome or apprx 15 leaves) - covering some driftwood
- Weeping Moss (1 portion 2"x2") - covering some driftwood and a little bit for small carpet
- Crytocoryne nevillii (2 pots) - something different
- Dwarf Sag (can't find on ebay??)

That is what they're being sold as. I don't know how much I need of each. I think maybe everything is good except the moss, I might need to buy a couple of those??

Also if anyone can link to Canadian sites that would be great...