Newly Planted Tank Advice

[darryl864]

New Planted Tank

This is my first tank ever and I have dived straight in by wanting to do a planted tank. I want to create a very natural looking tank but may have overdone it. Have a look.

The tank is a 30 L Arcadia Classica Aquacurve which measures H 39 D 34 L 36 (cm). I have used Tetra Plant Complete Substrate 2.8kg and two 2.5 Kg bags of Roman gravel. You can see more details on my [topic="237855"]Beginner Small Tank Diary[/topic] which is worth a look. The light is quite small and is a very thin 8W Natural daylight tube also by Arcadia.

As a beginner I tried to do research into what plants to get and then armed with my short-list of desired plants I headed off to the LFS to see what they have. However when I get there most of the plants were not labelled so I just picked some based on how they look. Also there was an offer of 5 for £7.50 so I just picked 5. I then also went out and got the small foreground plant from a different shop which was labelled but I don't have it to hand. I have also inserted some of this into a crevice in the wood as I have seen this on other posts but have no idea if it will grow there. I have also got some fertiliser liquid made by Tetra but again the exact name is not to hand.

So there you go, any advice and any identification of the plants would be welcomed.

 

[chesterscot]

not sure as i might as well be blind lol but i think the tall ribbony lookin one might be vallis but dont quote me serch vallis and check it out yourself good luck
scot

 

[darryl864]

OK I'll get some better photo's tonight. I think your right about the long ribbon plants which was one that I liked the look of and was going to get whatever. However I am not bothering with CO[sub]2[/sub] is this a mistake?

I also feel that there may not be enough light but at the moment I'm not too sure what I can do about it. I just wanted to see what would happen.

Also when would be a good time to try and take a photo of the plants pearling?

Darryl

 

[Themuleous]

What are the tank specs? lighting, co2, ferts, etc.

Sam

 

[Thomas 2507]

I think one of my tanks is the same as that - they are nice tanks although I think the lights are rubbish. That reminds me that I need to get a new one...

Looks good for a first attempt. You'll be changing it several times yet, trust me. It always takes time to get it perfect if you're as fussy as me.

 

[darryl864]

What are the tank specs? lighting, co2, ferts, etc.

Sam

The tank comes fitted with a rather small 8W Arcadia Classica tube which is 12" (300mm) long and has a diameter of 26mm. Looking at the lid there doesn't seem to be a way to add another tube although the tank was advertised as having fitting for moonlight lights of some sort. Now having read other posts on lighting I am worried that the 8W tube may not be good enough. However I can't see what I can do about the situation at the moment so I will just have to see what happens.

I am using Tetra Plant PlantaMin Fertiliser and as per the instructions I have added 25ml (5ml per 10L) for a newly set-up aquarium.

I am not using any CO[sub]2[/sub] as yet and didn't plan to either.

 

[Themuleous]

Lack of light might be your biggest issue. 8w over a 30lt really isn't very much.

Sam