Plant Help

[Maru_07]

Hey, I'm completley new to all this so forgive my ignorance! I've got a 58L tank and wanted to add a few plants maybe 4 or 5, however i only have inert gravel substrate. I was wondering could I feed the plants with just a feed that is added to the water like Seachem Flourish or would I need to buy a special plant substrate? Also is a C02 system essential? I Dont want a heavily planted tank just a few real plants instead of plastic. Thanks for your help

 

[afroturf]

A special plant substrate and additional co2 will only be benificial. but like you say you only want a few plants so a standard liquid fertiliser will do fine.

 

[thefirethief]

Might be an idea to add root tabs to provide the roots with nutrients. Depends on what plants you have though, they might not need it.

 

[nicklfire]

best i can explain it is...

If you were only fed once a day... stayed in your home all day, didnt get proper lighting, and sat on a hard chain instead of a leather one...

you'd like would you be comfortable though and how long would you last lol

Wouldnt hurt to do a DIY co2, upgrade lighting a bit (depending on what you have now), and i guess the flourish would work, root tabs be good too.

 

[modaz]

yeah that CO2 a good idea , making one myself tomorrow

 

[Maru_07]

Thanks for your help ive decided to add Tetra Plant Complete Substrate under my gravel, does anyone use it? It seemed reasonable at £9.99 for 2.8kg! I'll also look into DIY co2. Cheers

 

[Themuleous]

That substrate gets good reviews from those who have used it.

What lighting do you have? I reckon for the time being leave the lighting alone and dont worry about Co2, you can have a perfectly good tank without them. Once you've got the plant substrate in, get a load of cheap plants from greenline (one of the collections would be idea, thats if you live in the UK) and see how it goes, that'll give you everything you need to get started and could easily have a nice looking tank. Worry about adding CO2 and more lighting later.

Sam

 

[SuperColey1]

Fill your profile in and we can see your tank stats

I have TetraComplete in the 30G which you can see in the avatar. nuff said. This was when I had very low light and 1 CO2 kit.

As a guide I used a 5.8Kg tub and you are right its a good price. sand on top in a 30G/125Ltr so your tub will be OK for about 60L.

andy

 

[vinylman]

I emptied my 4ft tank not long before Christmas and added two tubs of Tetra Complete. One large and one small cost me around £26 and it's probably the best money I've spent on my tank. Covered with my regular gravel and with no liquid fertilisers added, I've barely lost a leaf since. I added an Arcadia Luminaire (2x38w) a month ago and the growth has really taken off. Try the Tetra Substrate, it's really worth the money.