Plant Newbie Questions?

[Jonno]

Hi there,

Some of the tanks you guys have got are amazing, and i want mine to be the same

Just wondering:

a. How do you plant your plants into the substrate? Do you do it so it takes root?
b. All of your tanks look so green is this down to CO2 systems?
c. If i was to consider a CO2 system, i wouldn't really be after a DIY one (not a diy kinda guy - are there any decent kits on the market and how much are they generally?

Thanks

Jonno.

 

[mlawson]

Hello,

A/Most plants are simply planted into the substrate making sure all the roots are covered, this applies to stem plants and carpeting plants as well as most others After a while the plants roots should grow and will anchor itself into the substrate if conditions are good. Other plants such as anubias and Javafern require attatchment to a suitable peice of bogwood or rock, most people attatch the rhizome (thick main root system) onto the rock/wood using cotton thread or fishing line, so the roots attatch to the wood on their own and you can remove the thread.

B/ Well, this is down to a lot of factors including CO2, lighting, fertilisers and substates. There are many different methods for growing plants, look on some of the pinned topics for some ideas.

C/ A lot of people (including myself) have had some success using the fermantation system such as the Nutrafin CO2 system, these supply CO2 through yeats fermantation, while they only produce a relatively small amount of CO2 they are ideal for smaller tanks and are inexpensive. The more expensive route is pressurised CO2, these are a lot more expensive, and provide CO2 from the gas in the containers, some advantages of these is that they are good at maintaining a consistent flow of CO2 and can be turned off at night.

CO2 is not the most important factor to consider, you may not need CO2 if you have low lighting.

Cheers,
Mike

 

[Jonno]

what do you mean low lighting?

my new tank has T5 high-lite lighting that's all i know?

FYI my tank is a juwell trigon 190.

 

[Jonno]

Any idea?

 

[DevUK]

Low light generally refers to the ammount of watts your lights give out. on a trigon 190 I suspect they are probably 30w tubes and that there is probably 2 of them, giving a total of 60w. From this total you can work out the watts per gallon (WPG).

WPG = Total Watts/Gallons(US). So, your tank is about 50 USgal, the calulation on the (assumed) wattage is: 60/50= ~0.8wpg.

This would be considered low light. On larger tanks, a figure of about 1.5 - 2wpg is desirable but people have far higher (3wpg or more) for so called "Hi-Tech" tanks (its different for smaller tanks, higher WPG is desired).

You have to strike a balance though. Light, nutrients and CO2 (or other carbon sources) need to be balanced in order to avoid the dreaded algae hell that gets a lot of us! If you increase lighting, you need to increase the others and maintain that balance. Algae will jump at any imbalance as it can react to changes far quicker than plants can.

Hope this makes sense!

 

[Jonno]

right so what would be recommended if i wanted to heavily plant my tank? i love tropical plants so this is something i could happily get into

would i need to upgrade the lighting and add some sort of co2 system?

is there any factsheet/FAQ anywhere on all of this?

 

[nry]

The tank is 50 US gallons (190 litres) with 2x28watt T5 tubes so you have a shade over 1wpg. This is not too bad but certainly is low light. CO2 is not essential at this light level, a decent substrate is not a bad idea, but you need to consider your plant choice carefully. Many will grow but those preferring lower light levels will do the best - superb results can be gained at low or high light levels as many on this forum show in the Journal section. If you have no reflectors for the lights then this is certainly something that will help you get the most from what you have.

'High Light' is generally considered when you reach 2 watts per gallon or usually above.

 

[Jonno]

Sorry, forgot to add - i bought reflectors at the weekend - will this effect my WPG?

 

[DevUK]

It will mean more light goes into the water, but won't affect "WPG". It should be said that WPG is still a general guide as apose to a strict rule. With lower light you can still grow a lot of cool stuff, but you have to bare in mind they will grow slower.

 

[Jonno]

hmmm i'm slightly confused

so you are saying for CO2 to be effective i'd need to upgrade the lighting to something over 2wpg?

sorry, i'm just trying to understand!

 

[SuperColey1]

What they're trying to explain is that there are several different methods to suit your desired result.

If you just want plants and don't want to be pruning every week then you want the plants to grow slower therefore you would go for a Non CO2 lowlight tank.

If you want it to grow fast and be scaping all the time then you would go for a CO2 highlight tank.

Its not the CO2 that demands highlight.

CO2 will work in any light but is not necessary.
When you put high lighting in your tank then you are speeding up the growth rate of the plants which means that you need to add CO2 and fertilisers as the plants uptake of nutrient is greatly increased.

You can heavily plant a low light or high light tank. The only difference is the growth rate.

Take a look at barrreport.com for some different methodsd of dosing and lighting etc.

andy

 

[Underwurlde]

Yep.

More light => more carbon needed to now grow faster => want more ferts to eat.
No need for the extra CO2 if there is not enough light to stimulate growth in the first place.

Sing along now: We're in the middle of a chain reaction...

Andy

 

[Jonno]

Thanks for the replies - i think i understand now

Is it as simple as buying more powerful tubes to increase the WPG - or will a DIY job be required?

 

[garuf]

Thanks for the replies - i think i understand now

Is it as simple as buying more powerful tubes to increase the WPG - or will a DIY job be required?

do you know what your tubes actually are? if they're t5's then you'll find they're quite good anyway.
unfortunately you cant up the wattage of the tube like you would with a ordinary bulb you have to up the starter as well.
edit,
read nry's comments more fully and realised we know your wpg, the easiest way to up lighting would be to add more tubes either more of the same or maybe a pair of power compacts or something similar otherwise you could use an arcadia I bar or luminair.

 

[Underwurlde]

Not all lighting is created equal:
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=96754
http/woo.gotdns.com/Aquarium/Lighting.htm
http/users.frii.com/gbooth/AquaticConcep...FM_Lighting.htm