Planted tank beginner

[superman1]

Hello,

I am in the process of starting my tank (currently empty) but I want to know before I start if what I have will be suitable for plants. I have a trigon 190 and I have play sand as a substrate and lots of bog wood. I live in a hard water area with a PH of around 7.8.
I want to know what sort of plants I can have and if I need any specialist equipment. The lights are t8 lights and I have 2 tubes. one is a power glo t8 light and the other is a aqua glo t8 light.

I brought some root tabs off ebay. Is what I have so far suitable for aquatic plants.

Thanks in advance

 

[Colin_T]

what are the tank dimensions (length x width x height)?

how many watts are the light globes?

how thick is the sand?

what are the root tabs called or what is in them?

 

[superman1]

The tank is a corner tank. Aquarium size: 99 x 70 x 60cm / 39" x 27.6" x 23.6" (L x D x H)
the lights are 20w each. sand is not in the tank yet but I was thinking maybe about an inch.

the root tabs contain the following
17% nitrogen (N)
9% phosphorous pentoxide (P2O5)
11% Potassium oxide (K2O)
2% Magnesium oxide (MgO)
0.01% Boron (B) 0.006% soluble in water
0.025% Copper (Cu) 0.017% soluble in water ** see note below **
0.22% Iron (Fe) of which soluble in water , chelated by EDTA 0.033%
0.03% Manganese
0.01% Molybdenum 0.008% soluble in water
0.008% Zinc

 

[Byron]

The light is T8, so the tubes that fit will be one wattage (I have T8 over all my tanks). The better tubes for plants and colour rendition would be the Life-Glo as one with either a second Life-Glo or a Sun-Glo as the second. Given the shape of this tank, if I were choosing the lighting I would go with two Life-Glo tubes. This is without question the best planted tank lighting available to you in T8.

The root tabs...what brand? If these tabs are not made specifically for aquariums, do not buy them or use them. They will add to algae issues. Seachem's Flourish Tabs are excellent (I've been using them for 11 years now and they are well worth it for larger plants like swords).

Play Sand is ideal; I have this in all my tanks now. Plants do well in it, and some fish (cories, loaches) need it.

 

[superman1]

The lights are Power glo and aqua glo. I don't know the brand of the root tabs but they are from an ebay seller who sells the root tables specifically for aquariums and said its safe for fishes.

 

[Byron]

The lights are Power glo and aqua glo. I don't know the brand of the root tabs but they are from an ebay seller who sells the root tables specifically for aquariums and said its safe for fishes.

Without knowing the brand, I cannot recommend them. And I would not use them until you sort out just what they are intended for.

On the lighting, I saw this but the Life-Glo is a better tube. Hagen make this series of "Glo" tubes in T8, and the Life-Glo is the best.

 

[Colin_T]

I wouldn't use the plant fertiliser because it's loaded with phosphorus and that will cause algae problems. It has a heap of potassium too and aquatic plants don't use much if any of that.

--------------------------
20 watt light globes are not going to be sufficient to penetrate 2ft of water. You would be better off using a couple of 150watt LED or metal halide spotlights and hanging them above the tank.

I had a planted tank that was 4ft long x 2ft wide x 2 ft high and I had 6 x T8 fluorescent globes on it. Each globe was 36 watts, so the tank had a total of 216 watts of fluorescent light. Lights were on for 14 hours a day.

A friend of mine had the same size tank and he had 2 x 150 watt metal halide lights above it, and his plants did way better than mine. He had lights on for 10 hours a day.

You have 2 x 20 watt globes, you will be able to grow some floating plants but nothing else.