Plants?

[bubble87]

im starting up my new juwel rio 240.i just have a few questions about real plants.i have never kept them before.can i keep live plants under the juwel lights you get in the unit?? if so which plants can i keep??
if i can have plants how do i care for them? do i feed them??

 

[Tizer]

Loads of information in the planted forums where you can ask these questions. Far more likely to get an educated reply.

I have the same tank, so yes, the lights should be ok, check them, they will give you a wattage which will be beneficial to know.

Start off with hardy plants, like Java Ferns and Crypts and you will be fine. Again, lots more info in planted forum and some useful sticky threads with beginner info.

 

[spectrum]

The lights in a Rio 240 should be fine for a low tech planted tank, you could add some sort of cheap CO2 which would increase the range of plants you could have, having a planted tank isn't so hard so don't be put off by some of the expensive gear you see, good luck with it

 

[RadaR]

Lots of light, more than enough.
For a beginner I would avoid CO2 and liquid carbon. Things get more trickey when you supply the plants with lots of carbon. You have to dose more nutrients and you have to perform more/larger water changes in order to take out the increased amount of metabollic waste that the fast growing plants are producing.

Keep the lights on for 7-8hours a day.
Get lots of beginner plants, 75% coverage.
Get some floating plants just to reduce the lighting a bit so ensure you don't need CO2. The more light the plants have, the more CO2 and nutrients they need. (More light increases the plants metabolism).
Water changes per week after the lights have gone off for the day. Alternatively you could do small water changes every other day. Up to you.
The fish should provide all the nutrients needed. If you find that they dont, then Tropica Plant Nutrition+ is a good all in one fert.