Starting A Planted Tank?

[snowflake311]

I have a 55 gal tank I want to use sand with a dash of pea gravel I will also have some fish. I have basic hood. I will have bogwood and rock work. What should I do when setting up a tank for plants. Do I need heat coils on the bottom? Should I use if any besides sand?

Pointers would be great.

 

[aaronnorth]

take a look at the pinned threads.

Heater cables are unecassary.

 

[AdAndrews]

my pointers would be, use good ferts= tropica plant nutrition+ and easylife easy carbo(carbon supplement)
have pressurized c02, depending on light levels, ie. low light levels no need, just use easy carbo

tropica planting substrate, capped with argos play sand

get plants like anubias, crypts, mosses, ferns, amazon swords.- easy plants, quite slow growing.- means easier to maintain

when you get plants remove old and damaged leaves and cut off most of the roots to give the plants a kick start

plant "dry" ie. no water, use tweezers and push plants into substrate- then fill carefully

use good quality plants, aqua essentials do tropica and aquafleur, generally the more expensive the better, however some aquafleur plants(cheeper than tropica) are better than tropica.

any other questions ask

 

[snowflake311]

my pointers would be, use good ferts= tropica plant nutrition+ and easylife easy carbo(carbon supplement)
have pressurized c02, depending on light levels, ie. low light levels no need, just use easy carbo

tropica planting substrate, capped with argos play sand

get plants like anubias, crypts, mosses, ferns, amazon swords.- easy plants, quite slow growing.- means easier to maintain

when you get plants remove old and damaged leaves and cut off most of the roots to give the plants a kick start

plant "dry" ie. no water, use tweezers and push plants into substrate- then fill carefully

use good quality plants, aqua essentials do tropica and aquafleur, generally the more expensive the better, however some aquafleur plants(cheeper than tropica) are better than tropica.

any other questions ask

Thanks