Thinking about a Planted Tank...

[StingrayKid]

I'm getting a 55g soon for my birthday and I really want to plant the tank with lots of plants. My Ropefish will be going in here so, I need to build a few caves for her. I'm thinking of using sand and making the caves out of rocks (I'll most likely do this). As for the plants, I need some help.
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- First off, I've had problems in the past with plants dying all the time in my 30g. The light was on all day and turned off at about 9pm. The plants would continue to die or fall apart. I know I'm doing something wrong here, but I'm not sure what. Any suggestions how to prevent the deaths of plants?
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-Second, how do you go about cleaning a heavily planted tank? Do you uproot all your plants and vacum the gravel? That seems like a real hassle to me. As for the cleaning of the rest of the tank, I have a general idea of what to do.(scrubbing, washing, etc.) I heard you have to prune plants in these kind of tanks. How do you properly accomplish this?
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-Third, Is there any special equiptment I need, besides a good filtration system and good lighting? (Any suggestions on a good filtration unit?) Also, is their special light bulbs you need for this kind of tank? Or will the bulbs that come with the hood be sufficient?
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Thanks for any help givin, and to anyone who read through my long post!

 

[Rose]

Hi ya. It'll be much easier on both of us if I just give you a link that has a bunch of links (The links have everything you need to know about a planted tank). Read as much as you can and then read more. A planted tank is a simple thing but it can get complicated. After you have read these links holler and we'll answer any questions you have left.

Everything you need to know about a Planted tank starts here.

Rose

 

[Gunnie]

Here's a couple more good links:

Setting up your first planted tank

Plantguide

 

[Yenko]

Plants are fairly picky about just what they have their roots in. If there's too much water circulation (Even fine gravel is too much), there will be oxygen around the roots, which kills the plant. If you go to the extreme and put soil in (which I did ) there's a danger of hydrogen sulfide poisoning. Hydrogen sulfide is a toxic gas (rotten egg smell) that kills plant roots and fish.

But, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Plants have evolved to deal with the hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and form what is called a rhizosphere around their roots. It is a layer of bacteria that break down the H2S, protecting the plant.

But what about the fish? Although the Hydrogen Sulfide is quite harmful to fish (Labored breathing, red gills and a rotten egg smell from the aquarium are symptoms of poisoning), there is a solution. H2S is broken down by oxygen-loving bacteria, quite easily. If you have fine gravel atop your soil, then most of the H2S that does percolate out will be dealt with by these bacteria. Good water circulation is critical; these bacteria will happily colonize your filter and coexist with the other bacteria.

If you have sand, like me, set up your filter intake about 4" off the sand. Tanks with powerful filters, extremely fine sand or fish that like to stir up sand should probably have it higher; sand isn't good for impellers. You can also stir up your sand, causing trapped H2S to bubble harmlessly to the surface.

Plants also have a very, very important function for a busy fish owner, like me. Contrary to popular belief, there is very little maintenance required for a planted aquarium, and any problems the plants add will be offset by the improvement in water quality, and a drop in the frequency of water changes.

That being said, I haven't done a water change on my 32 gallon in 3 months, my fish are happy and healthy, and nitrates are around 20-30 ppm. If you decide to go for that option, buy a nitrATE test. Not ammonia, not nitrITE, nitrATE. Nitrates are the final product of a biological filter, and must be removed by water changes.

Plants happily absorb nitrites and ammonia, but the main concern is nitrite removal; the ammonia will be taken care of by a filter.