# First planted tank.....any help welcome.



## andyfish2000 (Sep 26, 2007)

Ok, so perhaps I loaded this post up with too many questions.:icon_redf 

I have been thinking of my situation and am thinking that maybe I will deepen the sand to a suitable level, and then plant in it. i could then scatter some pebbles around the plant to stop any digging.

So my reduced questions now are:

1. What low light plants will grow in sand?

2. What are the Fert Tabs that everyone talks about? Should I investy in them?

Of course, please feel free to answer any of the original questions as well. 

Andy


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## Cheesehead Cory (Mar 30, 2007)

andyfish2000 said:


> 1. What low light plants will grow in sand?


Any of them.



andyfish2000 said:


> 2. What are the Fert Tabs that everyone talks about? Should I investy in them?


Only if you want to. You can provide a fertile substrate by using tabs, or you can add fertilizer to the water column. Doing both would be most advantageous to your plants, but either will still grow plants fairly well. Doesn't sound like you have tons of light over your tank, so you shouldn't need a whole lot of ferts either way. Some people get by adding no fertilizers at all other than fish waste to their low light, low tech tank.



andyfish2000 said:


> Of course, please feel free to answer any of the original questions as well.
> Andy


1)Yes, you can replant your wisteria trimmings, in just about any kind of substrate you wish: sand, soil, or any of the prepared aquarium substrates. 

2)Not sure why a digging fish would leave potted substrate alone, but if that's how you want to do it, go for it.

3)As long as you're happy with the rate of growth your current bulbs are giving you, I'd run 'em till they burn out.

4)Probably, but I have no experience with Flourish Excel.

5)ALL plants consume Nitrates (N), as well as Potassium (K) and Phosphorus (P), plus micronutrients. Read up on these in the water parameters forum. Plant any way you want.

HTH


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## andyfish2000 (Sep 26, 2007)

Thanks CC for your response.

I have now changed the sand for a silica sand which is larger particles, and also added some vallis in the mix.

Can anyone help as to whether I should turn the air pump off, and also whether it would be worth adding a small DIY CO2 unit to assist the plants. I still intend to keep the light as is and only select low light plants. I guess I am thinking of the change to give a faster growth in the plants.

Would switching off the air pump cause me problems with teh fish???

Any help welcome.

Andy


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## gotcheaprice (Aug 29, 2007)

If you do CO2, take out the bubblers. I suggest taking out the bubblers anyways. And low light plants don't really need co2, but I think it'll help.


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

break the pot in half or 2/3, it will look a lot more natural 

just watch the fish. if they are gasping for air then CO2 is too much. but that isn't likely to happen with DIY CO2.


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## andyfish2000 (Sep 26, 2007)

:icon_lol: I have removed one of the pots and put the other one behind the wood so that it is not so obvious but still provides a cave. I never was happy with them!

I guess I am not so worried about having too much CO2, more about not having enough oxygen in the water. Whould that be a problem?

Thanks
Andy


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## Cheesehead Cory (Mar 30, 2007)

If you're not going to add CO2, the bubblers will do no harm. So keep them if you like them, and as long as you have some surface movement to assist gas exchange, remove them if you don't like them.

Did you ever find out the wattage of your lights? If it's just the standard aquarium bulb, I doubt you have enough light to get much reward from the extra work of DIY CO2.


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## Cloudy View (Oct 23, 2007)

> 3. I currently have PowerGlo and Marine White bulbs. They are over a year old now. Should I replace them, and what bulbs would be best?


If you were going to replace them, I wouldn't say it's because of the age, more the type of light. The Marine I think is an Actinic bulb which does very little for plant growth, and the Power Glo is an 18,000K non-full spectrum bulb. If you stay with the same style bulbs, there's another one call Life Glo or something like that that's a 6700K Full Spectrum bulb which would be waaay better for growing plants.


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## andyfish2000 (Sep 26, 2007)

Thanks for the replies guys.

OK, so I have 2 42"bulbs, of 38w and 40w, giving me approx 1.5wpg.

As for CO2, I have been informed that my Sajica may not be to keen if I raise the CO2 levels of the tank, but I welcome peoples views on this.

Andy


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## Homer_Simpson (May 10, 2007)

Others have really given you sound advise. If you had not already set up your tank, I would have recommended that you try Tom Barr's low tech non
c02 recommendation as outlined here:
http://www.barrreport.com/articles/433-non-co2-methods.html

The problem is that when you start introducing too many variables and messing with increased light intensity and duration and mixing high tech and low tech concepts such as the introduction of c02, messing with fert dosages, you may be creating a situation that may make it difficult to achieve a balance that will result in a beautiful algae free tank or will take much longer than it otherwise would.

If you are looking for a tank with minimal fuzz and least likely to have short term and long term algae issues, I say stick to the basics as per Tom Barr's method. Low tech means 1.5-2.0 watts/gallon, you can use excel as a carbon source instead of c02 injection, you don't need to fertilize a lot, depending on your fish load(weekly may be sufficient), and you will need to cut down on water changes to perhaps once every 3 weeks to a month or if you go weekly replace very small amounts(15-20%) as the fish waste will help fertilize the plants and it will be consumed as the plants absorb it for growth. You will be limited to mainly low light plants such as money wort, hygrophilia polysperma, Dwarf Subulata, java moss, java fern, anubias, tiger lotus, and egera densa(this one can be sensitive to the effects of Fluorish Excel). But sometimes, you can aquascape a tank that will look beautiful even with a limited selection of healthy low light plants.

Oh and one more thing, I would not go with 1-2" of sand on the bottom as you run the risk of pockets of hydrogen sulfide with a deeper layer of sand unless you poke around the sand with a coat hanger weekly, have corries or malaysian trumpet snails to aerate the substrate, or place a extra powerhead a few inches above the bottom to keep circulation going and prevent the problem.

Good Luck.


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## andyfish2000 (Sep 26, 2007)

Thanks HS for your post. That link was an excellent read.

This is how the tank looks at the moment:













I am pleased with it so far, but now know what direction I am going in. I am going to stay with my 2 x 40w T8 bulbs, and am currently using 1 power glo (more for a bright looking tank) and 1 aqua glo (more for the plants as reading past threads on this site seems to indicate it may work. The silica sand is staying, and I will make sure I have trumpet snails in there to help rotation and I will probably prod every so often.

My centre piece fish will remain as a pair of Sajica (Central American Cichlids) with various other barbs / tetras / livebearers etc. These should all provide a healthy amount of "ferts".

So far, my plants consist of:
2 x Anubias on Wood
2 x Java Fern on wood
2 x Crypt (beckettii and nevellii) which are both directly in teh sand and have tabs under them
Some Vallis
Some WaterSprite
and some Limnophila heterophylla (also with plant tab), although research seems to indcate that this may have high light requirements.

I will continue to dose Seachem Flourish Excel every other day or so.

I have also realised that I can remove myself from the Malawi tank mentality of 2 water changes a week, which suits me down to the ground. :thumbsup: 

Having read the link to the Tom Barrs post, I am also going to purchase some more plants to add to the tank as soon as. As I understand it, this will hopefully reduce the amount of algae that I will see.

So, as always - comments welcomed.

Andy


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## Homer_Simpson (May 10, 2007)

andyfish2000 said:


> Thanks HS for your post. That link was an excellent read.
> 
> This is how the tank looks at the moment:
> 
> ...


Absolutely beautiful. Great job!!


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## LordMaximo (Aug 31, 2007)

andyfish2000 said:


> Ok, so perhaps I loaded this post up with too many questions.:icon_redf
> 
> I have been thinking of my situation and am thinking that maybe I will deepen the sand to a suitable level, and then plant in it. i could then scatter some pebbles around the plant to stop any digging.
> 
> ...


Good day Andy, I see you live over in the UK.......I will be just as clear as I can be with no pun intended.......To answer your question #1.
I have found over the years it is a simple mater of what actually grows in your environment and makes for a good start in building a great planted tank.
pH is the key to your ecosystem. I would first take a water sample of a local water way or lake, body of water. Check out what is out in my environment first. Then I would go and draw some terf from the local pond and plants from there as well and place it all in a tank, with a circulation pump for a natural current. Then you will have your own eco tank with the available plants of your region. Once you have a handle on that and everything is growing at a normal rate, add some fish.
Good luck and happy hunting.......8>) Maximo


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