Newbie Question/Adding Plants to Established Tank

[FishApprentice]

Hey guys, never had a planted Aquarium before, the closest I have been to a planted tank is the Java Moss inside my 10 gallon.

Now my question is, could I just remove the plastic plants from my Aquarium and replace them with real plants from the LFS? The aquarium houses 4 female betta. I just plan on getting very hardy, low light plants. Would i need fertilizer or would the gravel I have in the tank now do? (The tank is around a year old, and vacuum the gravel weekly)

Any helpful suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[rich311k]

How much light and what size tank?

[Yoemen]

I can't reccommend specific plants, but it is definitely possible to grow plants in a very low light tank without CO2. You will need to be careful, and satisfied with slow growth, but it can definitely be done.

[Yoemen]

example #1 thanks to Plantbrain

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=119801

[FishApprentice]

10 gallon tank, with a, well, I'm not sure the wattage on the florescent light, its just a plain tube nothing special (http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2754552&cp=2767036.2769134&fbx=1&fbn=Type+1%7CStrip+Lights&f=Taxonomy%2FPET%2F2769134&f=PAD%2FStyle+1%2FFlourescent&f=PAD%2FType+1%2FStrip+Lights&fbc=1&parentPage=family&keepsr=1#prodTab1).. ill have to get back to you on that.

Do you plant guru's have any links to any helpful sites on starting and maintaining planted tanks and maybe some info on CO2 setups and such?

[Yoemen]

http://rexgrigg.com/
plantgeek.net
http://barreport.com/PublicSite/index.cfm

[BoredAgain]

10 gallon tank, with a, well, I'm not sure the wattage on the florescent light, its just a plain tube nothing special (http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2754552&cp=2767036.2769134&fbx=1&fbn=Type+1%7CStrip+Lights&f=Taxonomy%2FPET%2F2769134&f=PAD%2FStyle+1%2FFlourescent&f=PAD%2FType+1%2FStrip+Lights&fbc=1&parentPage=family&keepsr=1#prodTab1).. ill have to get back to you on that.

Most likely a 15w T8.

[FishApprentice]

Thank you for those links! Greatly appreciated!:headbang2: