Planting an aquarium

[7eddie7]

Hey all, i wanted to start putting real plants in my aquarium but i dont really know where to start. What kind of substrate do i need (fluorite). What else do i need to keep and maintain some plants healthy for a long time? do the plants need any food? What kind of lights would i need? Anything else you guys can recomended would be appreciated. The more info the better!

I have a 50 gallon tank

[jbradt]

Well, as far as the substrate goes, it's not a huge deal. It's not necessary to change what you have now. Flourite or Eco-Complete are good, but if needed, you can also use root tabs as suppliments. As far as food goes, the plants feed on nutrients in the water and substrate. Much of what they use is in the form of Nitrates present in the tank. Plants that feed heavily from the roots can use fish waste and uneaten food as nutrients.

In terms of lights, as long as they're flourescent they're good. Preferably something in the 5000-10000 k range. The total amount of lighting you want depends on the type of plants you want to keep. A good rule of thumb (ime) is that under 2 watts per gallon, you don't have to worry much about CO2.

The best advise I ever wished I'd followed is to start slow. =)

Here's a good place to start looking at plants.

http://plantgeek.net/plantguide_cat.php?category=1

Hope this helps!

[firstimeplanted]

im also trying to find the steps to follow for my first planted tank for a 29 gallon. First step is laying the substrate and finding something to use....

[coach_z]

Eddie - if the tank is established for a while and you want to go planted here are your options, and a general guideline of what to do:

first choose what type of plants you want...choosing the type of plants allows you to choose what and how much light, fertilizers, co2, etc... low light plants are less maintenance, require less light, less ferts, less co2, etc afnd are a good starting point IMHO.



choose a substrate (play sand, eco-complete, flourite, laterite) all up to you. the last 3 have nutrients in them and are $$$$ the play sand does not and is really cheap.
thoroughly rinse substrate NOTE: only if it needs rinsing as per packaging or our suggestions
put your fish in a bucket/container with an air stone, (and water).
take out 90% of your water
Scoop out old substrate
replace with new substrate.
Refill tank adding proper water conditioner
turn on filters
Add Plants (or see bullet 2 below here)
add fish once your tank relatively clears.
Add Plants (if you dont want to bother doing it right away because you probably just did 3+ hours worth of work)


Note: if you are using playsand you will need root tabs. you can buy your own or make your own. If you are using Eco-Complete, Flourite, Laterite you dont need root tabs (not normally anyway) because they have nutrients in the 'soil'

Note: yes plants need food, nutrients. How much and what depends on a lot of things (mainly light)

NOTE: lighting do a forum seach for DIY Lighting Projects (specifically the Redneck lightin project i think it is called. zigman wrote it up and iused it as a guideline for my setup.)

NOTE: It is not that hard, expensive, or time consuming as some may lead you to think. take your time, research, relax.