Conversion to Planted tank

[clstewart]

Hello All,

I've had a healthy 50G tank established for a few years, with fish, and I would now like to start growing a few plants in this tank. So far I've just bought Amazon swords, Wisteria, and what I believe to be moneywort. My understanding is that these plants will require iron rich substrate.

My question: would you all recommend that I purchase a nutrient rich substrate such as Fluorite or eco complete? Or could still achieve plant growth by layering playsand with gravel and using root tabs and water additives?

I don't have a lot of money to spend so I am trying to choose wisely.

btw: We've currently got four lights running at approx. 80Watts all together.

Thanks for your advice!

[Linda S]

I have a 20 gal that I have a gravel and old flourite mix, I supplement it with Flourish root tabs and my plants grow fine. your lighting should be 6500K-10000K to satisfy the requirements for planted tanks.