New 55gal owner, Need plant advice

[Banky]

Hi guys, this is my firs tpost, but i've been reading the forums and researching for a few months now. I am somewhat a beginner at fishkeeping (ive never had larger than 10g), and my current setup is a 55gal with a 200 watt heater, and proquatics 300 filter. I am in the early stages of fishless cycling, and would like to add some nice plants that are easy to care for, and do not need sand to survive (I have already filled it with gravel). I plan on setting up a CO2 system, but would like to get the plant situation figured out first. The tank is 48" and I would like ot put a lot of plants in along with some rocks and driftwood.

I just dont know where to begin. I would really like some plants in the background, and a few smaller ones in the foreground.

Another ocncern I have is the lighting. As of right now, I have the plastic hoods that come with the tank along witht he bulbs that came with the hoods. I would really like to buy 2 new bulbs to supply sufficient lighting for the plants.

Im sorry for the long post, but any advice is appreciated.

Justin

[Leopardess]

Where to begin...

Firstly, the light fixtures you have in there will in all likelihood not be sufficient for plant growth of anything other than java fern/moss and some anubias species.
I'm betting on it being two 18" 15 watt bulbs. The only other bulbs you find will also be 15 watt bulbs. That comes down to not much over .5 wpg. VERY low light.
I suggest hopping over to www.ahsupply.com or www.aquatic-store.com (I think they've got some formosa fixtures). Or, make yourself a DIY hood and put in two 2-bulb shoplight fixtures from home depot. That's what I've done. 160w. Grows plants great. Look for bulbs with a K rating of between 5500 and 6700K. That is what plants like to grow in (there are exceptions, however). I've found many tanks come with 4200K bulbs....not the right spectrum for good plant growth. Also, don't waste your money on the "fancy" bulbs that are labled for plant growth at LFS's. Its a money trap. Just go to Home Depot or any other home improvement store and get their bulbs...plain GE bulbs will work (within the right spectrum, though).

Also, do not put the co2 in until you've got at least 2wpg running. It will be a waste of your time and money. At lower light levels, the plants do not grow fast enough to need the extra carbon provided by the co2.

What kind of gravel did you put in? Just plain gravel? Or is it nutrient rich? Most plants need some sort of nutrient rich gravel. You can get some flourite/ecocomplete/schultz's profile and mix it in about 50/50 though to help yourself out. As far as I know, no plant NEEDS sand to survive. In fact, sand can oftne compact and be hard for roots to live in.

"Easy" beginner plants are:
Java fern
Java moss
Anubias species (aka nana, barteria, etc)
with enough light, swords are relatively self-maintaining
I've had good luck with wysteria (hygrophila difformis)
my hydrocotyle leucocephela has always been undemanding
hornwort
anachris
giant hygro
some cryptocorne species
vals and the like, if you've got high enough lighting

The morel ighting you have, the more options you have.
There are not many true "foreground" plants that will survive in low/med low light. The reason they are foreground plants is often because they require enough light to grow horizontally rather than vertically. Anubias makes good foreground plants in low light tanks. Depending on your light, you may be able to use dwarf sag.
Hope that helps

[vicious]

Please be kind as this is my first post........


Most plants need some sort of nutrient rich gravel. You can get some flourite/ecocomplete/schultz's profile and mix it in about 50/50 though to help yourself out.

If a blend of gravel/Ecocomplete/flourite is used should I also use a peat mixture in the filtration?


Thanks!

Mike

[Leopardess]

Nope. You'd be fine with just the things I mentioned:) Peat is not needed.

[vicious]

Awesome, I still have a lot of research to do, but that's been nagging at me......

[promethean_sprk]

I've got an acryllic 55g, with 4 shoplites. The 55 is a very deep and fairly narrow tank, which makes it hard to grow plants near the bottom. Mine grow best in the top half of the tank. Without much light the plants will have a long hard slog near the bottom of the tank.

The thing with planted tanks is you either do it, or you don't. You can't really have a semi-planted tank that works well. Having at least half the tank volume filled with plants will keep the algae down. Otherwise there are too many areas with nutrients, light, and no plants to use it - resulting in lots of algae.

Without big lights, I'd stock it with lots of java fern, java moss, african fern, and maybe anubias. Let a wad of hornwart float right under the light to drain nutrients from the water. Hornwart is also supposed to give off some mildly algaecidal chemicals that don't bother other plants. Except the anubias, these plants don't need a substrate.

If you're still in the fishless cycle, it's not too late to add some aquatic gardening gravel from home-depot.

[Leopardess]

No problem. Feel free to ask more questions and welcome to the board! You can PM me if you'd like with future questions...or post them on the board where you'll get lots of opinions:)

Welcome:)

[Leopardess]

Hm...everytime I click on "edit post" my screen freezes, so please forgive the extra post.

perhaps the two of you (and others) would like to check these sites out. VERY helpful and plant oriented:)

http://www.aquabotanic.com/
http://www.plantedtank.net/

Also, If you'd just like a FEW plants in the tank...imo, it IS possible. Just keep them to java fern on driftwoods, maybe some java moss on rocks/wood, and anubias on rocks wood. In one of my ten gallon unplanteds, the centerpiece of the tank is driftwood with java fern on it.

EDIT: These too!

http://www.plantgeek.net/forum/
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/index.htm

[AthagaMor]

I'm in about the same seat as you, Banky (I just started too and have a history of 10g tanks).

This is a LONGGGG article but I found it informative and useful.

article (http://aquaticconcepts.thekrib.com/Seminar/Basics.htm)

Hope it helps!

[Banky]

I was hoping you would reply lepoardess, as I love your tank. I am lost on your post though. Are you saying that there are 2 18" bulbs I can go out and buy at home depot with sufficient lighting, or do I need 2 new hoods to hold a different type of bulb?

I am going to go pick up a substrate with fertilizer from a lfs tonight and put that under my gravel, wich is plain ole' gravel from petsmart. Do any of the plants on that list grow taller than 12"?

[Leopardess]

Why thank you:) (I hope to be getting my site back up tonight...so there may be some new pics too:))

What I was trying to say is,

in the tank you have, the existing fixture probably only has room for 2 18" 15 watt bulbs, giving you a total of 30watts (less than 1 wpg)

That amount of light is insufficient for most plants. You can maybe grow the java fern/moss and anubias, but not much else.

I would suggest spending some money and going to www.ahsupply.com and getting some of their lights, OR making a DIY hood (basically just a wooden box) and getting two 2-bulb shoplight fixtures from Home Depot. This would give you 4 48" 40watt bulbs for a total of 160 watts. With this, you should be able to grow a wide variety of things. This is exactly what my 55 uses.

To save you some money, have you considered using Schultz's Aquatic Soil (Profile)? Its easy to find (also at Home Depot) and can be mixed right in. Of course, any plant specific subsrate will work.

EDIT: oh yah, the hydrocotyle, hornwort, anachris, vals, swords and some others can all grow over a foot. Swords will get absolutely gigantic if taken care of and will can even get too big for a 55g! My melon sword is growing out of the water and is six inches above water level.

Check out tropica.com and aquatic-store.com and some other places that sell plants. They often tell about the plants and such. Also, on some of the sites I gave you, there are Plant Identification/Picture forums that have a good deal of information on them!:)

Here's the one from Planted tank.
http://www.plantedtank.net/plants.html

This one will surely be of some help:)
http://www.plantgeek.net/plantguide_all.php

[Banky]

Excellent, I have actually seen that fertilizer at home depot and wondered if it would work. Is there any other kinds that may be "better" for the plants at home depot? (I remember reading a post where someone wrote that northeastern home depots carry a kind that is very beneficial)

Thanks for all your help, those pages will come in handy.

Justin

[Leopardess]

By fertilizer, are you referring to the Profile substrate? If so, it's really the best thing you can use from Home Depot. I think it may be the only aquatic substrate there (there is something else, called Schultz's aquatic soil...a bit different. I know a very respected member on another board uses it...but I'm not sure how that goes. If you're interested I can ask him).

Its [Profile] very much akin to Seachem's Flourite or Ecocomplete. Those are other choices, but they may be hard to find and you may need to order them online.

As for if it works or not, check out my site:) I use it in all of my planted tanks now.

[Banky]

Yes, we're talking about the same product, I will pick some up tomorrow and then order a few plants to start. Maybe someday my tank will look as good as some of the tanks here and I will post a pic.

PS:
Any leads on places that sell nice driftwood?

[Leopardess]

I'm sure your tank will turn out well:)

Driftwood...I just buy it at my LFS. I've seen some really great pieces for cheap at aquabid.com, I think. Worth a look.

[Banky]

Ok, an update. I got the aquatic soil from home depot, and its in..But im still a bit lost on my bulb situation. I have 2 seperate hoods on my tank that are rated at 15w each..I dont know thier length, because when I measure them they measurement does not match any of the sizes listd on those links at the top of this page. Am I measuring wrong? I measure from end to end not including the prongs. I do not want to make a hood, so im stuck with just buying the brightest bulbs I can. If I could figure out what the heck my length is considered, I could place my order for two bulbs to get some decent light. I would like to make my plant order soon so I can be done when its fish time.

Thanks again.

Justin

[Leopardess]

Just about every flourescent bulbs' wattage is determined by length. No matter what the specific length is, the brigthest thing you'll be able to find that will fit in that fixture is 15w. You can get an 18" light in 15 watts, but not in, say, 100 watts. All 18" bulbs will be the same watt, that goes for each different length bulb.

I believe tehy make an adapter for screw in spiral flourescents. You could mayeb do that?

[Banky]

Leopardess, I put in the schultz aquatic soil tonight, and yuck..What a mess it has made with my water. I cant see through to the back. Is this normal? Will it settle down and clear up? Will I have this problem every time I move the gravel around?

Justin

[Leopardess]

Did you rinse it first? If not, you probably should have, but what's done is done.

Were there fish in there already?

It will settle and clear pretty soon:) Just do some big water changes and such. After it has inititally cleared, no, you will not experience any clouding when digging around in the substrate:)

[Banky]

Yes, I rinsed it, and it still clouded..And there are no fish in there. Hopefully it will clear up by tomorrow. Thanks again.

[Leopardess]

Ok then. Yes, it will clear up shortly:) And if it takes some time, there are no fish involved to irritate:)

Good luck with it!:)