Newbie Planting Questions

[Cribbinator]

Hello,

I have some basic questions that most of you can probably answer. I have a new 10 gallon tank (already have a 26 gallon mature tank) that I have not setup yet (Have all the parts and equipment just need to put it together). I am planning on using this tank as a quarantine tank or possibly just as a secondary tank with live plants (presume I can just use it for both ??) I have a couple of questions:

1.) To start I want to setup this tank with just live plants to get the foundation going. Can a planted tank exist without any fish ? I almost positive the question is yes but didn't know if I was missing anything.

2.) If the above answer is yes, can I add fish at any time to the planted tank ?

3.) Since this is a new tank do I need to cycle the tank before I put live plants into the tank ? If so, is there a special cycle process ? If not, then when I want to add fish later do I cycle at that time ?

4.) Any recommendations on plants that are hearty since I am a beginner ?

5.) Any other mandatory equipment that I need in order to sustain plant life ?

Thanks!

James C

[dwayne]

Hey! I can answer a few questions for you... I'm by no means an expert, I'm pretty new to live plants but here goes!

1.) To start I want to setup this tank with just live plants to get the foundation going. Can a planted tank exist without any fish ? I almost positive the question is yes but didn't know if I was missing anything.
I'm 99% sure that plants can exist w/out fish. However, I am pretty sure that most (all?) plants need nitrAtes for nutrients, but I'm also pretty sure that most fertilizers have nitrAtes in them, or you can get one specifically for nitrAtes.

2.) If the above answer is yes, can I add fish at any time to the planted tank ?
A tank has to be cycled in order to add fish, or else you're doing a fishy cycle... simply having plants in the tank does not cycle it, since a cycled tank = tank that has had ammonia converted to nitrIte to nitrAte and you don't get ammonia or nitrIte from plants, you get it from fish waste... so short answer, NO, long answer, yes, if you plant and add a few hardy fish like zebra danios and do every other day water changes to keep ammonia and nitrIte levels down. I just re-read the beginning of your thread... you have a mature tank -- you can take some of your filter media and put that into your new tank's filter to kick start the cycling process!

3.) Since this is a new tank do I need to cycle the tank before I put live plants into the tank ? If so, is there a special cycle process ? If not, then when I want to add fish later do I cycle at that time ?
See answer #2 above. :)

4.) Any recommendations on plants that are hearty since I am a beginner ?
I've had good luck with my sword plants, java moss and java ferns. Very low light, easy maintenance plants!

5.) Any other mandatory equipment that I need in order to sustain plant life ?
Fertilizers would be the only other stuff, besides tank/filter/heater/light that I can think of!

Good luck, and I'm sure someone will be by to correct anythign that I have wrong/don't know the answers to!

~Tara

[Cribbinator]

Thanks Tara,

This information should help me. One other question. Is there a special way the plants need to be planted into the gravel ? I thought I saw somewhere about special things needed for the plants roots ???

Thanks again,

James C

[phanmc]

depends on the plant.

Some plants like java fern, java moss, and anubias don't need to be planted. They can be tied to driftwood or rocks and will eventually root themselves to it. Java fern and anubias can be planted, but the rhizome (bulbous stem section section where the leaves connect to the roots) shouldn't be comletely buried or else it may rot away.

Plants that develops a large root system needs to have a nutrient rich substrate. If you are using plain gravel, you may need to add fertilizer tablets to the base of the plant.