New to the idea of REAL plants

[beaglesaroo]

Hokay....I see that I have alot of information to go over on this site - don't be shy in directing me where to go (to find it, that is)

Our family has a 46 gallon freshwater tank, with very nice fake plants.:rolleyes:

I just bought myself a 20 gallon high - I'm not even at the point of adding water yet, much less planting anything. I don't even have a clue how to plant anything.

I will be putting down small rounded gravel and some sand.

Do I just plunk a plant into the gravel? Do I need something special?

I plan on fishless cycling - this will be new to me also and I've just begun reading up on it - Do I wait to add plants until after that's done? Or would it be good to add plants as a stage of fishless cycling?

Do I really need special lighting? Is CO2 necessary?

I'm sure I'll think of more to ask. Be gentle, okay? At least I haven't bought the tank and the plants and the fish on the same day.:D

[anonapersona]

Yes, you will need special lighting. Start with that, first, all real plants need good light. If you already have a hood that you like, you can retrofit a compact flourescent. Try AHSupply.com, you can fit either a 36 watt or 55 watt bulb in the strip light that comes with the basic hood. measure carefully, some 20 gallon hoods are a bit short in the light fixture, if it is not a full 24 inches long, or at least 23, the 55 watt light won't fit. But even the 36 is a good start. I got a double flourescent strip light for my 20 and it is just not bright enough, lots of plants do not do well there.

You might consider buying special gravel, but it isn't necessary. Flourite is foolproof, and you can mix with regular gravel. I chose to go 100% flourite after I bought some gravel that affected the water chemistry, twice. You just can't tell by looking at the plastic bag. All my tanks are 100% Flourite now.

If the family has a cycled fish tank, don't worry about cycling. Go ahead and plant the tank after you get the gravel and lights and then add some gravel from their tank to your tank and a little bag of gravel to your filter or a wad of their filter material. Bacteria multiply quickly! Heck, borrow a fish while you are at it! The bacteria need to be fed or they won't grow.

Add a few fish and the gravel and filter stuff to the planted tank. Best to let the plants have a week or three first to get established. Then stop adding fish until the tank is fully cycled, it won't be long with all that stuff from the other tank and plants already growing. If the plants do not grow well from the start you might need to consider CO2, all plants do better with it, but some do fine without. Some, however, require it, it depends on your water.

Do you know the water parameters in the family tank? And of the tap water? Any idea of what sort of fish you want to keep in your planted tank?

Have you see the AGA site? AGA showcase aquatic gardeners competition (http://showcase.aquatic-gardeners.org/)

[beaglesaroo]

Great idea about taking gravel from the family tank - that makes sense, don't it?:)

I'll have to check on the water parameters....I don't do chemistry:)

**I was going to get a bio-wheel, but someone mentioned on another forum that I shouldn't do that cause it'll mess up the CO2 - true?

The fish I'm thinking of getting - planning stages still - are probably corys, at least 5. I was thinking of 6-8 green barbs, they're so pretty and maybe, possibly two angels. I haven't thought beyond that, such as what to get if I don't get angels. This tank was an impulse buy and I've only got half the set up I need anyway.

Thanks for the info on the lights and the links.

[Tempest]

Tiger barbs aren't good in a tank with angels. They are simply too fast and agressive and tend to tear up the angels.

[djlen]

I personally have never had a bio-wheel but from most of what I've read they are not conducive to the injection of CO2. If you are contemplating CO2 you want as little surface disturbance as possible to minimize gas off.
Agree completely with Tempest on the barbs. They stress angels unmercifully IME.
There are certain basic water test kits available that are necessary for all aquarists. Initially, for cycling purposes an ammonia/nitrites kit will tell you the progress of your cycle. The others are pH, gH(general water hardness),kH(carbonate hardness), and nitrates. You can buy ammonia/nitrates/nitrates as one kit and save yourself some money. In fact, I believe there are "master kits" that combine all of the above kits and really save you some money. The only other "must have" kit IMO, is a PO4(phosphates) kit, but that can wait til you get some of this other stuff done. You can find great prices on these and many other items at www.bigalsonline.com Many of the folks on this an other forums use Big Al's frequently(too much in my case.):)
I suggest you seriously consider Flourite for your substrate. I have switched my tanks over to it(which is a pain in the butt) after finding how it out performs just about everything else around when growing plants.
Len

[beaglesaroo]

Thanks for additional advice DJ.......

In our big tank we used to have green barbs along with our Angels. The only reason we don't now is because we had some sort of fungus (?cotton ball like) thing that killed them and one of angels off --- Our remaining angel only has one eye because he was the first to get the fungus and the other angel who didn't have it yet plucked the eye out. ugh. But that was a year ago.

We're really understocked in the big tank - I didn't want to replace with anything too soon and now I'm thinking of waiting some more to see how much success (failure;) ) I have with my new "real plant" effort.

Anyhoo, I found that the 8 barbs stuck together and left the angels alone. Of course, that's a 46 vs. a 20 high, so I'll probably forget the angels.

[djlen]

Every tank and it's inhabitants are different and react differently toward one another. For me, barbs and angels haven't mixed. But I've seen so many exceptions to the "norms" over the years I wouldn't rule out anything.:confused:
One thing that hasn't been said is that there are different types of lighting for aquarists to consider. "Low light", and "High light".
Since you are just starting out with live plants you might want to think about what type of plants you'd like to start with and what their requirements will be regarding the need for light. Then you can make a judgment as to what type of hood/lighting fixture you want to get based on that.
I have a low light tank(1 1/2 watts/gal.) and a higher light(3 watts/gal.) tank. Low light requires less maintenance, but limits you somewhat as to what you can grow successfully. But there are many nice plants available that don't need a super amount of light to grow well.
A 20 gallon tank with 30 watts would, IMO, be considered a low light. With 40-50 watts, a mid range. And, again IMO, anything with 3watts per gallon on up a high light tank.
Higher lighting has it's advantages, but with it comes the necessity of having the knowledge needed to maintain a balanced environment. Algae can be a real problem in a high light tank if CO2 an all the other nutrients needed are not applied in the correct amounts. For this reason I usually suggest to people just starting out with plants that they start slowly and after learning the "ropes" increase their wattage, if they feel the need.
Len