What do I need for a planted tank?
- Thread starter son2fu
- Start date
echoofformless
Peat Advocate & Defender Of Snails
That is a subject far too broad to cover in a thread. You would be better off googling and yahooing all of that information. Plus there are articles and stickies all over this website.
Too many variables - types of plants you plan to keep, the fish, the budget, etc etc.
Hopefully after you get a rough idea of what you want, you can ask more specific questions. Not to mention the fact that for every question you ask, you're going to get a myriad of responses from us...we love to argue.
Have fun googling and good luck.
Too many variables - types of plants you plan to keep, the fish, the budget, etc etc.
Hopefully after you get a rough idea of what you want, you can ask more specific questions. Not to mention the fact that for every question you ask, you're going to get a myriad of responses from us...we love to argue.
Have fun googling and good luck.
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.As much as I like the Air Stone look, I have been advised not to have one for a planted Aquarium as it consumes alot of the Co2 that is needed by the plants. So my airstone is Virtually off. I guess when visitors come over I can let it rip just to show the aquarium off a little. When they leave then it goes off again. So for a planted aqaurium a air stone is a no no as far as I have been told. So thats something you might want to grapple with.
echoofformless
Peat Advocate & Defender Of Snails
Airstones don't eat CO2. They merely cause surface agitation in which gases are exchanged with the atmosphere. That means that the atmospheric CO2 is brought into the tank just like the oxygen.
I wish I could show a reference for this fact, but I only know what a biology prof told me - that such exchange doesn't affect the levels of CO2 in a tank so much when there is CO2 injection. This is due to the fact that at daylight hours, the plants are absorbing the carbon at a rate comparible to the exchange at the surface. So what is brought in by injection is quickly absorbed; the surface agitation does more to bring oxygen in from the atmosphere than it does to send CO2 out of the tank.
Not to mention that at nighttime, the plants begin to absorb oxygen - which actually can cause the fish to have to fight with the plants for this element. Therefore many aquarists will run an airstone at night in a planted aquarium in order to assist in bringing more oxygen into the tank and ease the burden on the fish.
Of course all of this has to do with plant mass, lighting intensity, etc.
I wish I could show a reference for this fact, but I only know what a biology prof told me - that such exchange doesn't affect the levels of CO2 in a tank so much when there is CO2 injection. This is due to the fact that at daylight hours, the plants are absorbing the carbon at a rate comparible to the exchange at the surface. So what is brought in by injection is quickly absorbed; the surface agitation does more to bring oxygen in from the atmosphere than it does to send CO2 out of the tank.
Not to mention that at nighttime, the plants begin to absorb oxygen - which actually can cause the fish to have to fight with the plants for this element. Therefore many aquarists will run an airstone at night in a planted aquarium in order to assist in bringing more oxygen into the tank and ease the burden on the fish.
Of course all of this has to do with plant mass, lighting intensity, etc.
Well Ill give this a try and turn it on at night whilst keeping it off in the day. My LFS owner was the one who advise me to not have the airstone running due to the so called co2 difficiency. My Plants look oxegen starved and some leaves on the plants are growing brown with algae growing off them regardless of putting in fertilizer. I have bought a new fertisliser with trace elements and I will give this a try to see if I get any differences. Further more I find without the edition of proper Co2 it looks like I will be in for a upward battle.
Going back to the original posters questions- T5 lighting was what I bought again as I was informed that Plants like this type of lighting. How true it is I don't know as I am also a complete newbie. But since your after a planted aquarium then this type of lighting should be looked into.
Going back to the original posters questions- T5 lighting was what I bought again as I was informed that Plants like this type of lighting. How true it is I don't know as I am also a complete newbie. But since your after a planted aquarium then this type of lighting should be looked into.
Hey, check out this site! It's got tons of great info on aquatic plants; I use it alot even though all I do now is water sprite!!! Good luck. BTW, I think that algae on your plants may be too much fert? Probably wrong. . . .
:dive2:
http://plantgeek.net/
:dive2:
http://plantgeek.net/
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