Starting a planted tank.

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Neatfish

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May 1, 2012
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My Bat Cave somwhere in TX
This thread will be for my first planted tank. I already got all the stuff to get this done except co2. Equipment: 29g tank with hood, t8 light, big bag of Eco complete, root tabs, dwarf hair grass, bacopa, aquatop cf400-Uv canister filter, 29g wood stand. Tomorrow I'm going to get the stand built and by the night it should be ready to plant. I been reading for months about this stuff now it's time for hands on. I welcome any tips to help me have a nice planted tank. Maybe a nice piece of drift wood in the middle with some moss growing off it like a tree. I'm going for that carpet look maybe some tall grass toward the back.
 

TL1000RSquid

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Apr 6, 2011
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NY
My first suggestion would be to look into upgrading your light, T8 over a 18" tank is pretty low light. DHG and Bacopa are both medium to high light plants.
 

TL1000RSquid

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Apr 6, 2011
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5500k-8000k is ideal for plants, If you were running like a dual T5HO then a plant bulb + an actinic or 15000k would be ok if you find the colors look more appealing to you(I have 6700k and a 12000k over my planted tank) The plants will probably live under the T8 but you won't get the carpet type coverage without more lighting. You can find dual T5NO fixtures for around $35-40 that would put you in the medium catagory, although if your running a plastic type hood you'd end up having to get something like a versatop too which is another $20.
 

Kakashi

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Mar 24, 2012
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Chico CA
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Bryan
If you had a tank outside under direct sun light then that take wasn't low lighting.......
 
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