How to convert established tank into planted?

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mountain_webste

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I'm looking for suggestions/directions on converting an established tank into a planted tank - i.e. I want to replace the fake plants with real plants. I've been reading up and think I'll have to up my lighting and I'm cool with rigging a DIY CO2 if necessary, but some quick questions that come to mind are:

Is there a way to do this without having to relocate my stock or severely messing with my water quality?

I have ~3mm gravel substrate now, is it as simple as planting in that? Or, do I need to add eco complete or similar product or sand or some other substrate?

The tank is a 46G bow running a whisper 60 HOB. The tank is stocked with 3 pictus cats, 3 angels, 5 rummy nose tetras and 6 blood fin tetras. The tank, with current stock, have been running fine for a couple years now with no problems which is why I'd like to avoid catching and relocating everyone. I have a 10G QT tank, but obviously it's way too small to hold that stock.

Thanks in advance.
 
Plants can grow just fine in the gravel substrate you already have in your aquarium. Having a plant substrate is not an absolute must. What is your lighting like? If you have never tried live plants then I would suggest starting with low to medium light plants. Those would include anubias, java fern, java moss, most sword plants, jungle vals and there are others. These are just a few. If you want to go the co2 route the choices are endless but be careful on just how much co2 to add.

Marinemom
 
I have a 45g and only about 1wpg of lighting and low light plants are doing well in there. no CO2 added. I would just plant some low light plants as marinemom mentioned and go from there. I would assume that there are plenty of nutrients in your gravel as the tank has been established for a while now so that will help.
 
Marinemom said:
What is your lighting like?
Click to expand...

I don't know the specifics, but plan on checking it out. It's just the stock 3' hood and florecent bulb, but I never bothered to check details as I never needed to know before. I saw a couple threads where folks gutted their store bought hoods to add CFL bulbs to up the wattage, the process didn't seem too difficuly. The tank also gets a tiny bit of natural sun in the evenings but probably not enough to matter.

Definitely planning on low-light plants as this is my first attempt, thanks for sharing the names. I was reading the sticky on low-light plants too.

I'm probably a few weeks away from doing this so I'm just doing my research now. Any other tips/suggestions are welcome.
 
I would suggest that you buy lowlight plants and that you buy a large amount to begin with to minimize disturbance and get a test kit. Planting can stir up a lot of waste and potentially noxious poisons from the substrate and you will need to monitor the nitrogenous waste levels along with doing a large water change after you've planted the tank.

I would suggest doing some deep cleaning water changes for the next few weeks (2 per week) before planting as well.

Do a lot of research on the plants you intend to add, go to the library get a book if you can so that you understand the requirements. As with everything in this hobby it will work out much better if you read alot. I would probably suggest getting lots of bunches of cheap stem plants (like anacharis) for the background so that you can fully plant it out at a lower cost. From there you will be able to replace those with what you want in your final scape.

EDIT: I wouldn't worry about CO2 yet, let the plants establish themselves. A lowlight tank very rarely is CO2 limited.
 
With a 46g bow front you have a couple of challenges....

First, buying a lighting system pre-built will be a PITA. And so is building a custom canopy for a DYI lighting system. AHsupply http://ahsupply.com/ makes great retrofit kits if/when you want to upgrade lighting.

Second, people have mixed results with DYI CO2 in tanks larger then 30g. And you have a HOB filter that will allow the CO2 to gas off, and out of the water. I had minimal luck with 2 DYI systems on my 55g, with a canister filter. The results weren't enough to keep me using the systems.

I would keep to easy low light plants, and either do that deep cleaning as mentioned and plant alot, or, what I would suggest, buy a small amount of plants, see how they do before spending a fortune.

http://www.plantgeek.net/plantguide.php for a library of plants and lighting requirements of each.

If you see a plant at the LFS and not sure about it, the general rule is: If it has wide green leaves, its usually a low light plant, steer clear of red and purples, they are usually high light plants, as well as carpeting plants. There are exceptions, but not many. And also, if you shop at a larger chain pet store, they will sell you non-aquatic plants, so beware. The guide above also has a non-aquatic section worth checking out before buying from said stores.
 
Few follow-up questions. I checked last night and right now I have a single 30W florecent bulb in the canopy. I've seen 1 - 1.5 watt per gallon thrown around on AC as a rule of thumb for low light plants - which is the way I plan on going. So I am assuming that that's not enough for the 46G.

j_chicago said:
First, buying a lighting system pre-built will be a PITA. And so is building a custom canopy for a DYI lighting system. AHsupply http://ahsupply.com/ makes great retrofit kits if/when you want to upgrade lighting.
Click to expand...

I'm a bit confused by this statement, were you only implying this will be the case if I want to do more than low-light plants? I saw 36" hoods with twin and triple strips that would fit the 46 bow; I'm assuming I can upgrade the 25W standard bulbs that come with the hoods to up the output and get within that 50 - 70W range.

I'm not concerned about the bow part of the tank not getting direct light. I'm planning on leaving the front 1/3 and most of the left half of the tank open and not planted since I have the 3 pictus cats and they need some room to roam. So, only planting the back/right 1/2 to 1/3 of the tank which corresponds to the under the lights in the current configuration.

Thank for the input and I definitely plan on reading up more.
 
mountain_webste said:
Few follow-up questions. I checked last night and right now I have a single 30W florecent bulb in the canopy. I've seen 1 - 1.5 watt per gallon thrown around on AC as a rule of thumb for low light plants - which is the way I plan on going. So I am assuming that that's not enough for the 46G.



I'm a bit confused by this statement, were you only implying this will be the case if I want to do more than low-light plants? I saw 36" hoods with twin and triple strips that would fit the 46 bow; I'm assuming I can upgrade the 25W standard bulbs that come with the hoods to up the output and get within that 50 - 70W range.

I'm not concerned about the bow part of the tank not getting direct light. I'm planning on leaving the front 1/3 and most of the left half of the tank open and not planted since I have the 3 pictus cats and they need some room to roam. So, only planting the back/right 1/2 to 1/3 of the tank which corresponds to the under the lights in the current configuration.

Thank for the input and I definitely plan on reading up more.
Click to expand...

Before throwing a new tube in the old fixture, make sure the fixture will run a higher wattage. Chances are it won't run a higher wattage tube and the ballast and endcaps will be needed to be replaced. And thats if you want to do higher light demanding plants. I think you would be able to do low light plants like anubias or java moss with the current light, but the growth will be slow going.

As far as the PITA I was talking about....
You could buy a fixture like a coralife PC fixture (https://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/prod/209666/product.web ) but make sure the legs will fit on the rear part of the tank where the edges are parallel (not in the bow section). And the rest of the stock canopy will be need to be replaced with a glass canopy, which is tougher to find compared to glass tops for "normal" tanks. Or you could keep it as an open top tank.

hope I didn't confuse you anymore....
 
Thanks Chicago...makes sense.

FWIW I may have been confused about what was stock vs. not since the tank was a free-be and I didn't actually buy it. :grinyes: Fortunately, I currently have a glass canopy for the bow. The light is completely seperate and not attached to the canopy, just rests across the top of the tank. The glass could use a cleaning to let more light through but otherwise is in perfect condition.

All in all I think I'm in good shape to start and since my b-day is coming up I can probably talk the little lady into a nice light as a gift :evil_lol: she has been asking what I want...
 
My suggestions would be to start with your lights. Without the proper lighting, plants will not grow, period. Couple of suggestions were already mentioned, for DIY kits AH Supply is great (a single 96W CF is nice). If you want to buy a complete setup, get at least a two 36"/30W bulb flouresent fixture or a single 96W CF.

Start with this and some low light plants, ie Java fern and moss, Anubias, Crypts etc. No need for CO2 or fancy gravel. Adding low amount of ferts will follow but not for awhile. Keep reading and asking questions. There are lots to learn... Good luck!
 
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