I would like to make my 5 gallon a planted tank. I have an 8 watt flourescent tube. I've read that I need to get flourite or something that would provide iron to the plants. Do I also need to over lay that with sand? Also what plants should I start out with and what ones would stay small for a 5 gallon aquarium or be appropriate for the lower light since its less than 2 watts per gallon. Basically I need to know everything. HELP!
New person into plants...HELP!
- Thread starter Irisheyes1772
- Start date
FIRST - DO RESEARCH, DO RESEARCH, DO RESEARCH!!!! There is alot that goes into a planted tank - lights, fertilizers, care etc....
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See Post #3
Per you questions:
You can use straight flourite. I would not overlay it with sand because in time the sand will sink to the bottom of the flourite. This is not to say you can not overlay it with sand, but seems to me as counterproductive because it will be at the bottom over a period of time. As per recommendations, I am trying a small dusting of peat below the flourite in my 5.5G (per djlen). This will be my first time with peat.
Also, from the posts above I was asking the same thing on lights. Make sure you have enought watts. 8 watts will not be enough - most likely. Are the lights Compact Fluorescent (CF), Nomal Output (NO)? If can get a hood that is incadescent, get a screw in CF bulb (could be found for about $10 or so). If it is 18+Watts you can grow most plants. You can probably get away with some really low light plants with the 8 watts, but I can not make that call. Someone more experienced will have to help you on that.
With more watts comes the need fore more nutrients (see Informal FAQ ) This means that the more watts the more plants will grow and the more nutrients they will need which means you will need to dose fertilizers more.
Starter plants I really dont know. Most abubias's are slow growing and recommended for a low light low tech tank. Java fern and java moss I hear are hard to kill as so are some cryptornyes. What I suggest doing is getting a list of plants you want to keep (look at pictures on the web) and see what they demand per light and nutrients. Then build the tank around the plants you want. Some plants are heavy water feeders, some are substrate feeders. In general, the more red the plant, the more light it will like. This is a generalization and not a rule. Some places to help with pictures are aquabotanic.com and aquariumplants.com. There are many other places as well - just google aquarium plants.
My 5.5G tanks specs will be
AC 20 Power Filter
Tronic 50W heater
Flourite substrate with a peat dusting
Perfecto Incadescent hood with a 23W - 28W CF screw in bulb
I think that is it.....
There is a lot more to balancing a planted tank - just read the posts here and you will get a plethera of information!!!!
Good luck
Aries
See Post #1
See Post #2
See Post #3
Per you questions:
You can use straight flourite. I would not overlay it with sand because in time the sand will sink to the bottom of the flourite. This is not to say you can not overlay it with sand, but seems to me as counterproductive because it will be at the bottom over a period of time. As per recommendations, I am trying a small dusting of peat below the flourite in my 5.5G (per djlen). This will be my first time with peat.
Also, from the posts above I was asking the same thing on lights. Make sure you have enought watts. 8 watts will not be enough - most likely. Are the lights Compact Fluorescent (CF), Nomal Output (NO)? If can get a hood that is incadescent, get a screw in CF bulb (could be found for about $10 or so). If it is 18+Watts you can grow most plants. You can probably get away with some really low light plants with the 8 watts, but I can not make that call. Someone more experienced will have to help you on that.
With more watts comes the need fore more nutrients (see Informal FAQ ) This means that the more watts the more plants will grow and the more nutrients they will need which means you will need to dose fertilizers more.
Starter plants I really dont know. Most abubias's are slow growing and recommended for a low light low tech tank. Java fern and java moss I hear are hard to kill as so are some cryptornyes. What I suggest doing is getting a list of plants you want to keep (look at pictures on the web) and see what they demand per light and nutrients. Then build the tank around the plants you want. Some plants are heavy water feeders, some are substrate feeders. In general, the more red the plant, the more light it will like. This is a generalization and not a rule. Some places to help with pictures are aquabotanic.com and aquariumplants.com. There are many other places as well - just google aquarium plants.
My 5.5G tanks specs will be
AC 20 Power Filter
Tronic 50W heater
Flourite substrate with a peat dusting
Perfecto Incadescent hood with a 23W - 28W CF screw in bulb
I think that is it.....
There is a lot more to balancing a planted tank - just read the posts here and you will get a plethera of information!!!!
Good luck
Aries
I should also note that flourite may not be "required" but IMHO helps alot. There are other options available like Eco Complete and Seachems Onyx substrate (they make the flourite as well). Some people like to make thier own substrate as well - I avoid this because it seems like too much work. I am lazy!!!
Aries
Aries
my thought on planted tanks are that they are not as difficult to maintain as people say. With an appropriate amount of fish producing waste and co2 and adaquate light the plants will flourish.
my 10 gal has a 15 w floure. reptile light and the anacris and anubias grow constantly.
secondly i have not used any packaged substrates and prefer to let the fish waste, dead plants, algae etc on the "floor" to be a natural substrate. if your tank has been going for a while i imagine you might not need to do anyhting...
try simple cheap plants first and see how they do. go from there....
sorry if i offended anyone by oversimplifying things....
Mike
my 10 gal has a 15 w floure. reptile light and the anacris and anubias grow constantly.
secondly i have not used any packaged substrates and prefer to let the fish waste, dead plants, algae etc on the "floor" to be a natural substrate. if your tank has been going for a while i imagine you might not need to do anyhting...
try simple cheap plants first and see how they do. go from there....
sorry if i offended anyone by oversimplifying things....
Mike
my $0.02:
My 5G hex has plain gravel substrate, a 14W screw-in compact fluorescent and gets treated with Jungle Plant Care Solution with every water change (weekly). Currently I have Water Wisteria and Java Fern in there: the wisteria needs to be trimmed every two weeks and the fern is budding all over the place...
My 5G hex has plain gravel substrate, a 14W screw-in compact fluorescent and gets treated with Jungle Plant Care Solution with every water change (weekly). Currently I have Water Wisteria and Java Fern in there: the wisteria needs to be trimmed every two weeks and the fern is budding all over the place...
I would like to reitterate again that it all depends on the plants you want to have. The above mentioned plants appear to do well in the low tech tank (which might be the way you want to go). Other plants will not do so well - so it all depends on the type of plants you want to display.
Get a list of plants you want and someone here will be happy to help you decide fi you can grow them or what you need to change to grow them.
Good luck
Aries
Get a list of plants you want and someone here will be happy to help you decide fi you can grow them or what you need to change to grow them.
Good luck
Aries
look up low light plants. someof them can sruvive on about one watt per gallon. if you get any other plants, your are going to need about 2-3 watts. lowlight plants are super easy to find on the internet. just do your research and you'll be fine. make sure if you go with normal gravel you are adding some kind of nutrient supplement to the water like the plant solution mentioned above. sometimes you ahve to learn by trial and error with plants, but diong research helps eliminate most of ther error. have fun with it!
