New to planted tanks — substrate suggestions/opinions?

[apenhow]

A couple of things that might help ..

1, is it the old or new version of the light that came with the Spec? The new one has much more light output.
2, you have a budget?

Flourite is ok, if a little big especially for small plants and especially for tissue culture. So at first it is easy for them to be uprooted by fish or by the flow from your filter.

It also does not contain any nutrients for the plants, but will hold onto them if they get down there

If you don't want to replace all the substrate, try pointing the return if your filter up, and hope fish behave and plant the plants deep enough. Invest in root tabs to feed them and give them some time

If you still have problems you can try floating the plants till bigger roots form.

As for pinatifida, I'm not sure if it should be buried, I think it is normally attached to rocks in the wild, but it may root also.

I’m not positive but I think it’s the new version? It says there are 37 LED bulbs and I think it says the lights are 10 Watts and 821 Lumens if that helps. Hmmm... I haven’t really thought of a specific budget. I guess I’m not sure how much is a lot or how much is cheap if that makes sense. Definitely not anything to expensive so probably on lower end of things.

If I ended up replacing the substrate would you have any specific brand suggestions? I’ve heard the CarbiSea Eco-Complete gravel or the Seachem Flourite Black Clay is recommended but I have yet to do much research on that.

I’ll definitely look into the root tabs. What do you mean by floating the plants? Do you literally let them stay at the surface of the water (mine kind of tip sideways when that happens)? I’ll research the pinatifida some more.

Thank you so much, dougall!

 

[apenhow]

you can try a few small stones around to anchor

What would you use to tie them? Like a rubber band or something? I’ve also been looking into those plant bendable metal anchors if you have any opinions on those.

Now that you mentioned it, I’ll probably either replace the substrate completely or just leave it instead of combining. I can see where problems may arise when mixing.

I have seen it rooted but, like dougall said, often attached to wood or rocks.

Hmmm okay. I am investing in a small piece of driftwood and a stone tunnel so I’ll probably be able to attach it somehow.

I’ll keep looking into some other plants. It’s just so hard to find plants that fit my water parameters, that would work with a betta fish, and that look decent! Haha!

These are the conditions of my tank as of today:
Nitrate: 0 (I think, but it’s hard to tell for sure)
Nitrite: 0 (I think)
pH: 7.5-8
KH: 240 (high, I know, I have yet to figure out how to lower this)
GH: 180 (also pretty high)
I just quickly used the API 5 in 1 test strips. I know this isn’t the best option, but I just was checking quickly today. I also have the API Freshwater Master test kit that I use. My tank is the 5 gallon Fluval Spec.

Thank you so much for your help, fishorama!

 

[the loach]

For a 5 gallon tank your lighting is more than enough, it equals to 164 Lumen per gallon which is good for medium light plants.
I don't recommend this set up for beginners though as the small tank size combined with medium light and special substrate is certainly not the easiest way to start. You will have challenges like very frequent pruning, algae and CO2 deficiency.
To start off easier and get the hang of it, my recommendation would be either to start with a 10 gallon tank, or block half of the light, use fine gravel (±2mm diameter) and use low light plants. That is much easier and more rewarding for a beginner. Once you get the hang of it you can always upgrade.
Growing aquatic plants without algae is about having the right water parameters, so an equilibrium in the tank, and the smaller the tank the harder it is.

 

[NicePoeci]

1st choice : ADA Aquasoil
2nd choice : Fluval Stratum

 

[fishorama]

Oh, I only meant a few pebbles or small stones around the base of shallowly rooted plants as a temporary measure until they root well...no rubber bands are involved...besides, those rubber bands rot after a while & make their own mess...

So we're talking about a 5g tank? That's smaller than any I've kept. I will think some more for tomorrow...Your GH & KH are not too very high, I've lived with very low & higher, both are a PITA...we do the best we can with the water we have...& it's best to adjust to your tap water for plants & fish than to try & "fix" it to what you may want...

 

[apenhow]

Oh, I only meant a few pebbles or small stones around the base of shallowly rooted plants as a temporary measure until they root well...no rubber bands are involved...besides, those rubber bands rot after a while & make their own mess...

So we're talking about a 5g tank? That's smaller than any I've kept. I will think some more for tomorrow...Your GH & KH are not too very high, I've lived with very low & higher, both are a PITA...we do the best we can with the water we have...& it's best to adjust to your tap water for plants & fish than to try & "fix" it to what you may want...

Ah whoops--I see what you mean now. I'll try to look into some stones or plant anchors. Yup, 5g. It does sometimes get hard to work with but some of those larger ones don't fit in my space and/or they are just so expensive!

 

[fishorama]

In some ways your 5g might work better for glossostigma since the lighting is closer to the substrate. I had it happy in a 20g long (10 inches or so from substrate to lights) for a while... but I'm a very lame fertilizer, you might do better than I did, I wish you good luck!...& we'll need pics please!

 

[the loach]

That's not going to work out, think of it as in 2tanks analogy of a 3 legged stool where the legs are light, nutrients and CO2. You can not have 1 or more of unequal length, it is about the equilibrium in the tank, it is about water chemistry and the smaller the tank, the harder it becomes. So the challenges are:
beginner, KH of 240 ppm (13,5 degrees) carpet plants, medium light but then it has to be in a 5 gallon tank, too. Likely you will need CO2 injection, and that in a 5 gallon? That's not something I would recommend starting out with.

 

[apenhow]

In some ways your 5g might work better for glossostigma since the lighting is closer to the substrate. I had it happy in a 20g long (10 inches or so from substrate to lights) for a while... but I'm a very lame fertilizer, you might do better than I did, I wish you good luck!...& we'll need pics please!

Thank you so much again! I really appreciate it. Fingers crossed I will be able to figure everything out and do it right... and if not I guess I will just try again! LOL! It might take a a while to get the tank completely set up, but I'm hoping it will be done sometime this month. Yes, I will definitely have to attach some pictures! And I will probably refer back here before I make my final plant/substrate decisions.

Have a great day.

 

[apenhow]

That's not going to work out, think of it as in 2tanks analogy of a 3 legged stool where the legs are light, nutrients and CO2. You can not have 1 or more of unequal length, it is about the equilibrium in the tank, it is about water chemistry and the smaller the tank, the harder it becomes. So the challenges are:
beginner, KH of 240 ppm (13,5 degrees) carpet plants, medium light but then it has to be in a 5 gallon tank, too. Likely you will need CO2 injection, and that in a 5 gallon? That's not something I would recommend starting out with.

Ah yeah, that makes sense. I definitely wouldn't want to start out with any CO2 injections. 1. I don't understand it enough and 2. it would just take up more space. Although I did recently come across a tank that had a built in CO2 injection system? I think it was the Fluval Flora or something like that. It is pretty expensive but for the future (not now) would something like that work for plants?

As of now I am liking the idea of Amazon Swords, Vallisneria, possibly Dwarf Hairgrass/java moss, and I think Lemon Bacopa is so nice but I don't know if I'll be able to include that or not. Any opinions on those with my current set up? Of course those are just my most recent ideas and I haven't deciding anything yet.

Thank you!!