planted aquarium?

L

Lisa Beth

AC Members
Apr 3, 2007
16
0
1
Hi there-I am hoping to get some sound advice about setting up a 55 gallon planted aquarium for guppies.
  • Is substarte necessary?
  • Do you use substarte only or mix it with gravel?
  • Is a special light required or will natural sunlight be adequate?
  • Do you add chemicals to the water?
  • Which plants are the best to purchase?
  • Can your reccommend an on-line service to buy plants?
  • How do you perform partial water changes in this type of tank?
Thanks
 
Hi, welcome to Aquaria Central!! We have a forum specifically for aquatic plants here as well, maybe a mod will move this thread over to get it more exposure for you. First off is your tank started at all? The best plants, in my opinion, to start with would be java fern, java moss, and some other basic floating plants for the guppy babies to hide in. Depending on how much work and money you want to spend will tell more of what products you will need. With basic plants you won't need special lights or substrate, although some may grow faster with brighter light or a substrate like Eco-complete or Flourite. There are many places to order plants from online, once you decide on the tank size and what equipment you want more suggestions will be much easier. Water changes are pretty much the same except most of the time its not as important to do gravel vacuuming and you have to be a little more gentle adding the new water to avoid messing up your plant placement. Everyone here loves to help so just keep hitting us up with any other questions you have. I'm no expert by any means, I'm sure you will get more info when the heavy hitters of the plant board come in today. :dance: :dance:
 
Thanks...It has not been set up yet. I plan to move my guppies (currently in a 15 gallon) to the 55 gallon.

Can't seem to figure out how to mod this posting to change the forum it is in.
 
1. Substrate is gravel. Gravel is substrate. Unless you are going to have a bare bottom tank you are going to have substrate.

2. There are some substrates that help plants.

3. You need more light than the stock hood. Using sunlight is not recommended. It heats up the tank. Is hard to control. Can cause algae problems. And it's not reliable. If your tank is in front of a window then chances are part of the year the tank will receive little or no sunlight.

4. Define chemicals? If you mean ferts then yes. If you mean water conditioners then yes.

5. Depends on your setup.

6. Depends on where you live. Filling out the location area of your profile helps us help you. It does no good to recommend a US based source if you live in France.

7. Water changes are done the same way as any other tank. I built some water changing aids.

Take a few minutes and read my Guide. It will answer a lot of the questions you asked and questions you have not even thought to ask.
 
ditto on rex, he's prevented numerous repetitive threads from people like me who started with virtually nothing.
 
Do you plan on having anything besides guppies in the tank? Got any favorite plants so far? In my opinion the more dense the plants the better if you want to breed them so the fry have alot of places to hide. Are you from the US or somewhere else, and we can better recommend places to get your plants from. I've had good luck with ebay so far, just always check the feedback and know what kind of seller you are dealing with. I just got in some Swords today and even though they still look a little ragged from being shipped, I think I am hooked, plus there are alot of varieties to choose from.

:dance2: :dance2: :dance2:
 
I'd suggest checking out this seller http://stores.ebay.com/Mikeswetpets-Aquarium-Plants_W0QQssPageNameZstrkQ3amefsQ3amesstQQtZkm

I just ordered from him and I was really please with his courteous service.

Another one to check out is http://stores.ebay.com/Aquadise-Store although with them I would make 2 suggestions. First throughly research any plants you are interested in, as they tend to sell some plants that aren't actually aquatic. Secondly pay the extra for priority shipping instead of going for the free shipping deal. I haven't ordered from them, these are just potential problems I have heard from reading about them on forums.

You can't beat the service from Mikeswetpets, but Aquadise does have a slightly larger selection. Hope you can find what you are looking for.
 
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