thinking about switching my 29g to planted

[migueli]

right now i have fake plants and I really want to switch to planted(within the next 5 months), but first i have a few questions...
1. what would be a nice combination of plants
2. how do you clean the substrate b/c right now using my syphon is great with my gravel but i fear it would reck my plants
3. best way to install

I'm planning on low light plants, but i am still considering others and if co2 is needed it will most likely be diy


any input would be greatly appreciated

 

[plah831]

hi, since you don't want high maintenance plants (for which you'd need new lights and CO2), I'd say go with things like java fern, java moss, Anubias, anacharis, water sprite, wisteria (I've got all of those and then some ). Here's a great site that will let you search aquarium plants by difficulty and light requirement http://www.plantgeek.net/plantguide.php

As for vacuuming the gravel, just leave the substrate around the plants alone. I just swish the vac over the gravel there, but don't bury it into the substrate. You're right, you don't want to mess up their roots. It can take a long time for good root structure to grow, and the plants would not appreciate having them ripped up every week

The combination of plants is really up to you. As long as they will survive under your conditions, then it's all good.

what do you mean by "best way to install"?

 

[migueli]

sorry should have used better words but what i meant by "install" is whats the best way to plant (e.g. substrate and so on)

 

[plah831]

you could always try it without special substrate first. I've got plain ol' river bed gravel in my tanks right now and most of my plants are doing just fine. The ones that aren't are the stem plants that I received as clippings. When I tried to plan the stems, they rotted under the gravel and took forever to finally grow roots. But plants that I got with adequate root growth on them are not having problems.

If you had to change your gravel (or at least remove it all so you can put a layer underneath), you might want to take out all your fish. Plant substrates are pretty dusty so might leave particles in your water, even after plenty of pre-rinsing. Hopefully someone else can give you a recommendation on that one.

I was thinking about adding some plain laterite to my existent gravel, rather than layering it underneath. That way I could leave my fish in and just mix it in during a water change. Someone can let me know if that sounds like a bad idea.

As for planting, just dig a little hole in the substrate. Plop the plant in there, and cover it back up. I try to leave a little bit of the roots exposed above the gravel, as opposed to piling gravel around the base of the plant. I think that helps because it allows the plant to get some nutrients from the water around the top of the roots (gravel does not hold onto nutrients), and prevents the heavy gravel from suffocating or crushing the roots.

 

[migueli]

thanks plah

 

[Mgamer20o0]

i have reg gravel in mine everything is doing great. with low light you wont need co2 or ferts. my tank is heavly planted so i dont clean the gravel. just do 50% water change every week.

 

[migueli]

i would also like to add that as of now i only have an 18 watt light
could i grow anything with that or is that too little light (roughly .62 wpg)

i was also wondering if i could upgrade my bulb without getting a new hoodlight(on the hoodlight it says 18 watt, but maybe that is the bulb because they came together).

 

[Mgamer20o0]

what kind of bulb is it? thats really way to low to grow anything. maybe java moss that floats on top of the water. maybe hornwort but i dont think so.