Yikes! Where to start?

[Joanne_3131]

Hi! This is my 3rd time having fish in the house, and I'm learning tons all the time, but I have NEVER had plants in the tank. I started reading the forum and realized I'm way out of my comfort zone and simply don't know where to start the learning process. Most of the threads are beyond the simple questions like:

I use a small gravel and a mid sized rounded gravel in all my tanks, but if I want to have live plants what types of substrate etc do I need for the tank? They sell so many different kinds for plants, I find it hard to figure out what are the basic things I absolutely HAVE to have.

It's overwhelming how many $$$'s it sound like this is going to cost and I want to go into it with a firm understanding of what it will take to produce plants for my tanks. It seems every time I have owned fish it hasn't been a conscious decision on my part, rather they were snuck in while I wasn't looking so I had to do catch up to figure out what I should have done rather than doing the research first, and then getting the critters. I do NOT want to do it that way with the plants.

What type of filter will I need for the tank? I currently have Penguin/Emperor bio wheel filters for all my tanks, and I have a Magnum Pro canister filter just itching to be used.

Will I need a different light setup then the standard ones I currently have? I live in a house that is usually pretty dark, even though we have a lot of sunshine in this area.

How big a tank do I need to have in order to keep plenty of plants growing for those fish who decide to eat them? Do I need to have a separate growing tank, or could I just use the new 25 high I am getting soon which will house Platy's, Danios, and possibly a few more fish?

Are there any websites that give good information to beginners like me who have never delved into aquarium plants? I am an avid reader and would greatly appreciate the info!

What are the absolute basic requirements for growing plants for the aquarium?

 

[KarlTh]

Light. Until you start getting into it more heavily the fish will provide sufficient CO2 and ferts for low light plants, but "low light" still means more than the single tube you generally get on most aquatic setups. You need to have around 1.5 watts for each US gallon of water; more if the tank is relatively tall.

Gravel's fine, especially in an established tank.

Just ensure you don't get stung with the following:

*Plants which need lots of light - most red plants, things like Lilaeopsis. Anything which doesn't grow tall is likely to need more light, with the possible exception of the pygmy chain sword plant (Echinodorus tenellus)
*Plants which aren't true aquatics.

A good investment is to get a good aquarium book with a plant section. It'll pay for itself many times over by avoiding the two pitfalls above.

Don't buy a plant if you don't know for certain what it is, by its scientific (Latin) name, and therefore that it is a true aquatic plant.

It needn't be expensive. It's like any other hobby - the deeper you want to go into it, the more it costs. If you want a lush underwater garden with lots of different plants, you're going to need higher light and CO2. If you are willing to be more limited in plant choice, you don't.

 

[paperdragon]

I keep mostly low-light plants - guppy grass, some of those aponogetons that come in the bulb packs at wal-mart, crypts, etc. I just get the household fluorescent lights strips making sure I have at least 1 watt per gallon. I use play sand substrate, no ferts, aqua-tech filters (they're the same thing as the penguins minus the biowheels).
My plants seem to be doing just fine. It doesn't have to be hard or expensive having a plated tank.

 

[Joanne_3131]

Any suggestions on a book with good information about plants? I usually order my books online, so I don't get a chance to look through them before I buy them. It helps if I have some good recommendations, since I really live in the boonies a long way away from any decent bookstores.

All these suggestions are really helpful....

 

[JenniferLynn]

I also live in the boonies no book or pet stores and I just jumped into having real plants in the tank myself. If you read some of the posts in here you can get a good idea of what low light plants are working for others and make yourself a list. I’ve been using online stores selling plants to weed out the ones I don’t like the look of and then take your list when you go with you to a real pet store some place. I’ve come home with java fern and anubias nana that way and so far so good 3 weeks into my little project. I just have the lights that came with my tank and the same kind of filter set up as you do. I have the gemstone bottom on my tank so I did a little work about how to hold plants down and ended up using fishing line to tie them to suction cups that I anchor to the bottom and cover up and now I don’t have floating plants in with the goldies. Start with a plant or two and see how it goes.

 

[icemanx23]

Ecology of the planted aquarium by Diana L walstad is an intresting book.Encyclopedia of Aquarium Plants and Freshwater Aquarium Models are fun to read. Aquarium Plant Paradise - Takashi Amano is highly recommended if u want to keep beautiful tanks.

 

[Joanne_3131]

Thanks, I will definitely check out those books online and continue to read posts here. I am not ready to jump in and start yet, because I don't want to spend a bunch of $$ and have everything die on my cuz I didn't buy the right stuff!

Question: The plants all seem to require a pH lower than 7.5 and my natural pH is 8 to 8.4, great for cichlids but not so great for plants. How do you lower the pH for the plants, is there a natural way rather than using chemicals?

 

[KarlTh]

Ignore the pH stuff; most plants (like fish) are far more tolerant of pH than the books give them credit for.

 

[Cory Keeper]

Karl I will agree with you to a point. IMO crypts really hate super soft/acidic water, because that is what I have and every time I ditch the crushed coral my crypts will just melt away.

Joanne, absolute essentials is enough light for the plants you need to grow, a proper sized tank and knowledge of what your buying. If your not sure its aquatic, don't buy it and research it. FYI AC helped in setting up my 20g then to 20 Long into a planted tank, mainly by me watching this forum and reading various posts on the subject. I soaked up alot of info before I took the dive to planted.

 

[jpappy789]

One thing to keep in mind is that crypts are sensitive to changes and a lot of people experience melting when transferring between different tanks...it might not be the exact GH/KH that is causing it.