My first real serious attempt at a live planted tank!!

[xxUnRaTeDxxRkOxx]

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Looking good so far!!! You're welcome to bother me anytime you have questions, I'm always around somewhere lol.

As for the lighting here's my thoughts on it, I prefer to go with quad T5HO fixtures because it lets me use different spectrum's of lighting, I use 1 - 6500k bulb, 2 - WavePoint Ultra Growth wave bulbs, and 1 - AquaFlora bulb in it. What this does is the Ultra Growth wave bulbs cover the 2 spectrum's that plants utilize for photosynthesis; Chloraphyll A responds to 400nm-460nm, and chlorophyll B responds to 660nm. The 6500k is close to natural sunlight during the day, and the aquaflora bulb emits the light spectrum necessary for healthy aquarium plant growth.

With LED lighting this can be done by either switching out some of the 6500k LED's and replacing them with spectrum LED's close to the 420nm & 660 nm, or by purchasing multiple LED fixtures. This is just my opinion, and I can't hate on LED's because I have a Satellite Plus fixture lol.

 

[INTHECOWBOYSWETRUST]

Subscribed!!!

Looking good so far!!! You're welcome to bother me anytime you have questions, I'm always around somewhere lol.

As for the lighting here's my thoughts on it, I prefer to go with quad T5HO fixtures because it lets me use different spectrum's of lighting, I use 1

Hey Mike how you doing buddy? Thanks for the reply and the info. on the lighting... I don't really have any new updates on the tank right now, I filled it up and let it run with just a power head and 3 air stones for 4 days then put a well seeded Fluval 404 on it and the other heater.. Now I am just letting it run the course and cycle...

I should let the tank cycle good before I add any plants to it correct??

Thanks again for the help Mike.. And everyone else who commented...

 

[HybridHerp]

Subscribed!!!

Looking good so far!!! You're welcome to bother me anytime you have questions, I'm always around somewhere lol.

As for the lighting here's my thoughts on it, I prefer to go with quad T5HO fixtures because it lets me use different spectrum's of lighting, I use 1

Hey Mike how you doing buddy? Thanks for the reply and the info. on the lighting... I don't really have any new updates on the tank right now, I filled it up and let it run with just a power head and 3 air stones for 4 days then put a well seeded Fluval 404 on it and the other heater.. Now I am just letting it run the course and cycle...

I should let the tank cycle good before I add any plants to it correct??

Thanks again for the help Mike.. And everyone else who commented...

Nah, plant heavily first they help with the cycle.


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[flcountryskater]

looks good cant wait to see what plants you add. Some Anubis would look good on the drift wood

 

[INTHECOWBOYSWETRUST]

Nah, plant heavily first they help with the cycle.


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O cool.. I will try to get around to the stores tomorrow to see what I can find to get it started... Thanks again for the help!!

 

[INTHECOWBOYSWETRUST]

looks good cant wait to see what plants you add. Some Anubis would look good on the drift wood

Yep that is what I want to start with is some Anubis and Java moss on the wood and some Java fern and Amazon swords in the substrate.... I think I will go looking for some tomorrow to see what I can find for it!!! Thanks again everyone for the help and input!!!

 

[INTHECOWBOYSWETRUST]

FINALLY NEW UPDATE!!!!

Well I finally made it the LFS to look for some plants and though they did not have what I went there for I did find some really cool looking ones I had to grab!!!

Believe it or not they did not have any Java fern or Java moss, So I figured I would get all the ones I want to plant in the substrate now then get everything I want to put on the driftwood next trip...

What I picked up today was:
(6) Purple Waffle Plants..
(2) Aluminum Bunch...
(4) Amazon Sword plants...
I have never seen or heard of the Aluminum bunch or the Purple Waffle plant but that is what the store had them listed as, Maybe you may know them by a different name but I just thought they was awesome looking plants...

So now I guess the question is did I mess up with these plants, does anyone know anything about them like if they are hard to grow or not, or anything special I need to do with them??

 

[INTHECOWBOYSWETRUST]

I don't know what the problem is but I can not get the pictures to load... lets try this again!!! Wow I don't know why I can not get these pictures to load, but I was just trying to do some research on these plants to see any care tips for them and everything I can find say these are not good Aquarium plants and they will not live more then a few weeks under water!!!

Just my luck a complete waste of money on more plants that will just die soon!!!! It makes me sick the things these pet stores will sell just to make a dollar!!!!

 

[INTHECOWBOYSWETRUST]

Hey I finally got them to load for me.. These ones was taken with all the lights on then I turned off the MH bulbs off and took some more pictures..

 

[INTHECOWBOYSWETRUST]

These pictures was taken with just the 50/50 bulbs on.. I think it looks better this way!!!

And yes I know this is not the best light for growing plants but it is just what I had on there at the time... I just ordered all new 6500K and Actinic bulbs for this light but Mike tells me this will not work good for what I want, So now I have to decide what to do about lighting!!!

Thanks again everyone for the help, I hope you enjoy the pictures now while it looks pretty because from what I have just read about these plants it will not look like this for too long!!!!