Any Advice please ???

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DanDanUK

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jun 2, 2005
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Leeds , England
Hi Guy's

I have a spare 20gal and was thinking about making it a planted aquarium nothing too flash as i have never done a live planted aquarium befor it's never really been anything i wanted to do until now.

So here it is in my 20g I have 1x aqua glow bulb and i have gravel substrate i have just ordered some Java Moss my idea is to have a lawn of java moss and then some larger plants like Aponogeton Boivianus to set as the back ground and in the mid ground maybe some Cardamine lyrata (Water Cress) my question is do you need CO2 ? or would these plants be fine without a CO2 kit ? the fish i'll be adding are only neon tetras.

Any advice you guy's can give this newbie to planted aquariums would be great thanks.

Dan.
 
Sounds good, i think you sjould add a big piece of bogwood in the middle so that the plants grow around and one it.As for the fish i think you should get two small angels and once they out grow your tank, sell them or move them into you 30g or 180g. ;)
 
You don't need CO2 injection til you have about two watts per gallon or so. Those are reasonably low light plants you've chosen, so you should be fine without it. If you want to try plants that need more light than that, though, you'll want it, because if you add more light and not CO2, what you'll end up growing is algae.
 
i have good success using a black bio gravel of sorts (cant remember the name of it) from caribsea instead of just gravel... have had more success this way then when i used to use regular gravel and put laterite pellets in it.... i also use an additive from seachem called flourish excel, has my plants doing great!
 
Just be careful about feeding excess nutrients in a low light tank with slow growing plants can actually be a bigger pain than doin some med light plants with a simple yeast reactor for the co2
 
Howdy,

I'd say try the low-tech route first, it might be quite sufficient. You can always add on expensive equipment if you need to ;)

Just a few more things: Don't filter thru carbon, and add some fertilizer every once in a while if your tank is not stocked to the max. Also, change fluorescent light bulbs every 6-12 months, since they age and their emitted spectrum becomes less usable by plants.

Good luck,
HarleyK
 
HarleyK said:
Howdy,

I'd say try the low-tech route first, it might be quite sufficient. You can always add on expensive equipment if you need to ;)

Just a few more things: Don't filter thru carbon, and add some fertilizer every once in a while if your tank is not stocked to the max. Also, change fluorescent light bulbs every 6-12 months, since they age and their emitted spectrum becomes less usable by plants.

Good luck,
HarleyK
Click to expand...

Yeah well i have now decided which plants i'd like to add in my 20gal it's going to be quite full a lawn of Java Moss, 5x Water cress plants 5x Blue Hygriophila 2x wheat plants and a nice peice of bogwood for decor. Also do you suggest i buy the plants in Pot's or as cuttings ?
 
Well in a 20g Planted I would have just large shole of Neon’s (look stunning) Black sand Contrasts is amassing when the Neon’s are up to full colour. Then I would have a really nice (not large) peace of bog wood running up the middle. CO2 needs to be supplemented get one the cheap JBL kits they work well. You want the filter to give you some surface agitation this will move the CO2 around the tank. Plants Something like Background: Hygrophila difformisX3, Cryptocoryne becketiix3, Micranthemum micromoidesX2, Cryptocoryne wendtiiX2, Middle round wood: Vesicularia dubyana (Java moss) and Microsorum pteropsis (Java fern) Last of all the Front: Marsilea crenata X2, Ranalisma rostrata X2, Echinodorus tenellus X2 Would look nice going to do a new planted in my living room when the fish room is finished. :woot: Get them in pots first time planted so gives you and them more of a chance :thumbsup:
 
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