I started my 1st planted tank about 6 months ago. It's a 30 gallon long that houses a pair of Bolivian Rams, White Cloud minnows and some tetras that I can't catch.
It was setup as a low-tech, low-maintenance tank. It get's a little over 1wpg from a Coralife T5 fixture (42w). I occasionally dose Seachem Flourish (2-3x/month) and try to change the water once per week.
I have dry ferts that have been sitting around for some time, but I'll wait until the Flourish is done before I start with those.
In regards to flow, once everything becomes acclimated and starts to grow, the more the merrier. I'm running an Eheim 2217 and AC70. I've had 4 successive spawns in the past 3 months.
There was no initial scape. I started off with some random low-light plants and it took off from there.
Here's a recent pic (it's needs to be trimmed BADLY!)
- Wisteria started on the lefthand side of the tank. As you can see it spread EVERYWHERE. It gets trimmed bi-weekly.
- There are several Amazon Swords in the middle that did horrible at first, but now that the substrate has matured, they're doing well.
- Some type of Ludwiga (IIRC) in the middle that's considered a medium to high-light plant. It does well and turns a nice shade of red when there's enough iron available.
- Finally there's some dwarf hargrass and something else similar on the lefthand side that has done very well considering it's burried under 12+" of Wisteria.
I'll try and get some more pics up later, but feel free to ask if you have any questions.
Also, check out PlantGeek.net to check out plant profiles. Excellent site.
edit: There are also about 8-10 ottos and I'm thinking about adding some RCS. I haven't had an algae issue until recently. There's a bit of BBA as of late, but it's on it's way out.
It was setup as a low-tech, low-maintenance tank. It get's a little over 1wpg from a Coralife T5 fixture (42w). I occasionally dose Seachem Flourish (2-3x/month) and try to change the water once per week.
I have dry ferts that have been sitting around for some time, but I'll wait until the Flourish is done before I start with those.
In regards to flow, once everything becomes acclimated and starts to grow, the more the merrier. I'm running an Eheim 2217 and AC70. I've had 4 successive spawns in the past 3 months.
There was no initial scape. I started off with some random low-light plants and it took off from there.
Here's a recent pic (it's needs to be trimmed BADLY!)
- Wisteria started on the lefthand side of the tank. As you can see it spread EVERYWHERE. It gets trimmed bi-weekly.
- There are several Amazon Swords in the middle that did horrible at first, but now that the substrate has matured, they're doing well.
- Some type of Ludwiga (IIRC) in the middle that's considered a medium to high-light plant. It does well and turns a nice shade of red when there's enough iron available.
- Finally there's some dwarf hargrass and something else similar on the lefthand side that has done very well considering it's burried under 12+" of Wisteria.
I'll try and get some more pics up later, but feel free to ask if you have any questions.
Also, check out PlantGeek.net to check out plant profiles. Excellent site.
edit: There are also about 8-10 ottos and I'm thinking about adding some RCS. I haven't had an algae issue until recently. There's a bit of BBA as of late, but it's on it's way out.
