help with setting up planted tank

[laura77]

hi im pretty new at the fish keeping game so sorry for the dumb questions.....

i have a 3 foot tank aprox 150L..

i want it to be a planted tank but nothing too fancy.

do i add plants during the tanks cycling?
what is the best dark substrate to use and what fish are good to help the cycle along.??

i also want to create a carpet effect on the bottom of the tank how and when do i do this .....

thanks heaps guys

 

[movitt]

hello, i know that eco complete comes liquid pack with an amazon buffering solution( might help cycle) and is a dark rich " natural" color i love. it is more money then others most of the time down where i live, but it seems to work very well for me. if you want to keep it simple dont go out and buy a high watt fixt....it opens new doors to things you might not want to deal with right away. PLEASE read up to save yourself trouble. With threads like this i always say to read the STICKIES here. They are a great place to start and then read up on other sites/forums that are deticated just to "planted tanks" for additional(deatail) info.

 

[Pyramid_Party]

Well, if you want to start out and not waste alot of money, just get yourself some low care plants. You can then play around with that for awhile and gain some experience. If you want a fancy tank, you have to do your homework. Lighting, substrate, CO2, other nutrients etc are needed depending on the plant.


I been playing around with live plants for a little bit and I am getting better with it. I am not in the stage yet to go fancy. I still got alot to learn myself, jsut read around and get soem pointers from people. I wish I could help more, but I cant. Just wait around, theres soem folks who know their stuff and can give you some pointers.

 

[jcardona1]

sounds like youre going for a easy low maintenance setup. read the stickies first as mentioned. avoid any high output light fixtures and stick with anubias, ferns, and mosses. these are very easy to grow. good luck!