Live plants in Aquarium (Beginner)

[AlanMurphy]

Hi all

Ill be getting a 210 litre (55 gallon) Aquarium soon and im hoping to have live plants in it.

Ive never done this before and need some advice, Do i need to put a certain type of fertilizer down or does sand/stones work on their own?

Also a bit off subject, If i use sand as substrate and use a gravel vacuum will that just suck up the sand plus the dirt? Or is there a different type of vacuum for sand?

 

[jrthor_85]

Some of the hardier plant species such as anubias, or amazon swords (I'm familiar with those) will survive just in normal tank gravel with fish providing most of the nutrients they need. It can be that simple, though if you want a true "planted tank" where the plants are the centerpiece rather than the fish, you're potentially looking at a lot more. You can buy special planted tank substrate like Flourite, higher quality lighting like T5HO, and invest in a carbon dioxide injection system. It can get as complicated as you can handle.

As far as sand bottom, there are some special attachments for the vacuum to work on sand, but I just take the whole large end off my vac (So it's a plain tube) and keep the end just above the bottom while siphoning. It's more technique than equipment.