New to planted aquariums

[TheSinisterSOB]

Hello,

I am new to the planted aquarium hobby, but relatively old to keeping a community of fish. I recently started planting in my aquarium, but am not having success with all of the plants that I've placed. This has brought me here, to ask a few questions.

125g 6' long aquarium, 3 dwarf cichlids, 2 plecos, 1 catfish, 2 loachs, and several more target fish. I've tried to plant several different species of plants, and because I'm new to this type of hobby I have no idea what the names of the plants are.

Is a CO2 system essential for plants to flourish?

Is there anything that can be placed into the tank to help create CO2 in the water?

I have 2 Life Glo 24" tubes, and 1 unknown natural light tube that's 24"...Is that too much light for this aqaurium?

Thank you in advance for any help. Sorry for the vague information, I will try to get more information, just really frustrating to see my plants withering.

 

[ChrisLife]

Welcome to the wonderful world of plants, haha.
Alright co2 is not needed, but if you do add it your plants will explode literly, they will grow like never before and if you use a lot of co2 your plant may pearl witch is one of the most beautiful things in this hobby. You can either buy you own co2 tank and regulate it, if you go that way then i leave it up to you to do the googling, because there is a lot to learn. if you go the DIY route you can use 2 liters bottles, sugar, yeast and make your own co2 BUT you will need a large amount so your going to have a lot of bottles and they needed to be changed every 2 weeks, for a small tank its managble but for a 125g its a really big pain redoing all those co2 2liter soda bottles, thats why if you do co2 i recomend buying a tank of co2 and going that route, if you do DIY i would estimate you need 10-12 2 liter bottles, lol so you thats pretty much out of the question. They have tablets that make co2 they don't work.

The lighting sounds ok, but its measured in watts in the plant world, so you would tell me how many watts you have in total, add up all the watts then divide by the tank volume, a good number is 2-3 watts per gallon, 3 watts per gallon would be better, under 2 watts per gallon is really low. Also those lights usually only last a year then they need to be replaced.


So now i going to give you some tips:
What type of substrate do you use, use eco-complete i recommend it, its a very fertile substrate and you plants will love it.
Get a nice pair of very sharp scissors for trimming and tweezers for planting.
If you have too much light like 4 + watts per gallon then you will really need co2 because algae will be a problem
Keep the light on for about 8-12 hours a day not more then that or algae will invade. But 8 hours is playing it safe, 12 is more if you have co2 to fend off the algae.
Don't just buy petco plants they are usually non-aquatic and will die, yes they say they are aquatic but they lie, get them from a good pet store or oder online.
Start with easy plants that require little care and low light, don't go getting plants that need high light or just buy plants you don't know, because they might need more then you can provide so do a little research, check out drfosterandsmiths plant section it has the light requirements and everything.

If you have anymore questions don't hesitate to ask, i know you probably will!

 

[WyldFya]

The above info is a little dated. WPG is no longer the applied method of measurement for plants. There are several stickies that will help you on your way. Read them, and come back with some more specific questions. As to the above posts first statement about plants... it is not correct as it is worded. Yes, plants MUST have co2. However, there is co2 naturally occurring in the water due to the respiration of the live animals, and the plants themselves. Also, if there is surface agitation, the co2 will be getting replenished in the tank, as it is pulled from the air through gas exchange. To properly answer your question, the following should be said. You do not need to add co2 to a tank with your specific parameters. Also, plants do not pearl because co2 is added. They pearl due to the over production of o2. This is often seen after a water change, or on a tank with a wet dry filter.

 

[skjl47]

Hello; I have not used CO2 injection and have grown many plants over time. So I agree that it is not necessary in order to have plants. I also have found that a deeper substrate seems to favor plant growth. I have used gravel of four or more inches depth, as much as eight inches a few times, with good results. I also like to have snails in a planted tank, usually the ramshorn or trumpet snails.

 

[JamesF]

With the lighting you currently have (sounds like T8 or T12 bulbs) you only have enough light for a select few plants. Most likely to survive would be anubias, java fern, java moss, bolbitis, and possibly hygrophila polysperma. Floating plants would also do well.
If you want to expand your plant options, you'll need to increase the amount of light. fishneedit.com has very inexpensive T5 high output units. Two of the 36" models with freshwater bulbs would work great. Depending on the amount of bulbs each unit has, you may or may not need CO2, plus other nutirents such as nitrate, phosphate, potassium, iron and trace elements.
As WildFya said, read over the stickies and decide which route you want to go with your plants. The more light, the faster everything grows, and the faster everything crashes if you mess up.