New to planted tanks

[Tbone7050]

I am going to invest in some tanks and driftwood and was hoping for some tips and pointers about which are the best and easiest for my tank. I have two Senegal bichirs a needle nose gar and a Hejuta gar. And will soon be buying a silver aro. I heard floating plants are good. Help please!


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[fishfanatic80]

If i were you i would get amazon swords. Very hardy plant grows large and fast.

 

[Deubie Doo]

I tryed plants once and in the end it was a messy tank good luck

 

[thepotz]

Love planted tanks! Go with dirt! trust me! buy a bag of miracle gro organic potting soil and a bag of miracle gro organic top soil, mix them 50/50, add 2 cups of natural clay kitty litter, or take clay (the kind you use for making pottery) and a cheese grater, and grate the clay into small crumbly pieces. mix it all up, and vioala! put 2" of this on the bottom of your tank, then cover that with 1-1.5" of the sand of your choice over that, then plant the plants into the sand, and they will root into the soil and feed themselves, and the sand keeps the soil out of the water. if you like gravel, put it over the sand. sand is available at home depot. I use this method, and I don't dose anything. I then built a diy algae scrubber for filtration to keep the algae away. I also use diy co2, (sugar, water, yeast, 2liter bottle) plants grow best in soil, not gravel.

 

[HybridHerp]

btw, your lighting might be an important thing to consider

 

[JasonG75]

btw, your lighting might be an important thing to consider

If you want to stay in the easy to care for range without much dosing of ferts stay in the Normal Output range or IF you do get HighOutput make sure you raise it enough that it puts you in the low light range.

 

[mr.bigglesworth]

No need to buy driftwood. If you live near a resirvior,ocean, lake, river, bay, beach, etc... their should be plenty of it locally. Save yourself 50$ a do a quick 30minute stroll/scout around the local waters for driftwood. If your worried about parasites, decay, or transfer risks boiling It helps.

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[jeremoose]

Love planted tanks! Go with dirt! trust me! buy a bag of miracle gro organic potting soil and a bag of miracle gro organic top soil, mix them 50/50, add 2 cups of natural clay kitty litter, or take clay (the kind you use for making pottery) and a cheese grater, and grate the clay into small crumbly pieces. mix it all up, and vioala! put 2" of this on the bottom of your tank, then cover that with 1-1.5" of the sand of your choice over that, then plant the plants into the sand, and they will root into the soil and feed themselves, and the sand keeps the soil out of the water. if you like gravel, put it over the sand. sand is available at home depot. I use this method, and I don't dose anything. I then built a diy algae scrubber for filtration to keep the algae away. I also use diy co2, (sugar, water, yeast, 2liter bottle) plants grow best in soil, not gravel.

THIS. It's far cheaper than buying your substrate from a LFS and if done right, the nutrients will last a VERY long time.

 

[jeremoose]

I am going to invest in some tanks and driftwood and was hoping for some tips and pointers about which are the best and easiest for my tank. I have two Senegal bichirs a needle nose gar and a Hejuta gar. And will soon be buying a silver aro. I heard floating plants are good. Help please!


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Java Moss, Java Fern, Anubias, Vals, and Amazon Swords. They're all undemanding plants and grow like weeds. Personally, I love a forest of Vals in my aquariums, the fish always so contented to weave in and out of them.