newb to planted tank. need help deciding plants and substrate.

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
J

jdmjunkiemonkie

Candiru
MFK Member
Jun 18, 2009
295
10
48
chikiti china the chinese chicken
decided to go planted tank instead of a nano saltwater.

i purchased a 12 gallon flat back hex from clear for life
filter is an ac50.
currently have some GEO's in the tank
T6HO 24" odyssey light fixture

i want to run a fluval pressurized co2 kit for a nano tank that they have available. i was wondering what kind of substrate and plants would best fit this type of idea.

my fish stock is mainly going to be some Clown Loaches and Geo's. also im going to put a small piece of manzanita wood or driftwood.

thanks any input on plants and substrate would be greatly appreciated.
 
There are a lot of substrate that are good for planted tank. I've tried eco--complete and azoo substrate and had good result with both, and you can't go wrong with ADA amazonian. I had no experience with the fluval co2 kit, but I heard in the long runthey are really not worth it due to the cost to replace the co2 bottle. There is a thread on plantedtank.net that gives instruction on how to built a pressurized kit with paint ball co2 bottle and ASA on/off switch. The whole built cost around $50 and is a lot cheaper to refill compare to the fluval co2 kit. If you want to have carpet plants such as HC, gloss, or dwarf hair grass, I think it is best keep Geos in other tank as they might dig the substrate and float the plants. There are too many plants to choose from, anything you are looking for in particular? Some moss on the driftwood, a carpet plant for fill the foreground, some plants to give the tank more depth and accent(I like blyxa Japonica a lot). You can use some rotala as back ground plants. There are really too many plants to choose from. Take your time and find out what you like the most. Also, I have no idea about how good the light you have is, but it seems like you are going high tech with this tank, you will definitely need to give your plants some fertilizer. I recommend Pfertz. Really easy to doze. I think the AC50 might be too strong for this tank, but you should be able to decrease the flow rate so it does not mess with your substrate(strong current sometimes tend to re-scape the substrate and some delicate plants might not be able to withstand the strong current. Sorry to be so wordy, but it is always exciting to see people get into planted tank. And definitely keep us updated with pictures. Have fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Bonzo;4932774; said:
There are a lot of substrate that are good for planted tank. I've tried eco--complete and azoo substrate and had good result with both, and you can't go wrong with ADA amazonian. I had no experience with the fluval co2 kit, but I heard in the long runthey are really not worth it due to the cost to replace the co2 bottle. There is a thread on plantedtank.net that gives instruction on how to built a pressurized kit with paint ball co2 bottle and ASA on/off switch. The whole built cost around $50 and is a lot cheaper to refill compare to the fluval co2 kit. If you want to have carpet plants such as HC, gloss, or dwarf hair grass, I think it is best keep Geos in other tank as they might dig the substrate and float the plants. There are too many plants to choose from, anything you are looking for in particular? Some moss on the driftwood, a carpet plant for fill the foreground, some plants to give the tank more depth and accent(I like blyxa Japonica a lot). You can use some rotala as back ground plants. There are really too many plants to choose from. Take your time and find out what you like the most. Also, I have no idea about how good the light you have is, but it seems like you are going high tech with this tank, you will definitely need to give your plants some fertilizer. I recommend Pfertz. Really easy to doze. I think the AC50 might be too strong for this tank, but you should be able to decrease the flow rate so it does not mess with your substrate(strong current sometimes tend to re-scape the substrate and some delicate plants might not be able to withstand the strong current. Sorry to be so wordy, but it is always exciting to see people get into planted tank. And definitely keep us updated with pictures. Have fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...

thanks i read somewhere on this forum that ADA needs to stabilized before you can add fish, which i dont want to go that route. how are flourite and eco complete. right now im looking for like anubias and swords, i dont know any other plants out there do you have some you prefer maybe i can google them up and look at them. as for the DIY Co2 do you have the actual link to it. Thanks for your help


aclockworkorange;4932860; said:
You cannot keep geos or clown loaches in that tank, WAY WAY too small!
Click to expand...

i didnt say they were going to be in there for life. it just to give the tank some life

Tom LoFaro;4932890; said:
Agreed, hope it's only a very temporary grow out tank
Click to expand...

it will be, i just want to give the tank some lif.
 
I think Geos and loaches are a poor choice for a planted tank anyway. They will uproot your plants. It sounds like you have the equipment for a high tech set up. IO would of went the low tech route personally. Do you want the tank heavily planted or light/moderate? You could use flourite or eco complete substrate. Or you can use sand and add some root tabs.
 
Pyramid_Party;4934031; said:
I think Geos and loaches are a poor choice for a planted tank anyway. They will uproot your plants. It sounds like you have the equipment for a high tech set up. IO would of went the low tech route personally. Do you want the tank heavily planted or light/moderate? You could use flourite or eco complete substrate. Or you can use sand and add some root tabs.
Click to expand...

i see. didnt know those fish would uproot the plants. im not looking for a heavily look, but more of a moderate look to it just like a wow look im going for. how does the root tab work, would i have to consistently change them out?

also can someone explain what is a high tech setup or a low tech setup.
 
go to plantedtank.net, I think that's the site where diana walstad is the moderator.
Read her book if you can "ecology of the planted aquarium" best fish book ever imo. Or look up walstad method on google. They are incredibly simple. The idea is to have a well buffered tank with soil under gravel substrate so the rotting of the soil creates co2 for the plants. the plants are fertilized by fish and by feeding fish slightly extra. I breed platies in these tanks in large numbers to feed my knifefish, they are incredibly healthy and almost never need to be cleaned (as the plants use the excess waste).

I can't tell you everything about them then but if youre going into low-tech this is my favourite method by far. Co2 injection ime needs way too much maintenece as co2 can drastically lower ph and if the water is not bufferd well you can have bad ph drops which can lead to acid crashing, which can only b good for acid pool sp. like wild rams.

if you want extra carbon I would suggest somethign that is not co2 like flourish or other kinds of bioavailable carbon.

The only problem with the walstad method is that you can only keep hard water fish that don't dig. But they are the most healthy and balanced tanks I have ever had. My platies breed like crazy. I have almost 200 tiny babies right now and all i ever do is feed them flakes.

Its worth looking into
 
Its also easy to get bogged down in all the science and fertilizers used by people like takashi amano. unless you want to spend 2 days a wk on maintence and spend thousands of dollars on a tiny tank, I wouldn't suggest trying to do aquariums like he does. he is an artist and that's his full time job.

But his tanks do look daaaammmmnnnn gooooooooood.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom