Need Advice

[Fishy-Fishy]

HI!
I am totally new here, and totally new the the whole aquarium thing. So I have a lot to learn. We have a 10 gallon take which hubby is totally in charge of, but we want to start another, specifically a larger planted tank. We are looking at a tank probably 30 gallons or bigger and I want to know a few things.

-What do we need to have equitment wise, please be specific, remember I'm new
-Cycling with plants how do we do this?
-What kind of plants should we be starting out with?
-any other info you can provide me with

Thanks in Advance

Sue

 

[Zagz]

Welcome to AA! Equipment you will need, a filter, I recommend Aqua clear brand. A heater, susbrate either gravel or sand, a liquid test kit, I use AP freshwater master kit, a net, a syphon hose to do water changes, or you can use a python water change kit, depending on the type of plants you want your lighting and C02 needs will change. I recommend reading the sticky's in the planted section. As for cycling with plants, plants will not cycle a tank. You can cycle with plants but I recommend a fishless cycle. We have a good article here on AA, instead of the shrimp you can use pure ammonia to start your cycle. Link for the fishless cycle, works for both FW and SW, http://www.aquariumadvice.com/showquestion.php?faq=2&fldAuto=15.

I am not a plant expert so others will chime in I am sure. Once again welcome to AA, ask whatever you need to ask and someone here is sure to help.

 

[Garou]

We are definately going to go with a fishless cycle, but we're just wondering if there are any drawbacks to cycling with plants in the tank.

 

[Menagerie]

[center:f525eed425] Welcome to Aquarium Advice, Fishy-Fishy and Garou! [/center:f525eed425]

There are no drawbacks to cycling with plants present. As far as what you need for a planted tank, there are wonderful stickies in the planted tank forum http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewforum.php?f=21

 

[BrianNY]

Welcome to AA guys. Yes, do read the stickies in the planted tank section. As this is your first planted tank I would suggest keeping things as simple as possible. As long as you keep the lighting to around 1 wpg, you won't need any special equipment or fertilization.

Species such as anubias, crypts, vals and java fern make a beautiful low light planted tank. Check my gallery for some pics.

 

[Garou]

I am truly interested in obtaining a "lawn" look. From what I have read, you can obtain this look using java moss (correct me if I am wrong). Are there any other plants that could be used to accomplish this?

 

[BrianNY]

Well I don't think java moss would ever look like a lawn. It's very difficult to aquascape with as it tends to grow wildly. Plus, it's a collecting place for detritus.

I know what you mean about the lawn look. Most everyone loves the look of glosso (which is probably what you're referring to). Glosso has very high light requirements and is one of the most difficult plants to grow. JMO. There are a few low light carpet plants but I've really not had any experience with them. Perhaps someone else will chime in here.

 

[Purrbox]

If you bump your lighting up to about 2wpg, you could still have a very low maintenance tank and would have a bit better selection of plants. In the medium light range you would be able to grow Dwarf Sag, which would give you a very nice lawn effect. I've read that there are some clovers which could also be used at this light level and have a very similar look to glosso, however I have no personal experience with them.

For some pics and other info about the plant options at the various light levels check out the following links.
Low Light
Medium to Low Light
Medium Light

 

[Jchillin]

Chiming in...(wait a minute...fishy-fishy/Garou...related)?

Is this the carpet plant you are referring to Glosso...very nice? If yes, BrianNY is correct, it is a high-light plant.

Reading the stickies regarding the requirements for such a plant is a great place to start. However, IMO...I would highly recommend starting slowly prior to delving into glosso.

 

[Hoovercat]

If you intend to have any sort of "lawn" I strongly suggest Eco-Complete as your substrate. If you want the glosso look at less than 3wpg mariselia quadrifolia is a clover that looks similar and will grow at 2wpg. You'll probably need some sort of CO2 injection to help things along.

 

[Garou]

Yeah Jchillin, we are related. fishy-fishy/Sue is my wife.

Time is no concern. That is the goal we want to attain, whether is be now or in a year. I just wanted to know the general direction we must move in to make it happen.

Thanks for the replies, I appreciate it.

 

[Steve Hampton]

I'll probably be the lone dissenting voice regarding fishless cycling with plants. My advice is the following:

If you are set on doing a fishless cycle do so prior to adding plants. Plants have the ability to take ammonium directly as a nitrogen source but too much of a good thing isn't good though. The levels of 3-5ppm of ammonia that most people shoot for with a fishless cycle is not healthy for plants, in fact it's a recipe for algal problems. Ammonia spikes are in my experience and based on my research the number one cause of algal problems in planted tanks. I can run a planted tank with high levels of phosphate and/or nitrate and never have algal issues...dump in a ammonia and wham, algae. BTW, this is not an experiment for tanks with fish. The other issue is with ammonia levels elevated in a fishless cycle then adding plants you are also adding lots of algae spores with the plants...combine algal spores and ammonia and you get algae bloom. A fishless cycle without plants avoids this introduction of lots of algal spores.

The other option is the do a silent cycle. Get your tank fully setup and fully planted with an emphasis fast growing stem plants. Add a small algae eating crew and wait two weeks. After two weeks begin adding your chosen display fish by pairs in smaller tanks or a couple of pairs or larger single fish in larger tanks. Follow this slow stocking of the tank over a period of several weeks and you will never see any ammonia or nitrite spike...hence why it's referred to as a silent cycle. I've done this many many times.

 

[Orcus332]

Take a look at Hemianthus callitrichoides. Works in moderate lighting, but it seems to be hard to find. Occasionally I've seen it at www.aquabid.com

 

[zenkatydid]

steve, i'm confused by your silent cycle. by adding algae eaters to start with and then cycling, is this not simply a normal cycle with fish/snails/whatever? how is it different?

 

[azn_fishy55]

Hemianthus callitrichoides is a very interesting foreground plant,the only place that I found it was on tropica.com or something like that.But they don't ship plans to the U.S for some reason so Hemianthus callitrichoides will be very hard to find.So far I haven't seen it on aquariumplants.com or azgardens.com but it is on the incoming list of aquariumplants.com so they will eventually get it.I have done my fish-less cycle on my 15 gallon and had no algae problems as long as you have good CO2 levels if you have high light.The only algae problem that I had was after the cycle about one month later.I intend to do it again with my 30 gallon which has high lighting and I don't think I shall run into algae problems.

 

[muddlehead]

what about the dwarf hair grass, from what i understand it requires a moderate amount of light though, is this true?? it would defenitly give the grassy look, and cant you trim it like a lawn and have it survive?? because i am in a similiar situation with 2wpg and im looking for an easily obtained carpet plant which will survive in my light with no CO2

 

[azn_fishy55]

Well dwarf hairgrass can be achieved into a 'lawn' look but it will need high lighting to make it shorter since the higher the lighting the shorter the dwarf hairgrass grows.But is you want a bushy lawn affect then hair grass would be perfect.I believe dwarf saggitaria is also a good canidate for the 'lawn' effect in moderately lit tanks,I have seen other people's tanks with saggitaria in it and they look great> But IMO the best plants that make the 'lawn' effect are glossostigma elatinodes and riccia flutians.