34 Gallon Planted

[smithpants94]

Been running a 34 gallon dwarf gauramis tank for awhile now. I have a good amount of plants but sadly....they're all fake. I'd really like to set up a nice planted tank for my fish.

Sand bottom
Penguin 200 power-filter

Looking for some low to average light plants to make things look a little more natural and to help with my water parameters.

There isn't a LFS for hours around me so I'll settle for Petsmart plants for now.

Any help is super appreciated! Thanks in advance!

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

What kind of lighting do you have? At Petsmart they have a decent variety of low-light tolerant plants. You can get some anubias, java fern, and Amazon swords. For the swords, however, get some root tabs that contain iron and place them in the sand where you plan to plant the swords. Crypts also do well in low light aquariums. Not sure about your Petsmart, but the one around me doesn't carry them.

The Petsmart around me has recently started carrying foreground plants like dwarf hair grass and micro swords.. However, i think you need at least moderate lighting for them to do well.

You can also pick up some liquid fertilizers to dose to keep you plants healthy. A bottle of Seachem excel and flourish comprehensive would be good.

 

[smithpants94]

I have an Aqueon T824 fluorescent right now but can make an easy switch if it's recommended.

I want to try to stay away from liquid ferts- I don't know how my fish will handle them.

I just really want a more natural look than the plastic and fabric like plants in the tank now.

 

[paytertot]

Liquid ferts have no adverse effects on fish. I've used them forever.

 

[Bbarb27]

I agree with the advice already given. All my tanks are low light, planted tanks. Easy to maintain, natural for the fish. I have anubias, crypts, java fern, numerous bulb plants (cheap and snail free), wysteria, anacharis and swords. All came from Petco, as the other LFS in my area offer few or no plants.

My lights are daylight T8's and I use root tabs in the sand (pool filter sand) and Seachem Flourish Comprehensive once per week when I do water changes. Adding the Flourish is as easy as adding Seachem Prime.

My daugher has a tank of platys with a ton of colorful, silk plants. I convinced her to change over to sand substrate and and live plants and she loves it. The fish seem to approve of the change too

 

[smithpants94]

When planting in sand, what kind of depth do I need?

I also want to cover the back of my tank like a natural background. Any plants to do that?

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

A T8 24w on a 34g is on the very low end to grow plants i believe. If you have some extra money you don't mind spending, i would recommend upgrading and getting a T5.. I know the whole watts per gallon estimates are outdated, but using that guide as a rough estimate, i would aim for at least 2 watts per/gallon, unless the fixture you find is a T5"HO" (high output) then you can opt for the lower wattage because of the light amplification due to higher quality reflectors on a T5HO. But i think at Petsmart, you might be able to find a descent Aqueon T5 (normal output) fixture that would be a step up from what you have. If the fixture doesn't come with bulbs, get a bulb with a light temperature spectrum between 6000K to 10,000K (lighting closer to 6000K would be a warmer color, while closer to the 10000K gets whiter/bluish).

For the sand substrate, i would aim for 2~3" depth so your plants can get rooted in well. Root tabs and liquid ferts are still my recommendation since sand is not the "best" plant substrate (since it's inert with no trace elements of nutrients). Out of the many years I've been keeping a planted tank with fish, I haven't experienced anything negative from liquid ferts. You just have to balance lighting and ferts to get good growth without algae issues. It's not that hard and once you get used to it, you'll be hooked and possibly want more!

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Oh and for the background, i prefer solid backgrounds like black or blue. You can use tall Amazon Sword as background plants. If you upgrade the lighting, you can also use some Jungle Val and stem plants that get tall (although the latter recommendations aren't found at the Petsmart in my area).

Just be careful to not buy the plants at Petsmart that have a sticker on the container that say "semi-aquatic".. Those wouldn't work for long in an aquarium.. And, i don't know why Petsmart does this, but i see mondo grass being sold as aquatic fully submerged.. That's a semi-aquatic too.

 

[smithpants94]

Thanks guys! I know it's been awhile but I'm heading out for plants tomorrow!

Pretty excited! I'll post some updated pictures as soon as I can!