40g breeder planted

[himdie]

Hey guys I'm a bit new to aa but I am currently trying to plant up my tank for lighting I have a t5 ho 2 bulb fixture with a 10k sunlight sumthin bulb and a pink 62k I think bulb and all purpose sand as a substrate which I know is useless for plants now lol and I've got a good clump of sword grass atm and a amazon sword was wondering what else would go well with what I've got

 

[Hawkins409]

Can you see how many watts your 2 bulbs are each?

 

[himdie]

They are 39 watts ea

 

[Hawkins409]

Red and green crypts would be a nice complement to what you have, and are low to medium light.

 

[Hawkins409]

Since I'm still learning the plant names and their needs, what I do is run to my best pet store and snap a photo or make a note of what they have. Then I do some research online about them, then the next time I'm in the store, I'll pick up a couple. Sure, I've had some not make it, but that's part of how I've been learning.

If I try to find what I think I want first, then I'll go to the store and they won't have it! Haha. I suppose that method is fine if you want to order plants online, but I haven't tried that yet.

 

[Hawkins409]

So in other words,the real question for me is: "Which of the 20 available species of plants that are sold in my area would work good for a low to medium light tank?" Okay, maybe there are more than 20 if you include all stores, but you get the point.

 

[himdie]

He he too true lots of diff choices I'll give crypts a try and I'll go ahead and look around my LFS c what they have =]

 

[himdie]

Crypts by the grass for some color amazon sword in the background hmmm and I'll go from there me thinks =] thx for the help

 

[Sk3lly]

If you go with crypts they will likely die in a sand substrate. Crypts gain their nutrients entirely from their roots so need nutrient rich substrate. Sand is not nutrient rich. The only way crypts do well in sand is if you provide them with a root tab every couple of months. Seachem make good ones

 

[Coursair]

If you go with crypts they will likely die in a sand substrate. Crypts gain their nutrients entirely from their roots so need nutrient rich substrate. Sand is not nutrient rich. The only way crypts do well in sand is if you provide them with a root tab every couple of months. Seachem make good ones

My Crypts do great in Sand. I do use DIY Root Caps. I have had some fairly rare Crypts as well as the more common ones.

 

[Sk3lly]

The only way crypts do well in sand is if you provide them with a root tab every couple of months.

I believe i said crypts can do well in sand with the addition of root tabs/caps.
Im very happy for your crypts especially your rarer ones!!!

 

[himdie]

Yea I understand that sand offers absolutely nothing and I was thinking of using fertz or tabs or sumthin the amazon sword is also a heavy root feeder from what I understand

 

[himdie]

I was thinking of switching out my whole substrate too some flourite with eco complete on top but I'm not sure if I wanna go through the hassle =\

 

[Sk3lly]

Theres a lot of rescape threads on this side of AA. Might be worth picking out one and spending the time to read from the start. I think you'll find that they all come through the hassle much happier and enjoy their tanks more. Liquid ferts are ok for low light tanks. If your medium/high light then dry ferts are much cheaper and better

 

[Mebbid]

With dual t5ho lights over a 40 breeder you are going to be high light in the middle 10 inches of the tank and then medium over the rest of it.

Fertilizers are going to be 100% necessary and the liquid ones just aren't going to cut it. Look at a dry fert package from green leaf aquariums. Either the pps pro or estimative index (ei) are good options.

You can have plants with plain sand as a substrate and they will do just fine as long as you are using the correct root tabs such as the diy ones previously mentioned. I have both a high tech dirted and plain sand tank and there is a huge difference between the two with the root feeding plants growing much much faster in the dirted tank.

Lastly, you will need a fair amount of carbon supplementation. I would go out and buy metricide 14 day sterilizing solution. It's the same thing as seachem excel although its 2x as powerful. I would start dosing 5ml of the metricide daily and as your plants fill in more and more slowly increase that up to about 20ml daily.

The ferts and carbon are necessary to prevent an algae bloom. However I am going to warn you now, you will probably have some algae issues with your tank. It's just a learning curve people go through with higher light planted tanks.

 

[himdie]

I had an algae prob recently but it went away I'm currently using excel

 

[Sk3lly]

Now that you have been told your high light, it opens up lots of options on plants. You'll enjoy trying to bring out the reds, pinks and purples in some of them. I agree what was said about the co2 source. If you go down the metricide 14 route, it come with an activator. This needs to be thrown out and not used. I have never used metricide as its incredibly hard to find in the uk but i have read up on it a lot as i want the stuff!!!

 

[himdie]

Quick question I live in a area with insanely hard tap water and was wondering if that would have the minerals needed for the plants

 

[Mebbid]

Quick question I live in a area with insanely hard tap water and was wondering if that would have the minerals needed for the plants

Not enough of the right minerals. You will still need to supplement micro ferts.

 

[himdie]

So for a diff substrate would red fluorite and eco complete b good? For fertz maybe osmocotine plus? Aaand the metricide 14 if I don't just go get co2?