Beginner planted tank

[lilmoe46]

I have a 40 gallon tank with play sand for my substrate. I want to start my ventures into planted tanks, but need a lot of advice from how to prepare and maintain my substrate, good beginner plants, to a good light to use. Any advice is much appreciated.

 

[lilmoe46]

I forgot to mention that my budget is kinda low, around 300 dollars, but I can save and build it slowly, as much as I want to buy it all at once, I can't.

 

[Cichlid Kid]

Alot of hobbyists use pfs or play sand as substrate. As for lighting there are cheaper alternatives than t-5 ho or leds. I have 4- 6500k superdaylight cfl's on my 40g breeder. They give off enough light to put me in the medium to med.- high light range.
I you decide to do co2 and high light it could get a little pricey but low light low-tech almost anyone can afford.

 

[EndlersEatGuppies]

Since your budget is low I think you should start off with some low light plants. Low Light Plants

For sand as a substrate is has to be mixed, I do it when I do a PWC, or else bad bacteria can be produced and cause a terrible smell in your tank. With plants it's hard to do this so I just put in 5 MTS snail's, which now have populated to about 100, and I don't worry about mixing up the sand.

What type of light do you currently have?

 

[Mrs.h2012]

Alot of hobbyists use pfs or play sand as substrate. As for lighting there are cheaper alternatives than t-5 ho or leds. I have 4- 6500k superdaylight cfl's on my 40g breeder. They give off enough light to put me in the medium to med.- high light range.
I you decide to do co2 and high light it could get a little pricey but low light low-tech almost anyone can afford.

I basically do this on my 55g as well. I have two clip on lamps and cfl's I got from Walmart and they are growing my lowlight plants just fine. As of now I have close to $25 in lights, I have two clip on lamps that were about $8 each and the bulbs I got were a 3 pack for $7 made by GE. Mine are daylight 6500k cfl's 13w but are equivalent to 60w as they are energy saver bulbs.
Curious though were did you find superdaylight?

 

[foster53]

On a 40 gallon you could use DIY co2. A 2 bottle generator will give you some co2 to help your plants along. I am using it on my 40long, and it has made a lot of difference.

 

[Mrs.h2012]

On a 40 gallon you could use DIY co2. A 2 bottle generator will give you some co2 to help your plants along. I am using it on my 40long, and it has made a lot of difference.

I'm curious about the DIY co2. Can you give a rough estimate of how much it costs by any chance? What all has to be done to maintain it? Would doing DIY co2 on 55g be completely out of the question?

 

[Rivercats]

IMO DIY CO2 on a 55g isn't very efficient. Using Liquid carbon daily would be better than DIY CO2 on that size tank.

 

[Mrs.h2012]

IMO DIY CO2 on a 55g isn't very efficient. Using Liquid carbon daily would be better than DIY CO2 on that size tank.

Ok, thanks for replying Rivercats, I was hoping to hear from you on this! I will be dosing liquid co2, I have some coming on hopefully Tuesday in a drs foster and smith order

 

[Rivercats]

Glutaraldehyde is much cheaper. You can get a gallon of Glut, mix it with 1-1/2 gallons of RO water and get 2-1/2 gallons for $27. That is way cheap compared to Excel. This is the product I use... Metrex Metricide Gallon 14 Day.

 

[lilmoe46]

Since your budget is low I think you should start off with some low light plants. Low Light Plants

For sand as a substrate is has to be mixed, I do it when I do a PWC, or else bad bacteria can be produced and cause a terrible smell in your tank. With plants it's hard to do this so I just put in 5 MTS snail's, which now have populated to about 100, and I don't worry about mixing up the sand.

What type of light do you currently have?

I am using a light off a 15 gallon that is hung about 10 inches above aquarium, until I have a better idea of what type of light I will need.

 

[lilmoe46]

I was also wondering what would be an easy substrate to start with, I have heard that play sand can start to smell bad after a while.

 

[lilmoe46]

I am also currently using a light from a 15 gallon hung above the 40 gallon. I am having trouble with my phone so any double posts I apologize for now.

 

[Cichlid Kid]

The company's name is Utilitech.
Here's a side by side comparison. The utilitech is the bigger one the other is just a standard 13w 5000k.

 

[Cichlid Kid]

It's probably not the playsand itself that smells, it's all the stuff that gets trapped underneath it and decomposes causing pockets of gas. Kinda like methane gas in a marsh or swamp.

 

[lilmoe46]

What would be a easy substrate to work with besides gravel.