Convict's First Go at a Planted Tank

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

Convict2161

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
Oct 11, 2011
Messages
14,818
Location
Planet Earth
Hello everyone well... The time has come. I wanna do a heavily planted 20L. I know nothing about planted tanks. I don't think I wanna get into CO2 and all that but I would like your help.

Are there links, books etc? I like to do my own research and then after I'll be back to ask questions on lighting, substrate etc.

Here's what I'm thinking.

Big river rocks, a nice center piece of driftwood and plants plants and more plants!!

Also maybe like grass or something that covers the substrate. I want to leave the off center unplanted and keep the sides planted. I also want the back if the tank substrate wise higher then the front.

Does all this make sense and sound doable without CO2?

For stock I'd want schooling fish and as many as I can put in the tank. All the same kind, small ones and a few little catfish for the bottom.

I have a vision now it's time to make it happen. This will be a slow process. I don't even have the tank yet but I've need writing down ideas.

Tanks!! ;)
 
You've joined the leafy side!

Carpeting you will probably need co2... but moss may be an alternative.


Following of course
 
You've joined the leafy side!

Carpeting you will probably need co2... but moss may be an alternative.

Following of course

Ok any books or anything? I like to try thing on my own and surprise ya!! ;)

Of course I'll update with pics.

If I may... Any suggestions on plants? Easy plants for my beginner luck so to speak?

And lighting? 2 t5 HO fixture one daylight and one pink bulb?

Sorry for all the question. I no nothing about this but all the members here have such beautiful planted tanks!! I just have to see what skills I have with scaping a planted tank.
 
Sounds awesome! I'm sure it will come out looking great, you do have a gift for aqua scaping.
 
Lots and lots of stems to start with...they are ammonia and nitrate eaters and if you plant intensively enough (2 bunches of 6-8 stems per 5 gallons of water), you can do a silent cycle. You can practically watch anacharis grow, and it really sucks the ammonia and nitrates out. (I like the skinny leaf anacharis best.)

I just did it on my 20 long.

Rex Grigg describes it in this article.

A lot of people take the stems out after the tank cycles, but I love them. I've added crypts and asian water fern, but I've kept most all of the stems.

Be aware that vals and anacharis will melt if you add carbon booster to the tank. I've played with 1/2 doses, but anacharis still just disintegrated.

How cool! You will have a blast...

ETA: HO lighting may mean you'll have to inject CO2.

PM Rivercats - she is the planted tank queen. She also uses lots of stems in her 220...
 
Last edited:
Lots and lots of stems to start with...they are ammonia and nitrate eaters and if you plant intensively enough (2 bunches of 6-8 stems per 5 gallons of water), you can do a silent cycle. You can practically watch anacharis grow, and it really sucks the ammonia and nitrates out. (I like the skinny leaf anacharis best.)

I just did it on my 20 long.

Rex Grigg describes it in this article.

A lot of people take the stems out after the tank cycles, but I love them. I've added crypts and asian water fern, but I've kept most all of the stems.

Be aware that vals and anacharis will melt if you add carbon booster to the tank. I've played with 1/2 doses, but anacharis still just disintegrated.

How cool! You will have a blast...

Thank you!! I'll check out that article and thanks for the info :)
 
Lots and lots of stems to start with...they are ammonia and nitrate eaters and if you plant intensively enough (2 bunches of 6-8 stems per 5 gallons of water), you can do a silent cycle. You can practically watch anacharis grow, and it really sucks the ammonia and nitrates out. (I like the skinny leaf anacharis best.)

I just did it on my 20 long.

Rex Grigg describes it in this article.

A lot of people take the stems out after the tank cycles, but I love them. I've added crypts and asian water fern, but I've kept most all of the stems.

Be aware that vals and anacharis will melt if you add carbon booster to the tank. I've played with 1/2 doses, but anacharis still just disintegrated.

How cool! You will have a blast...

i just did a 29g and i planted vals. i use excel, and they did melt - however, they started sprouting new healthy buds, so i'm hoping they will be ok. i knew about anacharis and excel, but not vals. the dudes at my LFS (they are AMAZING) told me that vals sometimes melt when they are replanted but tend to grow back. If they continue to be a problem i'm just going to take them out.
 
i just did a 29g and i planted vals. i use excel, and they did melt - however, they started sprouting new healthy buds, so i'm hoping they will be ok. i knew about anacharis and excel, but not vals. the dudes at my LFS (they are AMAZING) told me that vals sometimes melt when they are replanted but tend to grow back. If they continue to be a problem i'm just going to take them out.

The carbon booster may do them in - maybe not. I've talked to people who just cut the dose, and things were good.

Anacharis doesn't seem to tolerate it at all.
 
The carbon booster may do them in - maybe not. I've talked to people who just cut the dose, and things were good.

Anacharis doesn't seem to tolerate it at all.

i think the melting was from the initial "mega-dose" that they recommend. now, i'm on the recommended daily amount, and i skip a dose once a week. they are sprouting and coming back, so i have faith.
 
Lots and lots of stems to start with...they are ammonia and nitrate eaters and if you plant intensively enough (2 bunches of 6-8 stems per 5 gallons of water), you can do a silent cycle. You can practically watch anacharis grow, and it really sucks the ammonia and nitrates out. (I like the skinny leaf anacharis best.)

I just did it on my 20 long.

Rex Grigg describes it in this article.

A lot of people take the stems out after the tank cycles, but I love them. I've added crypts and asian water fern, but I've kept most all of the stems.

Be aware that vals and anacharis will melt if you add carbon booster to the tank. I've played with 1/2 doses, but anacharis still just disintegrated.

How cool! You will have a blast...

ETA: HO lighting may mean you'll have to inject CO2.

PM Rivercats - she is the planted tank queen. She also uses lots of stems in her 220...

I do agree that anacharis and liquid carbon do not get along for some reason - however, how vals respond IME has to do with how hard your water is. In softer water, I have found that they will melt but in harder water the effect is very much weakened.

Also, HO lighting doesn't NECESSARILY mean you have to inject co2, however plants really do appreciate it. It really depends on the wattage, you could have 24 watts of T5HO on a 220 gallon but that does not mean it's high light :cool: I do inject co2 in my 29 gallon, though, which has 48 watts of T5HO currently on it.
 
I'm clueless with plants but will be following of course with great interest. I'm sure you'll do a super job. As Sharpchick said, you know who to PM...
Good Luck mate.... Ian
 
I'm completely lost when it comes to plated tanks so ill just sit back and watch this one but you better not let this take any attention away from that masterpiece of a biocube :)
 
Oh. My. Gosh. Dino's doing a planted tank... Are you sick or something? Never thought the day would come... :lol:
I forgot the name, but there is a plant that looks like Dwarf Hair Grass, but it's a stem plants and does well in lower light. Might want to look into that if you don't want to inject co2.
I'm definantly going to follow this, it'll be... Interesting.... :lol: Kidding, Kidding.
I'm sure it'll look great, all your tanks look great (y)
 
Following :)

I'm not sure about books to recommend, but tropica has an interesting site... I like how they have the plants and layouts categorized as easy, medium, and hard.

Click on the layouts link and then the "easy" to sort. Also check out their guide.

http://www.tropica.com/en/plants.aspx

I think with a dual t5ho, having one bulb pink might cut down the intensity? Otherwise, if you had two full spectrum bulbs, you'll probably need co2 or a liquid carbon -- the former being my preference. Anyway, check out the Giessemann (spelling?) Bulbs - perhaps 1 midday and 1 aquaflora (pink) combo. Otherwise, a nice finnex LED fixture would certainly do the trick :)
 
definitely following!

Like others have said, stems are your best way to go.

Also if you want to stay away from Co2, you'll probably want to go with a single t5, maybe T5HO. Like the poster before me said, finnex has some great fixtures!

Also, look into some floaters, they'll bust ammonia and all that good stuff just as fast as anarchis, and definitely prettier than anarchis (IMO)

As for substrate, Eco complete seems to be preferred.
I personally prefer soil with a sand cap, naturally planted style, lowers water changes a lot
if you are interested in the naturally planted vs. regular planted aspect of things, I definitely suggest googling "walstad method" theres a lot of great info on Diana Walstads methods and what it can do to help your tank. If you're not interested so much in that, eco complete is a good 2nd choice, with regular gravel or sand being after that (IMO) If you go with sand, just remember you'll have more of a need for root fertilizer tabs.

Also, when it comes time to buy plants, obviously, look at the classifieds first, but if they dont have what you want, Aquabid always has some great plants at great prices. Their plant packages section always has some good deals on it that I cant pass up, even though I have zero room in my tanks!

Sorry for the novel
 
Oh man, I thought I was in the wrong section for a minute when I saw your name in the title... Definitely following, and excited to see you do a planted tank! :)
 
Back
Top Bottom