HELP! Turning an artificial tank into a planted!

[Tropical Aquarist]

Howdy,

I have a 29gal which is mostly gravel with a sand box on 1/3 of the tank.

I'm in need of advice to turn it into a planted tank, I haven't had much luck...

Lighting is a brand new 24"(17watt) fluorescent tube, I use osmcote root tabs, and have on hand a liquid fert and Seachem Excel...

So far it has 2 swords, and some dwarf water lettuce.

I need suggestions for plants and where they should go, please!

Thanks for any help!

Oh and I know the stocking is a mess, it has a lot of fish in there, they'll be moved this weekend, so the tank will be emptied and changed.

 

[Caliban07]

Well if you want plants start from the ground up. Plants should be fed at their roots as well as their leaves (even more so) so you're gonna need to choose a fertile substrate or add capsules to inert substrates to provide nourishment.

Some driftwood and pebbles etc are always nice additions to planted tanks to get that natural look and encourage natural behaviour from the livestock. An interesting piece of driftwood or tree stump/root is a must in my opinion. I'm not the greatest of scapers myself but you can get tons of ideas online and on here.
There should be a list of low light plants online and on here too. General you want to set the larger plants to the back of the tank with the smaller ones at the front.

You'll need a nice flow (but nothing crazy) so that nutrients, oxygen and heat can be distributed evenly around the tank. If you are not injecting co2 then Minimal surface agitation will avoid essential co2 from being lost to atmosphere.

Your lighting intensity is the most important aspect of lighting in my opinion and it is measured as par. Par changes with many things but mainly depth of the tank as low output lighting will be filtered out the further it travels.

Questions are:

Are you using carbon dioxide injection?

What is the height from bulb to substrate?


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[Tropical Aquarist]

Yes, i do have fertile substrate, but no co2.

The light is 18in from substrate.

 

[Caliban07]

Yes, i do have fertile substrate, but no co2.

The light is 18in from substrate.

Hmm that is really low light. I had 2 x 25W over 18 inches and it was pretty tough going. You may need more light. Someone more qualified to give lighting recommendations may chip in.

If you're not using co2, a rest period for the lights would be a good idea. Say 4hrs on 4 off and 4 back on again.


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[Tropical Aquarist]

Yup I'm already doing the siesta thing, too bad about the light....

Are there NO plants that will work?

 

[Caliban07]

Yup I'm already doing the siesta thing, too bad about the light....

Are there NO plants that will work?

You'll just have to try and see what will work.

Anubias
Crypt wendtii
Crypt parva
Amazon swords
Bacopa
Cabomba
Elodea
Wisteria
Ludwigia
Hygrophilla


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[Tropical Aquarist]

Thanks for the list!

Going from the picture above where would you plant which plant?