Live Planted

[InxayonFinland]

Hey guys. I've just purchased a 12 gallon nano that i am doing a live planted tank in. I have a flourite substrate in it as well as a 50 watt heater and a Co2 natural plant system. I am running a 6500K lighting stip too. What I was wondering though was when i get my tank set up if anybody had any ideas ( links to site if possible ) to anygood good fish or plant recommendations. Thanks.

 

[Tiffi]

How many watts do you have over your tank (important for plant selection!)?

 

[InxayonFinland]

i have a 6500k light strip over my tank. Is that it?

 

[Jchillin]

Moved to Planted Tank forum.

 

[Tiffi]

No, that is Kelvin=K.

I need Watt=W .

 

[Jchillin]

Your post was moved to this forum as it will gain the attention of other members who possess knowledge of planted tanks, such as Tiffi.

There are a number of useful stickies at the beginning of this forum designed just for folks who are entering the planted tank community. Take a few minutes and look them over.

 

[azn_fishy55]

Choosing plant species all depends on what type of light you have and what the wattage is.

 

[InxayonFinland]

i have a 65watt

 

[Tiffi]

Aha, that's plenty (5.4wpg) to grow pretty much every plant. I think the best for you would be to go to www.plantgeek.net or www.tropica.com and look for medium to high light plants. There you will have pictures with the plants, so you can coose the coloration and everything yourself. Since you are not really a professional yet, try to avoid "difficult" rated plants, wher you spend money for but don't have the experience yet to keep them alive.

I don't have experience with many high light plants or difficult plants myself - just don't have that much light .

Maybe Travis can give you some more ideas as what to look for (he's got high light and knwos pretty much everything about plants ).

 

[InxayonFinland]

thanks!!

 

[azn_fishy55]

Will that kind of light u might get algae problems if u dun have enough CO2, so I would dose Flourish Excel just in case.

 

[crazycat]

if you have that much light, you might want to consider injected co2. see madasafish's sticky...

 

[czcz]

I do not think the Hagen kit will give you enough CO2 either, but a multiple bottle DIY set-up with an efficient diffusor will. Check out all the stickies in this forum -- very high light + small volume = steep learning curve. Demanding plants will reward you for the trouble. Nano Tonina tanks are cool: http://toninastyle.com/front_page.htm

 

[travis simonson]

When you first set it up you may want to put in quite a few fast growing plants to help prevent a nitrate spike that could lead to some hefty algae in a very short time - plants like Wisteria, watersprite, and many of the more common stem plants. They grow quickly and help keep the nitrate levels in the tank from getting to high initially. Once you get the tank somewhat balanced and are more familiar with it you can start experimenting with many of the high-light, CO2 plants that are available. Just remember, with that much light your tank will be like a car running on nitrous - it will drive the uptake of every other nutrient so you have to do a lot of work to make sure it stays balanced or you can get an algae explosion. But it is so much fun to keep