planted tanks???

[TenaciousTriggerFish]

K guys I have no clue bout planted tanks like what kinda bottom stuff u need what kinda lighting etc I have no freeking clue at all if u could give me basiclly alot of info on this subject I might take that route with my 30g fw aquarium please let me know! Any advice/info is well apreciated
-Josh

 

[fort384]

Moved to Freshwater & Brackish - Planted Tanks. Please read the forum description carefully before posting your question to a particular forum. They all have very specific topics.

Start by reading through the stickies in the planted tank forum, or clicking the link to the plant resources and references in my signature. There is a wealth of information available for reading, rather than rehashing the entire hobby in 1 thread. Also, check out this article:

So You Want a Planted Aquarium

 

[TenaciousTriggerFish]

Well what kinda light? just regular light? (I'm looking into low light low maintnence stuff and by cap it off do u mean put a small layer of black sand on top of the dirt if so why black and also what kinda dirt regular dirt or som other dirt lol idk I'm so freeking clueless right now but ur information is so helpfully thank u in advance

 

[fort384]

Did you read the article I linked?

IMO starting off in the planted tank hobby with dirt would be a mistake. Just my opinion.

 

[TenaciousTriggerFish]

Did you read the article I linked?

IMO starting off in the planted tank hobby with dirt would be a mistake. Just my opinion.

I did it was quite complicatin/interesting and informitive at the same time.....lol... So I would probably start off with a fine gravel do I use reg light or special light I didn't see a direct answer to that in ur link

 

[TenaciousTriggerFish]

true unless u did ur homework really good and did lots of research and are willing to put in work.

t5ho lights,

I'm a newbie what does t5ho lights mean? Regular or special??

 

[TenaciousTriggerFish]

Btw what is IMO ???

 

[TenaciousTriggerFish]

well they are t5 high output ill say they are special but im not a light expert

Would regular lights work for simple low light plants??

 

[TenaciousTriggerFish]

also another plant substrate that i have heard b4 and that its cheap and easy is cat litter sand

For real like which kind? Could u link me to what kind u are tlking bout online

 

[TenaciousTriggerFish]

this is one Choosing a Planted Aquarium Substrate - Rate My Fish Tank but i know that it has to be unscented, there was a guy in fishtanktv.com that used it and did good idont remeber his name tho

Oh ok thnx

 

[Xand3r]

As fort384 told you before, you have to read a lot before you even try, if you fail to do so, you are going to waste a lot of money in plants, lights, substrate, and other stuff. Plants are living things just like fish. they won't grow if they are not under the right conditions, and you will probably get desperate and frustrated when they start to die. Right now the stickies n this forum are your best friends.

Things you should read about:
* Lighting
- types
- Color temperature (K)
- wattage and plant needs
* Substrates
- Gravel
- sand
- combined
- etc
* Nutrients (fertilizers)
- root tabs
- (there are others)
* abbreviations (people used them quite often)
- IMO = In My Opinion
- T5 HO = T5 (type of light) High output


Edit: for some reason I did not see the 2nd page so you may or may not have read about any of this stuff if you haven't you should start right now, if you have I'm sorry I didn't mean to repeat all of this stuff

 

[TenaciousTriggerFish]

Yeah I've been reading also I know a person or two that rily know thier way around a planted tank and I've been tlking to them

 

[Xand3r]

That's a good start, I'm not trying to discourage you or anything, real plants in a tank look pretty cool but if you don't do your research...
For example when I first started, I read about most things, but I forgot to research the plants I wanted before getting them and as result my LFS (local fish store) sold me some plants that were not aquatic and they started to die in my tank I thought I was doing something wrong until one day I decided to google the name of the plants and I realized that they were not aquatic fortunately my LFS have a 14 days exchange period so I took them back and explained to them that those were not aquatic.

The point is that even when you think that you are prepared you should keep reading. And if you are buying plants locally before talking to the seller google the name of the plants it only takes you a minute or so to find out the requirements of a plant (a seller will tell you anything just to sell).
Nowadays pretty much everybody has a smart phone so a google search is not difficult, even with a dumb phone you can google something via SMS ( I learn this today)

 

[TenaciousTriggerFish]

I text chacha usually

 

[bruinsbro1997]

For your tank, to get you started all I would recommend is:
-T5HO light fixture w/ bulbs
-substrate, whatever you choose
-ferts, you could do either dry or liquid

But this is all dependent on wht plants you want. Which plants did you want exactly?

 

[TenaciousTriggerFish]

For your tank, to get you started all I would recommend is:
-T5HO light fixture w/ bulbs
-substrate, whatever you choose
-ferts, you could do either dry or liquid

But this is all dependent on wht plants you want. Which plants did you want exactly?

I have absolutely no idea

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Research, research, research then when you think your brain may explode, research some more!
Look up all the points mentioned above. PLANTGEEK is a good website to look up plants. There are others but I can't think of them right now.

 

[fort384]

Plant geek actually has been down for the past couple of weeks, unfortunately. It was a great quick reference.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Plant geek actually has been down for the past couple of weeks, unfortunately. It was a great quick reference.

that sucks. Not that I've been there for months.