Want to plant 14 gallon

[Pongeer247]

I have a 14 gallon unplanted tank. Have been thinking about putting some plants in, but wanted to know if having plants is difficult? What kind of substrate is needed? What kind of nutrients are needed? And what kind of plants I should start off with?

After posting this I will be doing some research into what kind of lights I have now, what I can afford for upgrade, and what ever else I can find.
Thanks

 

[Bengals]

Totally depends on what you're looking for. You can do a low-light green tank without worrying about ferts/CO2...etc. That being said, I started wanting low light and went to medium and am dosing liquid carbon since I'm not interested in doing CO2. It's very addicting and fun to watch your plants take off.

Best to know what kind of fish you have, substrate, and light first and then work from there.

There are plenty of low light and easy plant (java ferns as an example) and can be bought online from the classifieds here or at your lfs. Need to first make sure none of your fish are vegetarians.

 

[Pongeer247]

Oh yes, i tend to forget about types of fish lol. tetras guppies and ADFs. I have gravel for substrate as of now. I have heard different things when it comes to the substrate, is it more of a preference or does it affect plant choice? Right now for my lighting i have a 20" hood with 2 15 watt light bulbs. Im only using one light though (seems to heat the water too much).. i have been thinking about upgrading my hood. I really like the moon light option.

 

[Fresh2o]

You can improve your lighting by swapping out the 15 watt incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent (CFL) bulbs. Much lower heat output and decent light output. Many members on this forum have had good results with CFLs. CFLs come in different wattages and colors. 13 watts or 26 watts should be fine. By color I am referring to description such as daylight. The packaging will have something like 2700k or 3500k. Look for 6500k.
I have seen these bulbs at Lowes, Home Depot and even Giant grocery stores.

 

[Pongeer247]

I will have to look into getting a couple of those bulbs for now. I would like to upgrade my hood all together at some point. Like I said i really like the day/ night hoods that i keep seeing. Are these type of hoods pretty good with plants?

 

[Fresh2o]

I will have to look into getting a couple of those bulbs for now. I would like to upgrade my hood all together at some point. Like I said i really like the day/ night hoods that i keep seeing. Are these type of hoods pretty good with plants?

Finnex makes an LED light (FugeRay) that is good with plants that have low medium light requirements and has a moonlight mode (dark blue LEDs). Down side is that to switch it to moonlight mode, you need to toggle a switch. It's not like you can set a timer for 6-8 daylight and then 2 hours of moonlight. Still, it has that mode if you are looking for it. I ordered mine from AquaVibrant.com

 

[Pongeer247]

Thanks Bengal for the info. I have been reading a little about lighting and substrates since i posted this and have decided that I will do the best noob choice and go with the low light plants for now. I'm going to change out the bulbs on my hood I have now for something better suited for plants.

Fresh, that's good set up sounds exactly like what I would be looking for. I like the look of the blue light at night and don't need it to be on for too long as its main use is going to be as a night light for my daughter, so it doesn't need to be on for too long. Thanks! Will be lookin into the new hood when finances are available for it.