Aqua One 34L planted help..

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Scott28

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Sep 17, 2012
Messages
104
Location
Bournemouth, England, United Kingdom
Hi all,

I'm new to this forum, however have used it for my other tank setup.

I've just got a 34L tank and I'm looking into setting it up to be a planted tank.

I've read up on substrate and having a heating cable under the substrate. I was hoping someone could recommend substrate and also where to get a heating cable (apologies for my lack of knowledge on this)

Also what plants would you recommend for my tank? Dimensions: W38xH45xD25cm

Thanks in advance.

Scott
 
Personally I wouldn't worry about heating cables. As for substrates you have alot of choices. You can do sand or gravel, dirt capped with another substrate, florite, eco-comple, and a number of others. You'll have to read up on the pro's and con's of each. I have a 220g with organic dirt capped with eco-complete for my plants.

Plants will depend on lighting. What type of lighting do you have or planning to get?

Easy plants for low light are java fern, java lace fern "windelov", java moss (or any of the mosses), anubia, swords, crypts, water sprite, wisteria, and certain stem plants.
 
Hi Rivercats,

I have a T5 light. May I ask why you wouldnt use the heating under?

I'm ideally looking for a substrate which isn't sand and I can just buy one which doesn't need different layers.

Thanks for your response
 
Before I set up the big planted tank I did some reading and I remember reading that nowadays substrate heaters aren't really used much. Not saying some don't use them but considering how well plants grow without them it seems like and unnecessary expense IMO. My 220g is heavily planted, literally from front to back with probably less than 5% of the substrate visable. I have high light, use PPS-Pro dosing system for ferts, and use glutaraldehyde, a liquid carbon (don't have CO2) and my plants grow like crazy. Here is a list of my plants so you can see what I can grow without a substrate heater.

Current plant list:

Nesaea pedicellata 'Golden'
Limnophila aromatica 'hippuroides'
Proserpinaca Palustris
Rotala wallichii
Rotala macrandra
Myriophyllum tuberculatum
Anubias barteri v. Nana
Bolbitus heudelotii
Pogostemon helferi
Java Fern, Lace (Microsorium pteropus v. Windelov)
Crinum Calimistratum
Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Florida Sunset'
Tiger Lotus, Red (Nymphaea zenkeri)
Cryptocoryne Parva Cryptocoryne lutea
Cryptocoryne Wendtii Bronze (Cryptocoryne wendtii v. Tropica)
Amazon Sword (Echinodorus bleheri)
Ozelot Sword (Echinodorus ozelot)
Corkscrew Val
 
What livestock do you have In there? My initial thoughts are I'd like angelfish and neon tetras (I'm aware the two don't always mix but in my experience they've been fine) and some ghost shrimp
 
A 34litre is to small for an angel and neons are quite active too much so for a tank that size in my opinion. My sugestions on stocking for u would be maybe a school of celestial pearl danios or ember tetras and a sparkling gourami or honey gourami. Since u plan on planting it you could also try some cherry shrimp. I use aquasoil in my 70litre planted and it been working great for me. :)
 
Yeah a Betta would love that, I have one in a 30 litre planted and he loves it. Just make sure there is enough spare room at the top so he can come up to breathe :)
 
I have some sword plants and then some nice silk ones, he loves it. Just make sure if you get live plants make sure they come from a tank with no fish in them as the last lot I got gave my betta ick!!!
 
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