First Planted Tank

[King Neptune]

So I recently acquired a 125 gallon tank (FO FREE ) and was considering making this my first planted tank. My question is would it be smart to start on a large tank like this. I am also moving my bettas to 5 gallon tanks, would it be smarter to start with those? I know the general rule with freshwater water (and maybe saltwater) is the bigger the tank the larger the margin for error. Is this true with plants to or would it be like going from couch potato to a 1000 acre wheat farmer? As always the advice is appreciated?

 

[azmodan]

What sort of budget are you working with?


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[NigelK8485]

I'm not a planted tank expert, but I have a 150 and decided to try my hand at live plants on it for the first time.

I'd recommend starting smaller. Maybe bigger than the 5 gallon if you have anything, but planting a 6 foot tank begins to get pricey. Just the sheer volume of plants you have to get, then the fertilizers, then the substrate, lights, co2 if you go that route...which you will. I told myself I'd go low light and low tech, within two months I had bought three new pairs of lights, over $200 of additional plants and still buying more, a co2 setup, dry fertilizers, testing kits to monitor those, supplies for making my own root tabs.

Starting smaller at least allows you to get a grasp of the basics and if you decide to dive into high tech it won't be as expensive and see if it's something you want to keep up with on a larger scale.


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[ScaryFatKidGT]

I say go for it, dump a bunch of plant substrate in there and thorw plants in lol

 

[King Neptune]

What sort of budget are you working with?


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Not huge im not wanting to spend like 500 dollars or anhthing. Id say the 150 to 200 range for the planted portion.

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[King Neptune]

I'm not a planted tank expert, but I have a 150 and decided to try my hand at live plants on it for the first time.

I'd recommend starting smaller. Maybe bigger than the 5 gallon if you have anything, but planting a 6 foot tank begins to get pricey. Just the sheer volume of plants you have to get, then the fertilizers, then the substrate, lights, co2 if you go that route...which you will. I told myself I'd go low light and low tech, within two months I had bought three new pairs of lights, over $200 of additional plants and still buying more, a co2 setup, dry fertilizers, testing kits to monitor those, supplies for making my own root tabs.

Starting smaller at least allows you to get a grasp of the basics and if you decide to dive into high tech it won't be as expensive and see if it's something you want to keep up with on a larger scale.


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That makes a lot of sense. Yeah i wasnt really thinking much about the additional cost but I imaginr it adds up quick.

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[Fresh2o]

That budget might be enough for the lighting alone. You then need to factor in ferts, CO2, and the plants themselves.
It all depends on the level of lighting you wish to achieve. With low light, low tech you can get away without CO2 and minimal ferts. This will limit the kinds of plants you can put in there but there is still a good selection of low light plants available.
I would start out in a smaller tank as suggested so that you can get a feel of what is involved.


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[King Neptune]

Excellent I think thats what I'll do. I found a deal on 10 gallon tanks for 6 bucks a piece. Im going to get 2 of those for my bettas and I think ill start there.

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[Slavo]

So I recently acquired a 125 gallon tank (FO FREE ) and was considering making this my first planted tank. My question is would it be smart to start on a large tank like this. I am also moving my bettas to 5 gallon tanks, would it be smarter to start with those? I know the general rule with freshwater water (and maybe saltwater) is the bigger the tank the larger the margin for error. Is this true with plants to or would it be like going from couch potato to a 1000 acre wheat farmer? As always the advice is appreciated?

First of all congrats on that awesome steal! Free is always great in this hobby.

As far as starting on a tank of this size verses starting on a smaller scale goes, it all depends on your budget and available time. My first planted tank was a 50g and my budget was $80/month. With that budget maintaining the tank was doable, but tough. I had that tank up for about 1yr and I learned a lot of does and don'ts, so I don't regret the endeavor, but I probably wouldn't set up another planted tank of that size again. The margin of error is bigger so one's mistakes, depending on what they are, will have less an effect compared to if you were working with a nano tank. I went from a 50g planted tank to a 2g planted tank and they are, IMO, very different. Mistakes in a 2g tank can be detrimental, but the cost of maintenance is less. In the end, I would not discourage you from moving forward with this project, I learned so much from mine. Hope this helped

 

[King Neptune]

Definitely helped. The 125 was to big for my space so I ended up trading it for a 75 gallon with aqueon glass tops and a fluval u4 filter and stand. Anyway I think I'm going to start a 10 gallon planted and just keep it simple and low cost for now. I really like amazon swords but not sure if they would work in that small a tank. I'm gonna do some plant research as the whole planted thing is pretty new to me. I've been watching a bunch of videos from Cloud 9 aquariums you tube channel and got some good info. Thanks for everyone's input. I'll be sure to update as I get started.