making an already cycled& running tank PLANTED

[mgkaelen]

hi guys! i have a 29g tank that is unplanted .. i want to convert it to a planted tank! is this feasible? i only have gravel as a substrate right now. how would i add a different substrate to a tank that already has water in it? is this even an option? would i need to drain the tank, put the substrate in, plant the tank, and then refill the tank with my water/fish??

also, can anyone direct me to a place where i can see which fish will eat live plants and which won't?? THANKS GUYS!!

KAELEN!

 

[Guest]

I would not worry about switching out the gravel. If the tank has been setup and running for any length of time you will be fine. The biggest question is how much light do you have over the tank.

I can't help you with the plant eating fish, sorry.

 

[brotherd]

What you have now is fine with plants.I would not rec. a lot of cyclids as they have a tendency to uproot plants.That being said I have a butterfly ram in my planted tank and he could care less about the plants.Do yourself a favor and get 3 ameca splendens.They are hard to find but they will eat all of any beard or hair algae that may crop up.Be warned though,do NOT get a breeding pair.In a year you will have a hundred of them and that will become a species tank!Also they tend to be fin nippers if you have males and females in the tank.Try to get 3 females.

 

[mgkaelen]

so the bacteria that is in my normal gravel now will be okay to plant the plants in? i'll just need to fertilize as usual? i know i'll need to make some lighting changes... in a 30 gal tank i was going to make sure i had a fluorescent bulb(rod--what are they called ?) that is at least 60w. in my 10g that i am planning to plant i will have 20w of light and i'm not immediately planning on putting in a CO2 system. since i'll still only have 2wpg on the 30gal, will it be necessary for the CO2 system, since it's a bigger tank? thanks rex, you're the best!

 

[Guest]

You won't be able to get a more powerful tube for the light. You will need to add another light.

 

[mgkaelen]

not sure i 100% understand you rex... "i will need to add another light".... will i need to buy a new hood that will accomodate 2 lights? i haven't yet looked under my hood to see my lighting configuration-- only know that it's fluorescent , not incandescent... probably will help me understand better. are you saying with the hood that i have now i will not be able to find any sort of lighting that will adequately house even low light plants?

 

[Guest]

are you saying with the hood that i have now i will not be able to find any sort of lighting that will adequately house even low light plants?

Correct. 30 gallon tanks are 36" long. That means at most they have a 30 watt bulb. You might be able to grow Java moss and Java ferns and maybe some Anubias in there but they would not grow very fast at all.

You can buy a hood with twin tubes, or even triple tubes. You can just buy another single tube strip light. You can even buy a strip light with Compact Fluorescent lights in it and really increase the lighting. It all depends on what plants you wish to grow and how much work you want to do.

 

[mgkaelen]

i see. well... i got lots of pet store gift cards for christmas so now i just have to decide which ones to buy. i'm not going to just yet becuase i haven't even set up my first planted tank in my 10g. i want to make sure i can handle it, that i like it, get the hang of it, etc etc. i don't want to spend THAT much money though, as i plan to upgrade my tank eventually -- the triple tubes look upwards of $125!! if i were to buy another single tube strip light, where would i put it? i don't think there's enough room on top of my tank to just put it in front of the other light.. is this a possibility? it's difficult for me to picture.

with the compact fluorescent bulbs, am i understanding correctly that i may only need one of those but i'll still need a new strip that the bulb will fit in? ahhh i need to do so much more research. i'll probably go to the fish store tomorrow so i can look at everything in person. everything is more difficult online when you do'nt 100% know what you're looking at =]

 

[Guest]

You can retro-fit a CF tube into a strip light. Go to www.ahsupply.com to see the kits. Or you can buy a simple wooden enclosure from them to put the kit into.