My first aquarium (55gal)

[Slojko]

Right now my 55 gallon doesn't have any lights on it so I have to build some makeshift stand. Is this all I need for a planted aquarium?

tetra plant complete substrate, gravel, tetra nitrate minus

a heater, a filter, Nova Extreme 2xT5HO | Current-USA (is this the right lighting?) and of coarse the plants.

are there any certain plants I should get? Is petsmart a good place to get them?

 

[keenfish]

unless you plan on low light plants and that, you will need a co2 kit for a true planted tank

 

[andresdeo]

Welcome to AA, hope you like it here. You' ll be fine, just stick to low light plants and you'll figure things as you go. Get used to the hobbie, there are a million things to learn before venturing into CO2. Start by reading about fishless cycling ( if you havent already ), search for low light plants you can buy, post some pics of your setup if you can. Take care, any specific questions? Just shoot, someone is bound to know the answer.

 

[jerrym]

welcome to aa, i have similar light on my tank a lot is pending on type and watts of bulb and how old they are. sounds like you are set up for low light (just a guess). as far as your plants go that is tricky every tank is different and needs different things.plants are a lot of work and expensive. start off simple like bulbs from pet stores (walmart bulbs had little luck with) then go from there.a lot of time plants are miss labeled and not aquatic plants. go to store and take pics and write names down and google them or use your phone if you can (i did that). the best way imo is to order on line or a forum like this that has people selling clippings from there tank most of the time they know what they are doing and can give you a hand. you can go from simple and cheap to hard and expensive very quick. find out what you want do your research and go from there. if you want fish in there try figuring out the plant care before you put fish in there a lot less to worry about. like andresdeo said million of things to learn with or with out co2. plants are a lot of work so go slow.to start go to AquariumPlants.com and they have a list for plants from low to high light so you can see what you want this is a good guide to get started.