Some advice please on my first planted aquarium

[Stix_oz]

G'Day all, i am about 2 weeks in to the cycling stage of my new 70 Gallon tank, it will mainly have African tetras in it and i am very new to aquariums in general.

I want to plant a few tallish kind of plants in the back of my tank and a few small plants for looks at the front. Other than a few days reading on the net about planted aquariums i know basically nothing about planted aquariums.

I know light and Co2 are important but can't really find the info i'm looking for.

I have a double weatherproof 4ft fluro and a single basic fluro, i have a 40w Boyu "Planted aquarium light" tube a 40w 17000K Power glo tube and 2 standard 36w 6500K tubes.

If possible i don't want to have to get in to Co2 just yet, can anyone recommend maybe 2-3 plant species that would work well in my tank and give me a rough guide as to which fluros tubes to use and how long to have them on for? I want a maximum of 6-8 plants in the tank good for beginners with minimal Co2 needs.

I don't mind doing water changes and testing adding fertiliser etc but i am on a bit of a budget.

Any advice for a newb?

Thanks in advance guys.

Stix

 

[jcarlilesiu]

what is the depth of your aquarium?

 

[Purrbox]

Looks like you've got a little over 2WPG over your aquarium This is the grey area as to whether or not CO2 injection will be necessary to keep algae at bay. It does give you a nice selection of plants. You should be grow most anything that requires medium light or less, and may be able to grow some of the medium high light plants.

Generally you want bulbs with a kelving rating between 5000K and 10000K. The powerglo tube is definately outside that range. It may or may not work well for the plants. I try it out for now, you can always replace it later.

You'll want to have your lights on for 8-12 hours each day. Longer if you are trying to grow out plants, shorter if you are maintaining your scape or fighting algae. Definately get a timer for your lights if you don't already have one. They are inexpensive and make it much easier on both you and the plants.

I'd recommend checking out Plantgeek's PlantGuide to get ideas for the types of plants you might want. Tropica is another good site for looking up information on plants.

Because of the amount of light that you have it's hard to predict how much fertilization you'll need. I'd recommend ordering all the dry ferts that you might need since they are the most inexpensive fertilizer, shipping is the bulk of their cost, and that way you'll have everything on hand in case you do need it. Two popular places that you can order from are Rex Grigg and Planted Aquarium Fertilizer. You'll definately want to order KNO3, K2SO4, KH2PO4, and CSM+B. If you have soft water you may want to pick up either Barr's GH Booster or Grumpy's GH Booster. Chuck's Planted Aquarium Calculator can be used to determine the dosing for most of these in your aquarium.

Last but not least, there is a Read This First sticky at the top of the forum. It's got lots of great links to threads and articles on all things Planted Aquarium. These will help you to answer many of your questions, some of which you may not be aware of yet.

 

[jsoong]

Your setup is almost the same as mine in terms of light level & size.

I would be careful of the "a few plants in the back & front" plan. With the amount of light, you need to get heavily planted from the start or there will be algae issues. I was battling algae for a year until I packed the tank with fast growing plants. As soon as I get the tank about 50% filled with plants, all algae became manageable. Now I rarely have to clean the tank glass. I used green hygro & hornwort as my tank filler. The basically took over the tank in a few weeks. Now I am gradually reducing the amount of the fast growers & replacing them with more desirable (although slower growing) plants.

If you are into just a few plants, you might want to half your light (just turn on only 2) and restrict yourself to low light plants like Java ferns. If you go low light, you won't need to worry about CO2 or ferts.

From your handle, I would think that your are in Australia. In that case, shipping ferts from the sources mentioned would be costly. I get my ferts from a local hydroponics outlet. They costs about the same as online without shipping. I have also found the ferts at the local landscaping/pond supply place.

 

[Stix_oz]

Thanks for the replys guys, i really am new at this and have read a lot of the stickys and FAQ's around the net but it hasn't all exactly "clicked" yet, a bit overwhelming for a beginner.

I think i will run with just the 2 lights for now like you suggest and get low light plants if that won't require CO2, any recommendations for those style plants? Easy maintenance etc.

I don't really like the idea of having to fight algae at such at early stage in my aquarium learning curve.

Depth is 20 inches and yes i am in Australia.

Thanks for the help guys it is greatly appreciated.

Stix

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

Heres a couple good links just for reference
Aquarium Plants Photos & Profiles at the Age of Aquariums - Tropical Fish
PlantGeek.net - Plant Guide.

 

[jsoong]

More lists of plants:

PG: Setting up your first planted tank - PlantGeek.net

Hoa G. Nguyen's Freshwater Planted Aquarium: Plants

 

[chris127]

heavily planting and injecting CO2 would be a good idea.. i just upgraded my lights to 2.6 WPG and didnt plant any more or add CO2 and i had a HUGE algae outbreak