doing research and looking for info any help appreciated!

[shammond15731]

I am trying to do some research on planted tanks and am considering converting my 30 gallon long to a planted tank but want to know how involved this would be. I am pretty sure my substrate will need to be changed because I have rather large stone/river rock. I am just not sure what I need. Also I know I have to upgrade my lighting as I only have a standard hood and light right now and would like to be able to have plants that require moderate to high light, so suggestions on a good light and price ranges would be great! And last but not least, Co2, do I need it, will it harm my fish, and if I need it what is a good system? Any other suggestions you may have would be great as I said I am trying to learn before making the investment, as I would rather do it right the first time than buy a bunch of stuff and have to replace and redo later because I did it wrong. Thanks in advance for anyones help!!

 

[Mr. Limpet]

Here's two great links to go thru. The first will answer many questions about what you need to do to your tank for a med/high light setup. The second is for plants from low light, thru high light. Also if you follow any of Fort or Rookies threads, they're a goldmine of info for where you want to go.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f24/read-this-first-resources-and-references-83826.html

PlantGeek.net - Your Aquatic Plant Resource

Happy Planting!

 

[shammond15731]

Thank you!! A lot of great info!! These links are amazing!!

 

[fort384]

Moved to Freshwater & Brackish - Planted Tanks

 

[BigJim]

Here are my suggestions to keep medium and high-light plants going:

1. Switch your substrate to something smaller. Smaller substrate allows your plants to root better. You can use something fancy like EcoComplete or something cheap like PFS or play sand. I've got high-light plants and a glosso carpet in plain old PFS.

2. Get a good light. Look at either T5HO or high-power LED fixtures. T5HO fixtures offer pretty good bang for the buck. Commercial LED fixtures are a little pricey, but they're more efficient and you don't have to replace bulbs. If you're handy, you can build a great LED fixture that will blow away a comparably priced T5HO fixture.

3. Get a pressurized CO2 system. 30g is right on the edge of being too big for DIY CO2. I've used both DIY and pressurized CO2 and the pressurized system wins hands down. Once it's tuned, I've had no BBA with the pressurized setup. The DIY system output fluctuates too much.

4. Look into a fertilizer regimen. Estimative Index (EI) and Perpetual Preservation System Pro (PPS Pro) are popular systems. Mixing your own dry ferts is much cheaper than buying liquid ferts.

 

[Mr. Limpet]

I've got high-light plants and a glosso carpet in plain old PFS.

+1 for PFS. It's the best IMO.

4. Look into a fertilizer regimen. Estimative Index (EI) and Perpetual Preservation System Pro (PPS Pro) are popular systems. Mixing your own dry ferts is much cheaper than buying liquid ferts.

Interesting point Jim. I was under the impression that both were needed since some plants only up take ferts via the water column and some are root/water users.

 

[jetajockey]

I'm a fan of dirt tanks mostly because they don't need much in the way of root supplementation. One benefit of an enriched substrate with high CEC (fired clay, laterite, flourite, etc) over regular sand is that it better stores nutrients and makes them available for the rooted plants without being a part of the water column. That means that the plants still have plenty of nutrients available whether I remember to dose or not. The other benefit to soil substrates (mineralized especially) is that they can last for a very long time before being depleted, often several years.

Sand however is much simpler to work with. I do have a few tanks with 3m colorquartz black sand and it is easier to plant in, and far less messy. The sand tanks don't seem to do as well as the soil ones do, but they both do great, and they aren't done in a side by side comparison so there are a lot of differing factors that come into play.



That being said I use root tabs/mineralized soil substrates in conjunction with a homemade liquid fert mix to make sure all the bases are covered.

 

[BigJim]

I was under the impression that both were needed since some plants only up take ferts via the water column and some are root/water users.

Plants will pull in nutrients any way they can. Some are more efficient at root feeding while others are better at pulling from the water. I only dose the water column in my high-light 20H with PFS. Crypts are supposed to be heavy root feeders, but I've got a crypt Lutea that's about 10" tall with about 50 leaves and it's been going strictly on the column feeding. If I could somehow squeeze root tabs through the glosso carpet, I'd probably have to trim the tank more than once a week.