Probably stupid questions.

[evalmore]

Hello everyone!

I'm about to start a 15-20g freshwater tropical community tank. Right now I'm planning on having guppies, cory cats, ghost shrimp, and snails in the tank. Should I have live plants or fake plants in the tank? Does it really matter? If I do need live plants, what are some basics on raising healthy live plants? Also, if I need live plants, do I add the plants after the tank is cycled or while it is cycling? If you couldn't tell I'm a major newbie and I want to get everything perfect for my fish! Any advice whatsoever will help me out a lot! Thanks!

 

[evalmore]

Also, I forgot to ask. How many plants should I have in my 15-20g tank and what type of plants work best? Again I'm planning on having guppies, Cory cats, snails, and shrimp. Thanks .

 

[FishCr8zy]

Live plants and fake plants both have their pros and cons. I prefer live plants and have actually never bought any fake ones before. Some live plants will actually help lower nitrites in the tank. Water sprite is one of the best one IMO. There aren't really any major requirements for low light plants. When you get into the med and high light plants, you'll start needing high light, ferts, co2, etc.
Java fern, anubias, bacopa, java moss, some Ludwigia, hornwort, anacharis, frogbit, duckweed, cabomba, and many others are all low light, low requirements, and low maintenance plants.
What lights are you getting? Do you want med light plants too?

 

[Goldfish loach boy]

Cool, planted all the way

If it is a 20 gallon, I would put one amazon sword, about 4-5 anacharis, and one Marimo moss ball
The amazon sword needs root tabs, put one under the roots and it lasts for months
Also if you want to go heavily planted, then maybe flora max substrate can help

 

[FishCr8zy]

Cool, planted all the way

If it is a 20 gallon, I would put one amazon sword, about 4-5 anacharis, and one Marimo moss ball
The amazon sword needs root tabs, put one under the roots and it lasts for months
Also if you want to go heavily planted, then maybe flora max substrate can help

Amazon swords don't need root tabs but will need med light. Liquid ferts are also always helpful. And flora max doesn't really help a lot IMO. And IMO, its just a waste of money. Jut get some ferts or if yo have enough fish, the fish poop can act as natural fertilizer.

 

[George9]

Hello everyone!

I'm about to start a 15-20g freshwater tropical community tank. Right now I'm planning on having guppies, cory cats, ghost shrimp, and snails in the tank. Should I have live plants or fake plants in the tank? Does it really matter? If I do need live plants, what are some basics on raising healthy live plants? Also, if I need live plants, do I add the plants after the tank is cycled or while it is cycling? If you couldn't tell I'm a major newbie and I want to get everything perfect for my fish! Any advice whatsoever will help me out a lot! Thanks!

Edit-They beat me! Lol

Hi again!

Live plants vs fake is totally up to you. Live plants require a little more work and you need the correct lighting and nutrients for them to grow and thrive. The fish couldn't care less what kind of plants you have lol.

So, to raise live plants, you're going to need some sort of light. This can be a standard t8 bulb for the lower, less demanding plants. Or, if you want to look into higher light plants, you'll need a stronger light like a t5. Depending on the type of plant, adding nutrients never hurt either. Swords and crypts are root feeders and need root tabs. Many other plants will do well with a decent nitrate level and some seachem flourish.

Check out liveaquaria.com for plants you like and look at their lighting requirements.

You can add plants during or after the cycle, it doesn't really matter. I added mine during the cycle and they did great.

 

[FishCr8zy]

It all depends on what kind of plants. Some plants are very sensitive to water and putting them in during the cycle will kill them. But others will speed up the cycle process.
I usually go to either liveaquaria or petsolutions. They are both great online webs and have a very wide selection of plants. Another good web is Arizona gardens ( I think it was called that )

 

[evalmore]

First of all thank you both. I was planning on keeping strictly low light plants since I am just starting out on the aquarium keeping hobby and the low lights seem like they're the easiest to take care of.

Do I need to let the plants (especially if I get moss) grow before I introduce my fish?

 

[FishCr8zy]

Edit-They beat me! Lol

Hi again!

Live plants vs fake is totally up to you. Live plants require a little more work and you need the correct lighting and nutrients for them to grow and thrive. The fish couldn't care less what kind of plants you have lol.

So, to raise live plants, you're going to need some sort of light. This can be a standard t8 bulb for the lower, less demanding plants. Or, if you want to look into higher light plants, you'll need a stronger light like a t5. Depending on the type of plant, adding nutrients never hurt either. Swords and crypts are root feeders and need root tabs. Many other plants will do well with a decent nitrate level and some seachem flourish.

Check out liveaquaria.com for plants you like and look at their lighting requirements.

You can add plants during or after the cycle, it doesn't really matter. I added mine during the cycle and they did great.

Hey George, what lights do you recommend ( I prefer t5 or led ) for a heavily planted, low-med light plants, 55 gal tank? I'm really thinking about the marineland double bright or the aquaticlife.

 

[FishCr8zy]

First of all thank you both. I was planning on keeping strictly low light plants since I am just starting out on the aquarium keeping hobby and the low lights seem like they're the easiest to take care of.

Do I need to let the plants (especially if I get moss) grow before I introduce my fish?

No you don't have to do that. I put in some plants after my fish were in for a while and the plants are doing great!
Yes, low light plants are definitely the easiest to take care of.

 

[evalmore]

(Hi again George XD.)

Everything sounds great so far . I just want to aim for the lowest maintenance plants. Lol. Call me lazy but I feel like they probably have a better chance of thriving if I have less of a chance to kill them by doing something wrong! Also I like the idea of plants that speed up the cycling process. What are some of those?

 

[George9]

Hey George, what lights do you recommend ( I prefer t5 or led ) for a heavily planted, low-med light plants, 55 gal tank? I'm really thinking about the marineland double bright or the aquaticlife.

I wouldn't go with the marineland LEDS, I haven't heard many good things about them.

I know aquaticlife makes a decent dual T5 HO fixture that I ran on a 60 g (same specs of a 55, just 2 inches taller I believe) and I was able to grow any low, and medium light plant I wanted.

 

[FishCr8zy]

(Hi again George XD.)

Everything sounds great so far . I just want to aim for the lowest maintenance plants. Lol. Call me lazy but I feel like they probably have a better chance of thriving if I have less of a chance to kill them by doing something wrong! Also I like the idea of plants that speed up the cycling process. What are some of those?

I like to put water sprite, java fern, hornwort, and sometimes anacharis because those are very hardy plants. There are others too but I just can't remember them right now ( can't think when tired lol ).
Also, hornwort is almost impossible to kill. I actually put one stem in highly acidic water ( it was an experiment and the ph was around 3.0 ) and left it in there until the leaves began to fall off. Then I put it back in normal tank water and now after around 1-2 weeks, a whole new hornwort plant is sprouting again!

 

[FishCr8zy]

I wouldn't go with the marineland LEDS, I haven't heard many good things about them.

I know aquaticlife makes a decent dual T5 HO fixture that I ran on a 60 g (same specs of a 55, just 2 inches taller I believe) and I was able to grow any low, and medium light plant I wanted.

Oh ok. Then I'll prob go for the aquaticlifes. Dual or quad light? Which one would be considered med light?
Are there any other lights you like/recommend?

 

[George9]

Oh ok. Then I'll prob go for the aquaticlifes. Dual or quad light? Which one would be considered med light?
Are there any other lights you like/recommend?

I'd go with the dual. Quad is too much without co2.

I don't really know of many others. I have a coralife aqua light dual fixture that's been working for 2 years, so I could recommend it as well! It's mostly the same as the aquaticlife.

Sorry to hijack your thread!

 

[evalmore]

You're totally fine. Lol as long as people are getting helped. And who knows, the stuff you guys are talking about will probably help me in the future.

 

[FishCr8zy]

I'd go with the dual. Quad is too much without co2.

I don't really know of many others. I have a coralife aqua light dual fixture that's been working for 2 years, so I could recommend it as well! It's mostly the same as the aquaticlife.

Sorry to hijack your thread!

Ok. The quad one is way out of my price range anyway. lol. But isn't the coralifes like SW specific? Cause all the pics I've seen of them has the water all blue. I don't really want blue water all the time on a fw tank because that will cause significant algae growth and it will not make a fw tank look too well IMO.

 

[FishCr8zy]

You're totally fine. Lol as long as people are getting helped. And who knows, the stuff you guys are talking about will probably help me in the future.

Tomorrow I will try and list out all the plants I think are low light and pretty easy to take care of.

 

[George9]

Ok. The quad one is way out of my price range anyway. lol. But isn't the coralifes like SW specific? Cause all the pics I've seen of them has the water all blue. I don't really want blue water all the time on a fw tank because that will cause significant algae growth and it will not make a fw tank look too well IMO.

Ah, yes! I forgot. With the coralife, I had to change out the actinic (blue) bulb for a pink one, or a 10 k or 6k

 

[Jkeating8]

Amazon swords DO need root tabs, and I find floramax to be a great investment. It doesn't contain many nutrients as is, but with it having a high CEC (Cation Exchange Capacity) it enables fish waste to be absorbed from the water column and turned into food for the plants. Especially since its only 9$ at Petco/Petsmart. I use it in my high tech tanks and I love it. If I were you, I would also get Flourish Excel for a source of carbon, but it is notorious for melting Elodea/Anacharis. Along with excel, to start with a low tech tank, you should get Flourish Comprehensive and API Leaf Zone. Flourish is a micro nutrient supplement, and Leaf Zone contains Potassium and Iron.