purchasing plants

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piao liang yu

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Dec 25, 2012
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I have yet to even add water to my tank. Trying to do all of the research and due diligence. It is all pretty overwhelming because there rarely seems to be a consensus on the "right" way to go about things. Then I read these horror stories of dead fish and people spending hundreds of dollars on plants only to have them die.

Anyway, I am looking into plants. Do any of you have any experience with the plant packages from aquariumplants.com? They have a couple of packages they call hardy low light. One is a 60 plant package for $99 for up to a 40 gallon aquarium. Since my tank is 60 gallons i would buy an additional 36 plant package for $69 which is for a 20 gallon tank. Or should i just get two 60 plant packages?

Anyway, is ordering plants for shipment an acceptable way to go and what do y'all have to say about aquariumplants.com?
 
I've personally never ordered plants from them... but I'm a big fan of buying from hobbyist as you tend to get a way better deal.

Do you know what kind of lights you plan on using?

Also keep in mind that plants grow, and in the right conditions they will grow quickly. That being said, I would order for the forty and see how they grow
 
follow up

I've personally never ordered plants from them... but I'm a big fan of buying from hobbyist as you tend to get a way better deal.

Do you know what kind of lights you plan on using?

Also keep in mind that plants grow, and in the right conditions they will grow quickly. That being said, I would order for the forty and see how they grow

Well there really was not a lot of paper work that came with my setup. My wife got it for me for Christmas and it was the last one they had at petsmart. It was actually the display. On the bright side of that the stand was already assembled. Anyway, it is the marineland 60 ensemble. I am told that the lighting that comes with these setups are more suitable for low light plants.

So is hobbyist an online store or what?
 
I order mostly from AquariumPlants.com and they have good plants. BUT this time of the year the weather is or is getting really cold in area's so I personally won't order plants. Some plants just don't handle the cold during shipping. I need some plants but am waiting till spring when temps start raising. If your in FL you could order from ExtraPlant.com as they are in FL also.
 
Well there really was not a lot of paper work that came with my setup. My wife got it for me for Christmas and it was the last one they had at petsmart. It was actually the display. On the bright side of that the stand was already assembled. Anyway, it is the marineland 60 ensemble. I am told that the lighting that comes with these setups are more suitable for low light plants.

So is hobbyist an online store or what?

I think you may have the same tank as me. Have you checked out my thread on my tank? Its a 60g angelfish planted tank. Link is in my sig. I also ordered all my plants from aquariumplants and right now i just hacked them all back so they dont look SO great right now but if you see the earlier pics on the thread you would know aquariumplants to have quality plants. I think that what bigbanker was trying to say was he mostly gets his plants from fellow aquarists as they tend to give you better deals on plants and with upmost quality. Also you want to make sure you have a plan for your tank. Dont just order things and plant as you get them. Always know excactly want you want and how you will integrate it in your tank. Have you considered the substrate, lighting, ferts, C02 injection, or what to stock it with?
 
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I think you may have the same tank as me. Have you checked out my thread on my tank? Its a 60g angelfish planted tank. Link is in my sig. I also ordered all my plants from aquariumplants and right now i just hacked them all back so they dont look SO great right now but if you see the earlier pics on the thread you would know aquariumplants to have quality plants. I think that what bigbanker was trying to say was he mostly gets his plants from fellow aquarists as they tend to give you better deals on plants and with upmost quality. Also you want to make sure you have a plan for your tank. Dont just order things and plant as you get them. Always know excactly want you want and how you will integrate it in your tank. Have you considered the substrate, lighting, ferts, C02 injection, or what to stock it with?

I think i am gonna go with ecocomplete substrate. As for fish, i am not even gonna price them right now. Still a long time before i buy fish, but i want to go with non aggressive non territorial community fish if that makes sense. Still no clue on fish. Right now i want to get the substrate and plants, but i still need to learn of the other subjects you mentioned like ferts, c02 etc. The lighting is just what came with it. No paperwork describing what that is.
 
Well if I were you I would get better lighting. You wont be able to grow much with those bulbs that come with it. I recommend a T5HO fixture with at least 2 lights and at least try to get 1-2 wpg. I run a double T5HO with 2 Life-Glo 54watt 6,700K bulbs plus 2 48" TrueLumen Pro 30watt 8,000K LED strips on mine. Eco-Complete is a great substrate, and you want to have root tabs mainly as well as a dry fert for ferts. Rivercats knows more about this stuff than I do so she can tell you some more on that...I recommend a C02 system if you will get the higher lights because the more the light the more C02 the plants will want for photosynthesis. I recommend PPS-Pro dosing for your ferts, again Rivercats is really good with that also. You should check out her 220g-best planted one I have ever seen.
 
follow up

Well if I were you I would get better lighting. You wont be able to grow much with those bulbs that come with it. I recommend a T5HO fixture with at least 2 lights and at least try to get 1-2 wpg. I run a double T5HO with 2 Life-Glo 54watt 6,700K bulbs plus 2 48" TrueLumen Pro 30watt 8,000K LED strips on mine. Eco-Complete is a great substrate, and you want to have root tabs mainly as well as a dry fert for ferts. Rivercats knows more about this stuff than I do so she can tell you some more on that...I recommend a C02 system if you will get the higher lights because the more the light the more C02 the plants will want for photosynthesis. I recommend PPS-Pro dosing for your ferts, again Rivercats is really good with that also. You should check out her 220g-best planted one I have ever seen.

Well given my recent career change i am starting to realize that maybe i picked the wrong time to get back into this hobby due to funds. Still, i have the system now so i have to make due with what i have. If they market the plants as hardy low light plants would they still need more light? Why is the lighting i have even manufactured if it is not even good enough for low light plants? I guess it is more for plantless tanks? I appreciate your advice and your aquarium is awesome. I shall come back to you often for pointers.

Also, i keep reading stock the tanks with shrimp and snails. Don't snails multiply beyond belief? How many and what kind of shrimp would be healthy?
 
Oh well the lights the tank comes with are very capable of growing the low light plants, I was just recommending higher light if you wanted to grow the more demanding and higher light plants. I stocked my tank with 50 amano shrimp and 22 nerite snails. I highly suggest them as they are the best algae eaters on the market and do not require much. I do however recommend only the amano shrimp and nerites because well, they are the best. Nerite snails do not reproduce in FW so you dont have to worry about an overpopulation of them. Same with Amano shrimp. For you, since we have the same tank I would eventually put in at least 50 or so Amano shrimps and about 15-25 nerite snails. I had my algae bloom when I started and it was green everywhere and after 2 days after adding the inverts in it was crystal!
 
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Oh well the lights the tank comes with are very capable of growing the low light plants, I was just recommending higher light if you wanted to grow the more demanding and higher light plants. I stocked my tank with 50 amano shrimp and 22 nerite snails. I highly suggest them as they are the best algae eaters on the market and do not require much. I do however recommend only the amano shrimp and nerites because well, they are the best. Nerite snails do not reproduce in FW so you dont have to worry about an overpopulation of them. Same with Amano shrimp. For you, since we have the same tank I would eventually put in at least 50 or so Amano shrimps and about 15-25 nerite snails. I had my algae bloom when I started and it was green everywhere and after 2 days after adding the inverts in it was crystal!

Yes, i appreciate all of your recommendations. I will probably upgrade the lighting eventually.

Wow, that is awesome about the snails and shrimp. How long do i need to cycle before it is safe to add the amano's and nerite's? Do they need a full cycle just like a fishless cycle? Again, forgive my ignorance. It has been a long time and even back then i am sure i did a lot wrong.

Also, where is the best place to purchase the shrimp and snails? Would petsmart have them?
 
Well I am also a bit of a rookie on planted tanks but I'm coming along. For me I just waited about a month before I added the plants and then once the ammonia and nitrite were down I added the first fish- 4 SAE's. they seemed fine and then around the first of Decenber I ordered the angelfish which I have 7 of, and acclimated them properly and thy were fine so I got the Amanos and nerites. I actually for you reccomend wait a month or so then get the Amanos and see how they do. If they are fine get the snails and so forth. I started this project near the beginning of October so it took me a good 2 months to get everything running.
 
First get you tank up and running, get your plants in, only run whatever lights you use for 6-8 hours to avoid algae issues. Go slow, your less likely to make mistakes. As for snails and shrimp. Don't buy anything you don't need. IF you have algae issues down the road you need to address what is causing the problem before doing anything. One thing all new tanks will usually expierence is diatoms, a type of brown algae. It will resolve on it's own with time but when this happens it would be a good time to add nerite snails. In a 60 gallon tank 15-20 is more than enough. I only have 40 or less in my 220g tank.
 
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Well I am also a bit of a rookie on planted tanks but I'm coming along. For me I just waited about a month before I added the plants and then once the ammonia and nitrite were down I added the first fish- 4 SAE's. they seemed fine and then around the first of Decenber I ordered the angelfish which I have 7 of, and acclimated them properly and thy were fine so I got the Amanos and nerites. I actually for you reccomend wait a month or so then get the Amanos and see how they do. If they are fine get the snails and so forth. I started this project near the beginning of October so it took me a good 2 months to get everything running.

Wow, two months seems pretty good for your results. I watched the you tube of your tank. Pretty amazing. Are most of your plants the type than need a higher level of light?
 
Ah you see I told you Rivercats knows her stuff. I must give the credit - She mainly is the one helping me out with my tank. Also remember to have that plan in your head at all times and stick with it and as Rivercats said, slow and steady.
 
Wow, two months seems pretty good for your results. I watched the you tube of your tank. Pretty amazing. Are most of your plants the type than need a higher level of light?

Well the ones like the Rotala, ludwigia, grasses, and mainly the ones planted couldn't really grow to their extent with the lighting the came with the tank, however the Anubias and java ferns (attached to the driftwood) are very low light plants so they would do good in your tank. Here is a list of plants that are hardy/low light
Low Light Plant List | AquaScaping World Forum
Those should get you started well.
 
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How often do you vacuum and how often do you perform pwc's and how much each time? I am curious how the pwc is done. Do you use several five gallon buckets to fill up with tap water and put in the dechlorinator. Then add to the tank once it is conditioned?
 
follow up

First get you tank up and running, get your plants in, only run whatever lights you use for 6-8 hours to avoid algae issues. Go slow, your less likely to make mistakes. As for snails and shrimp. Don't buy anything you don't need. IF you have algae issues down the road you need to address what is causing the problem before doing anything. One thing all new tanks will usually expierence is diatoms, a type of brown algae. It will resolve on it's own with time but when this happens it would be a good time to add nerite snails. In a 60 gallon tank 15-20 is more than enough. I only have 40 or less in my 220g tank.

Thanks rivercats. Just noticed your advice. I will definitely keep you in mind also.
 
How often do you vacuum and how often do you perform pwc's and how much each time? I am curious how the pwc is done. Do you use several five gallon buckets to fill up with tap water and put in the dechlorinator. Then add to the tank once it is conditioned?

Well you never really 'vacuum' a planted tank as you would a regular non-planted gravel tank. Mostly because of the plants roots are in the substrate and you are shoving your siphon in there it's going to mess up the roots plus you get a dirty mess in the water. Rivercats suggested me to slightly disturb the top of the substrate right before you do your weekly water change to get the detritus and debris thats sitting on the substrate loose so you can easily suck it up without disturbing the bottom. Once your tank is established preform weekly 25% at least WC's and all I do is what I said above and just go around with the siphon getting all the dirt off the plants leaves, and when I feel I have gotten all the mess I want to get out of the tank I just leave the siphon hanging in the tank until I get as much water as I need to out. It's much simpler than having to vacuum and whatnot. To fill it back up using buckets is the preferred method however I usually get lazy and just put tap water straight from the hose in the tank. (Sorry don't yell at me!) and I add the dechlorinators and whatnot after I fill the tank, just make sure there is not a lot of temperature change within the tank. What I like to do though is I have these buckets as you mentioned (leftover Instant Ocean buckets) that I fill with water at the end of each water change one week and go ahead and dechlorinate and add all the necessary things to the water and store it safely so come next week all I have to do to fill up the tank is pour those buckets in the tank since I already had them last week. That make any sense?
 
I prefer doing 50% weekly WC's as this guarantees there is not any organic buildups in the water. Both plants and fish enjoy fresh water from WC's. You don't need to make buckets of water up ahead of time. Once you remove the amount of water from the tank you just fill a bucket with water from the tap that is close to the water temp in the tank, add your dechlor (Prime is one of the better ones to use), then slowly pour into the tank. Repeat this until the tank is full.

Dan when you use a hose or water changer to fill a tank you should add declor before filling, the dose should be enough to treat the entire tank. Then add the same amount after filling. By not adding declor first your risking exposure of chlorine, etc., which is not good for the fish/snails/shrimp.
 
I prefer doing 50% weekly WC's as this guarantees there is not any organic buildups in the water. Both plants and fish enjoy fresh water from WC's. You don't need to make buckets of water up ahead of time. Once you remove the amount of water from the tank you just fill a bucket with water from the tap that is close to the water temp in the tank, add your dechlor (Prime is one of the better ones to use), then slowly pour into the tank. Repeat this until the tank is full.

Dan when you use a hose or water changer to fill a tank you should add declor before filling, the dose should be enough to treat the entire tank. Then add the same amount after filling. By not adding declor first your risking exposure of chlorine, etc., which is not good for the fish/snails/shrimp.

You see I was doing that when I fill up the tank by the hose (add Prime in it before and after as you said) but then when my bud came over and saw me doing that (he has a planted tank also) he freaked out saying it would be too much Prime in there so I stopped...but now I can prove him wrong :)
 
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