Should I plant all at once?

[Rocket2001]

Ive been considering planting my 55gal community tank...
as i was flipping through Dr Fosters catalog i noticed that they offer
"Plant Paks" a variety of different plants to "aquascape" your tank.
The paks varied depending on the size of your tank.
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/scateg.cfm?pCatId=2145&ref=3392&subref=AK

Does this seem like a good idea? to suddenly change your tank from unplanted to planted in one swift move.
Its been my experience that stablity is the key to a healthy tank and it seems to me adding a tankful of plants would suddenly change water parameters.

im thinking a gradual transition would be the more prudent move

Any thoughts?

 

[travis simonson]

That's a very good question. I love it when people put some thought into major tank changes

My answer would be to go ahead and plant it all at once. The only caveat being that you should make sure that the your tank is ready to support the plants you have in mind (i.e. lighting requirements, water parameters, substrate, etc.).

The proper plants will only help your tank rather than hinder it. As long as your tank is prepared to support them. The only drawback would be if your tank parameters were not adequate to support the plants and they began to deteriorate, causing large amounts of waste to enter your water.

I guess what I'm saying is, yes, do it all at once, if your tank is ready for it and meets the needs of the plants (not really hard to determine).

 

[travis simonson]

That's a very good question. I love it when people put some thought into major tank changes

My answer would be to go ahead and plant it all at once. The only caveat being that you should make sure that the your tank is ready to support the plants you have in mind (i.e. lighting requirements, water parameters, substrate, etc.).

The proper plants will only help your tank rather than hinder it. As long as your tank is prepared to support them. The only drawback would be if your tank parameters were not adequate to support the plants and they began to deteriorate, causing large amounts of waste to enter your water.

I guess what I'm saying is, yes, do it all at once, if your tank is ready for it and meets the needs of the plants (not really hard to determine).

 

[sherry]

I agree, as a much more junior apprentice than Travis, with an added caveot... Be ready to think of that first bunch of plants as just that, your first.

Once you have a starting place, you will love some more than others, some will love your tank/ water parameters/ more than others.

What does well for your tank and your head and heart will form the basis of an evolving scape which you will add to with smaller plant buys and clippings from folks here if Chillen's swaps idea takes off.

It is not only nice to start off with a full load of plants, but it helps establish the tank and keep algae away.. since they soak up nutrients. ;" )

At least that is how it worked for me.. if you go to my gallery you will see november's tank and January's. They are very different.. and yet have the same basic starting point. : )

 

[Purrbox]

Especially when dealing with higher light situations, it's much easier to plant all at once instead of gradually. With high light, if you don't plant all at once it's a recipe for a major Algae Outbreak.

Just make sure to research the plants that you select really well. There's nothing more frusterating than finding out after the fact that one of those lovely plants you just bought isn't a true aquatic and isn't going to last long. It's also frusterating to find out that a plant hasn't got a chance in your tank, ie you just bought a high light plant and put it in a low light tank.

Even with well researched plants, some are going to do better than others, but at least with reasearch you can minimize the number that do really poorly. You'll also find that there are some plants that may have looked nice in the pics, but you just don't like the way it looks once you get it in your tank.

Definately take the time to read the stickies at the top of the forum if you haven't already. These will give you lots of great information to get started on a successfully planted tank.