Fishyfanatic
Aquarium Advice Addict
I have been interested in planting my tanks for quite some time. The only problem has been that we have mostly african cichlids that like to eat like crazy on plants. But, now that my 5 gal is going great, I was thinking of adding a couple plants to the tank. Kind of like experimenting with it before doing it in my 55 gal. My current stock is ivory snails, ghost shrimp, and a betta. It is a 5 gal hex that sits right in front of a window. It is an eclipse tank with the filter in the hood. The light is not the "stock" light but it is similar. The white one blew out a couple months ago so I put in a red 25 Watt bulb. It really makes the tank look good when the lights in the house are off. The bubbles look really cool when they float to the top. Anyways. I don't have a problem switching bulbs if that is necessary. I am not too sure how the colored bulb will effect the plants. I'm not too sure about my current stock and plants. Will the snails, ghost shrimp, or betta eat the plants? What would you guys recommend? I am a complete newbie to this so any and all opinions are greatly appreciated. I have heard of CO2 injection but I am not sure what that is. Is that something I need to worry about? I have a gravel bed of about 2 1/2 inches. It's those really lightly weighted rocks, they kick around pretty easily when you move them around. Will this cause a problem?