Nano Planted

[FriscoTX]

I've read all the articles in the stickies till my brain rebelled and begged me to stop.

I bought a 14 gal bio cube with the hopes of starting a planted tank. I think that I should start easy, would you recommend low-light plants? Also, would you recommend a DIY co2 system? The tank has bio balls in it and i'm not sure how that helps a planted tank, even though I did read about it in the co2 tutorial here.

Any advice would be appreciated. I plan to take it slow and add fish only when everything is just as it should be.

Thanks

 

[Mosaic]

How much light wattage does a bio cube have? I thought it was higher than a standard hood.

 

[FriscoTX]

I assumed that low light plants are "low maintenance." But now that you mention it, I think that the wattage is high light, here are the specs:

1-24 watt True Antinic 03 Blue straight pin
1-24watt 10,000 Daylight straight pin
2-.75 watt Lunar Blue-Moon-Glow LED

Since I'm a planted newbie, I was hoping to be able to start with some plants that worked well with DIY C02. Am I approaching this wrong?

 

[Purrbox]

The Actinic Bulb is pretty much useless for plant growth, although it will make your fish look great. Unless you replace it with a daylight bulb, the tank will be more of a medium low light tank.

CO2 is beneficial at any lighting level, but only required once you get to medium high light and above. If you stick with the current lighting it'll be optional, but if you replace the actinic bulb you'll need to use CO2.

BioBalls in the filter provide a location for your beneficial bacteria (biofilter) to grow. BioBalls in a CO2 Reactor provide a means of breaking up the CO2 bubbles allowing them to disolve faster/easier.

 

[Zezmo]

That tank should do nicely as a planted tank. Start with med/low light plants, like you are already thinking. Keep the 10,000k bulb for now. Only replace the actinic once you have all your ferts, your CO2 and have really gotten the hang of things.

Things to consider:
Substrate:
There is a sticky on this forum that talks all about this.
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=55466

Ferts:
Depends on the tank you want. You can stay low/med light and get most of your ferts from fish waste. In which case maybe some Micro nutrient mix (Flourish, TMG, CSM+B) and a GH Booster may be all you need. If you go this route, you may also have to become an expert on algae. This tank does not get water changes very often, has slow but healthy plant growth, and is generally less maintenance....once you get things balanced.

With CO2, and potential for more light by replacing your actinic at some point. Then consider looking into the Estimative Index (EI). The basic idea is that you add an excess of all nutrients every week, and then by doing a 50% water change every week you keep anything from building up to toxic levels. For EI, you buy a few more ferts, but you can also skip past the algae, and get right to a nice looking tank.
Here is a good sticky on ferts. Scroll down to Czcz's post on "What is EI"
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=55457