planted tank help

[tattss1]

I have a 20G tank that I am trying to plant, but after finding this website and looking at all the sweet tanks here I am wondering if I can plant with my current set up.... Mind you i'm a newbie...

Do you need special rocks or bottom sand to properly plant? I currently have bigger natural gravel.. here is a pic:

 

[neilanh]

Welcome (If I haven't yet welcomed you)

No, you don't need anything special and can grow plants in your current setup to a certain degree. Your setup will determine what kinds of plants you can grow, but as long as you stick to the basics you will be able to grow plants. Should you desire to open up your plant options, you'll want to rethink your setup at some point in the future, but you can grow some of the easier plants just fine with what you have.

 

[laxpatrick]

What's the light source in your tank? Type, # of watts, etc? That will influence the success and species you'll be keeping.

 

[tattss1]

I better have the right stuff, i just paid $45 for it... Its a T5 series double lamp with a 14 watt 10,000K Daylight lamp, and 14 watt True Atlantic 03 blue lamp.

 

[fort384]

Hmm. That should be enough wattage to grow very low light plants, but you will need to replace the actinic bulb with a 6700k or 10000k bulb. Actinic are for marine aquariums. they do very little for a fw planted tank.

 

[runninwoof]

yes, just replace your blue bulb with a 6700 or 10000k bulb and you can prolly grow any medium light plants. you can check out plantgeek.com and see what plants you can grow