Planted tanks questions?

[Aneata]

I've had my 20 gallon up and running for 12-15 years. I've had tons of fish go through that tank. I've got one little cat fish that is 8 or 9 yrs old. It's the most basic of all fresh water tanks. Gravel and plastic plants and decorations but I adore it.

My friend is moving and possible giving me her 30 gallon tall tank along with CO2 and lights and some other stuff used with planted aquariums. I've never had live plants. Just looking for some of the basics.

Will I have to switch from using gravel? If so what kind of substrate will I need?

How strong of lights will I need?

What's the deal with CO2? I understand it is what plants breathe but how do you get it in the water?

How much care/ maintenance does a planted aquarium require? As opposed to a non planted one.

I have a 72 gallon saltwater aquarium that takes up a lot of time and I don't want to get myself into something that I don't have enough time to do properly. So any feed back so I can make an informed descision would be very helpful

 

[freak45]

depends on your lighting and what type of plants you have sand very good for root plants but i have gravel in my planted tank..30 gallons T5 lights are very good for starter plant tanks. as for co2 just like trees take in CO2 and poop out o2 lol..you can buy a co2 injector or use seachums co2 drops which is what i do
maintence not all that much in mine other then putting in co2 drops and making sure my rooted plants get iron to grow which u can use api root tabs or drops

 

[Mrs.h2012]

I've had my 20 gallon up and running for 12-15 years. I've had tons of fish go through that tank. I've got one little cat fish that is 8 or 9 yrs old. It's the most basic of all fresh water tanks. Gravel and plastic plants and decorations but I adore it.

My friend is moving and possible giving me her 30 gallon tall tank along with CO2 and lights and some other stuff used with planted aquariums. I've never had live plants. Just looking for some of the basics.

Will I have to switch from using gravel? If so what kind of substrate will I need?

How strong of lights will I need?

What's the deal with CO2? I understand it is what plants breathe but how do you get it in the water?

How much care/ maintenance does a planted aquarium require? As opposed to a non planted one.

I have a 72 gallon saltwater aquarium that takes up a lot of time and I don't want to get myself into something that I don't have enough time to do properly. So any feed back so I can make an informed descision would be very helpful

When I got into the live plants part of the hobby I haven't looked back, I'm sure you won't either! I would suggest switching to some sort of sand substrate, even something like Ecocomplete if you can afford it. But if you want low cost getting play sand from lowes is very cheap. Maintenance wise so you won't have much work maybe try and stick with crypts and swords that really only require adding root tabs as a fertilizer source.

 

[Printerhands]

What I did was go amazon and got the mini encyclopedia of live plants for aquariums. Bought it used and paid a total of 15 maybe with shipping. Had a lot of good info on how to keep plants and also about 150 plants and there details. Although I understand asking through this is free and you get others first hand experience.