How To Do It?

[Blaine]

i have a 3ft by 1.5ft x 1 ft tank and i would liketo make it a planted one instead of having pots down at the minute.

Is there any specific kind of lights i need as the one i have is pretty dull.

Also what are the best types of plant to use and how many

At the moment i have one piece of bogwood in an an artificial cave

Any help would be very greatly appreciated on this topic

thanks

Blaine

 

[crazie.eddie]

There are 2 types of plant setups...

Low tech tanks - Using regular NO (Normal Output) off-the-shelf fluorescent lights, no CO2, none or very little fertilizers. Need to select low light, easy maintenance plants. Plants typical are slow growing and very little trimming is involved. Best to select "aquatic weeds".

Med/High tech tanks typically known as a planted tank - Higher output lights, CO2, fertilizers. Fast growing, lots of plant selection.


I currently have 2 low tech planted tanks (20 gallon long and 29 gallon) with RCS (Red Cherry Shrimps) in both tanks. All I do is just put fish food for the shrimps and fish in the tanks and perform water changes. I do not perform gravel cleanings, because the detritus that builds up into mulm is beneficial for the plant growth. Most of my plants are listed as aquatic weeds in the government lists. Weeds are known to grow with very little nutrients and lights.

Basically, select which ever is most beneficial to you, your time, and your budget.

 

[madgap]

Crazy Eddie, that was a straight forward easy to understand post that a numpty such as myself can grasp. Thank you.

One thing, though, you could list the weeds. That woud be the icing on the perenniel cake.

 

[Blaine]

yeah i agree with that

 

[crazie.eddie]

No problem. I forgot to mention that I'm lazy I didn't want my planted tanks to be allot of work and I didn't want to spend allot of money. This was the main reason why I went with a low tech planted tank.

 

[lisa_perry75]

I might suggest a few, might test my knowledge! For low tech I would go for java fern, vallis species, hygrophilia species, bacopa species, hornwort and egeria densa (pondweed).

To mop up early set-up nutrients to overcome the balance to plant side against algae I would go for frogbit, as it grows so fast and takes its nutrients from the water column rather than sucking nutrients from your substrate.

I can't think what you said about substrate, but in low tech solutions its one of the most important things. I couldn't suggest which method is best.