the ultimate planted tank question

[gmen5681]

well here it is, i want to start my new tank off with a bang. and put some really nice looking live plants in there, but the problem is...i have NO idea how in the world to start the thing. ive measured all my water levels. my ph is at 7.0, my ammonia is at .25 and my nitrite is at 0. thats all i can test. but im looking at the amazon swords and something else. just something really easy to grow and not high maintaince. i have about 3 inches of sand. so how do i go abouts doing this. please let me know. i want to get this thing started and be the tank of the month, that would be amazing!

 

[Colin_BC]

Good for you for wanting to get into live plants in your tank! With a planted tank, your lighting is crucial. In almost every post in the plant forum here you will find the question "how much light do you have?" It's normally refferd to in Watts Per Gallon. What type of lights do you have on your tank? What power are they? As well, what size is your tank? I'm not sure about growing in sand. Not to say it can't be done, as I'm sure it can and has been done, but I have used fine to medium courseness gravel, or an iron rich substrate intended for a planted tank such as flourite. Have a look at this link for a lot of pictures of members favourite aquarium plants, as well as some descriptions on them.

Give us a bit more info on your lights and tank and there are many of us here that can try to help you along. One of the best things to do is just read through this plant forum. There's tons of good info to stumble upon, even when your not looking directly for it.

Colin

 

[gmen5681]

well i only ahve about .4 watts per gallon...is that bad? all the plants im getting say they are for low to high light tho.
- jave fern (middle)
- Anubua (front)
- corkscrew (middle)
- micro sword (front)
- green cabomba (back)

i bought 2 20watt bulbs for my tank. but those were the highest i could find. im also getting the moon lighting thing. so i dont know if that will help as well or not.

 

[Colin_BC]

So it's your 90G you're planting? I'd consider 0.4WPG to be extremely low lighting. But one thing confuses me if it is for your 90G. You said before that iit was a 30" light fixture that takes 2x 24" bulbs. If this is so, how tall is your tank? I started with the same light canopy on my tank, but for a 30G. I suggest hold off on buying anything more for a bit and do a fair bit more reading on planted tanks. If you can, you may want to return the fixture you just bought. Don't be discouraged. This thread has a link to some cheap high powered bulbs/fixtures that would be appropriate for your 90G. Something like a 2x96W power compact fluoro's would be good. If you scroll to the botom of this page, there is a calculator where you can key in the size of your tank and it will roughly calculate how much lighting Takashi Amano would use for that tank.

Colin

 

[gmen5681]

its actually two 24"bulbs. so its about 48 inchs long. my tank is 48x18x19...but the glass is .25 inch thick, it works out to about 85 gallons or so. but yeah the lighting fixture is 48 inches long and has two 24 inch bulbs in it.
here is a link to the bulbs i just bought on ebay. i will look at those links and purchase some new ones then. because i really want to get into a planted tank, they look amazing. thanks alot for all your help.

 

[Lateral Line]

2Watts per gallon is deemed "Medium", you should try for at least that if you want good plant growth. Even with that, certain things will not grow.

Cabomba demands high light and really needs CO2, I'm talking 4 Watts per gallon here. If by "Corkscrew" you mean a twisted Vallis, you may get away with it. Generally the twisted or variegated varieties require good light. The ordinary will grow in quite low light.

If by Micro Sword you mean E. tenellus, that requires good light to stay low, in weak light it bolts to the surface, or rots. Java Fern and Anubius species will do fine at lower light evels.