Turning 55 Gallon Tank Into Planted.

[JoKeR]

Hello, The name is JoKeR. Old Veteran...lol

Well I recently got a job and I have extra cash. The story is I have a 55 gallon tank that I abandon cuz the spark died a few years ago. And the spark little by little comes back!! SO now that I have extra money I want to make my fish tank into a planted. Im still debating about the c02 since Im not too familiar with it. So i need some basics ive been doing some research in the Internet but nothing that explains to me good. So might ass well get good info from new experianced members. Basically im starting from 0. The tank is empty just about 2 1/2 inches of play sand and 1 feeder goldfish. I want my tank I guess to be heavily planted u can say lol. A carpet of moss some tall plants in the background driftwood in the middle middle ground plants.. sounds so easy in type..lol but its not. So heres the questions you all have been waiting for.

1. What kind of substrate do U reccomend..?
2. Lights lights and lights!! So many which ones..? lol
3. SHould I buy the plants in "collection" from the internet the LFS dont have much of a selection.

Thanks.

**EDIT**
THIS IS MY 3000 Post wo0o0o0t!

 

[bordercollie05]

1. What kind of substrate do U reccomend..?
2. Lights lights and lights!! So many which ones..? lol
3. SHould I buy the plants in "collection" from the internet the LFS dont have much of a selection.

Hello JoKeR,

I'm no expert, but I think the substrate depends a bit on how you want the tank to look and how "high tech" you want your tank to be. I'd recommend a planted tank substrate like eco complete. There's a bit of variety out there, so shop around on the online sites and then see what you can find locally.

Also, the lighting depends on whether you want the tank to be "high tech" or not. This is dependant upon the type of plants you want and how much maintenance you want to do on your tank. Low light plants like anubias, ferns, mosses and some swords will do fine with just 1-2 Watts per gallon of light which you can probably achieve with a simple shop light. This would be the least expensive route. However if you want reddish or other high light plants, you might need some higher light (3-5 WPG using standard t12 lights, different for compact floursecents). For this, look into compact floursecent lights.

I've purchased almost all of my plants from aquabid.com. There's lots of variety and pretty good prices.

Read all of the pinned topics, they're really helpful.

Also, remember that with higher light you will need more CO2 and more ferts. It's common to do E.I. fertilization if you have a high light tank.(see pinned topic)

Alot of it is experimentation though too so, do what works to keep your plants looking good

Good Luck, can't wait to watch your tank develop!

Laura

 

[aaronnorth]

1. What kind of substrate do U reccomend..?

Well ADA aquasoil is the best brand out there (but also the dearest) nd then i would reccomend Eco-complete. If you just want a cheap substrate to help your plants then i would go with this tetraplant which is nice and cheap but also decent:

[URL="http/www.warehouse-aquatics.co.uk/tetrap...58kg-1055-p.asp"]http/www.warehouse-aquatics.co.uk/tetrap...58kg-1055-p.asp[/URL]

2. Lights lights and lights!! So many which ones..? lol

You need to consider wether you will go for CO2 or not first. If not, then stick to easy low light plants and aim for about 1.5WPG, with tanks over 30g this becomes more leaneint, it is also based on T8 so T5's again, up the level slightly. For low light levels, i wouldnt go above 80w, for higher levels, go for 120w - 150w.

How deep is your tank? tanks with a depth of 24" lights struggle to penetrate to the bottom which in this case means you need T5's or Metal Halides.

3. SHould I buy the plants in "collection" from the internet the LFS dont have much of a selection

Dont buy collections, they always send a massive variety out, with about 5 stems of each plant, they also send you ones that might not be able to grow in your conditions.

You also have to think about fertilisers, get one that covers macros (NPK) & micros (trace)

Also take a look at the pinned topics.