Hi Everyone...

[Zoey]

Hi everyone,

I have been doing some research online on setting up a good healthy aquarium which won't die on me and came across this cool forum.

I'm 25 Uni student from Melbourne and excited about starting up my aquarium again. I started the aquarium start of last year and after spending so much money on it, everything pretty much died on me. It was my fault for not doing the research properly and jumping right into it.

So this time I'm hoping that by doing some good research and taking in some sound advice from more experienced aquarium keepers I won't be repeating the same mistake.

I've been viewing all the photos of awesome aquarium online and would love to have one of mine own. My aim is to have a healthy freshwater planted aquarium with maybe adding some discus to the tank in the future.

At the moment I have a 3ft tank, gravel/sand, Sera Florena (250ml) plant fertiliser, Nutrafin nitrifiers, heater, pump and filter, Lighting : 20W aqua glow and most of the test kits for pH, Ammonia, GH&KH, Nitrite and Nitrate.

Ok here comes the questions...Sorry if i'm posting this in the wrong section...

From what I have read on line some people are using Eco-complete as a substrate...I was wandering if I get a 9kg bag of Eco-complete would it be sufficient for my 3ft tank or should I get the 18.4kg bag?

If I use the eco-complete, do i need to use any other substrate with it to promote healthy plant grow?

What are the healthy hardy plants that would be good for a beginner tank?
I know plants with red foliage are much harder to grow so even though I love them I will be staying away from them until I have more experience with growing aquatic plants and learn how to stop killing them.

I feel that the Lighting I have now (20W aqua glow) it's not sufficient to promote good plant growth, which was recommened to me by the local Aquarium shop assistant.
How much lighting should I be supplying to a 3ft tank?

Is 3ft (120L) tank even big enough to keep discus happy???

Ok I will stop here with the questions as this is turning into the longest post in history, sorry.

If there is anything else that is essential to keep a planted tank please let me know as I'm inexperience and would very much appreciate all the advice I can get and learn from.

Thank you everyone.
Have a great Day.
Zaw

[JamezMan]

Hey Zoey. Seeming the no one has replied to you yet I thought I would see if I could answer some of your questions. I wouldn't consider myself an expert in planted tanks but I do own a couple at my place.

I think as far as economy goes eco-complete can be quite expensive if you plan to use it solely as the substrate for your tank. A lot of planted tank people have a bottom layer of nutrient substrate and cover it with their substrate of choice. But the choice is yours

As for healthy plants, I think if you stick to sword plants, anubius plants, crypts, Java moss and Java fern you shouldn't have too much trouble keeping them going on your 20w of light. You may have trouble growing stem plants successfully but you may be able to get away with ludwidgia repens and other easy to grow species that aren't as demanding.

At the moment you have just over a 30 gallon tank, with 20 watts of light. Giving you 0.66 watts per gallon. I am pretty sure this would be classified as very low light. If you want to get keen with growing most varieties of plants you would need more light. But if you stick with slow growing varieties they should be ok. Adequate light would be in the 2.5- 3 watts per gallon range.

So if you wanted to really go plants, a bit more light would help. But for the slower growing ones, you would be ok I think.

As far as dicus does, I am a beginner in that area myself so I'll leave that to someone more experienced.

Hope this helps.

Luke.

[Merrilyn]

Hi Zoe, sorry I missed your post. Like half of Melbourne, I've been down with the 'flu.

Luke has given you some really good advice on the plants, now as far as fish go, why don't you stock slowly, with some cardinal tetras, which look lovely with discus, and are happy with the higher temps that discus love. You could also add some cute little cories to the tank, to clean up any uneaten food. You could add three discus to your three foot tank, but be prepared for two of them to pair off, and you may need to remove the third fish.

Discus are a bit 'scrappy' and tend to do lots of pushing and shoving, which is all very normal, but you need to watch that one isn't getting picked on all the time by the other two. Four to 6 is a better number to keep, but your tank is too small for that, so go with three, and just keep a close eye on them.

Good to see you've got your test kits already. You'll need to monitor your tank as it begins to cycle, so you know when it's safe to add fish.

If you're not sure of the nitrate cycle, have a look in Discus 101 for an excellent article written by one of our members on cycling a tank. Remember that it takes up to 6 weeks for a tank to cycle before it's safe to add fish. Unfortunately a lot of aquarium shops fail to tell you that, and that's why a lot of beginners fail.

Read thru the stickys on this forum, and you'll find lots of valuable information. :P

[Zoey]

Hi Luke and Merrilyn

Thank you for your reply. Yes, I'm definitely considering adding more light to the tank and Luke, your explanation on the lighting and plants was awesome.

I'm taking things slow with setting up the aquarium and buying things slowly before I start the tank running. Being a uni student, i'm on a very strict budget so it will be a while until I can start the aquarium running but I can't wait to get it going.

Thank you both again for your help.
Zaw

[JamezMan]

No probs Zoey. For more info you can go to these websites.

http://www.aquaticplantresources.net/forum/

http://www.plantedtank.net/