what is needed to maintain a planted tank..

[dandaman352]

Hey guys, I have a 75 gallon discus tank, with sort of river gems/ pebbles as my gravel. I have 0 plants and have a nice big filter (filter thats for 150 gallon) and airstone for 02 distrubtion. I have a standard white florescent bulb over my tank that spans it. I've been interested in making it a planted tank for awhile, so I'm curious other then buying the actual plants what else do I need to make this work. If you can give me a nice rundown of everything with estimated prices I would be appreciate it.

[dandaman352]

Also to add0., not only what they need to live, but what are the benefits if any (otehr then it looknig nice) to have. And what kind of maintenance does it need.

Thanks, Danny

[axl]

Best advice is do some searching and reading on the net, there is alot to learn and thats the best way to learn is find out yourself. Thats how all of us here have learnt.

[rwel4809]

Healthy plants help add oxygen to the water, certain plants are really good at absorbing amonia and nitrates, and the fish get to nibble on them, which is great for nutrition - they also just like to be around live plants IME. This is great for discus as the oxygen saturation level at 30-32 degrees is less than in lower temps, so plants can keep the oxygen up, also the keep the water cleaner which is important for our flat friends, and helps them to get vitamins which some people say staves off hex.


On the down side unhealthy plants will pollute you water, take up oxygen and add to nitrates as they turn yellow and brown and rot before your eyes :(


To keep plants healthy you need to balance your light, and fertilisers (incl. C02) with the needs of the plants you want to keep... so a bit of research is needed into what look you're after.

There are basically 2 types of planted tank setups: low light <2 WPG (watts per gallon), and high light usually 3-4 WPG.


the benefits of low light is that you will not need to add fertilisers so regularly, the growth is slow (so not so much pruning), there are some really good plants you can keep in low light, such as swords, anubis, crypts, java fern, java moss and wisteria is a must as is is a great amonia and nitrate sponge.

The drawback of low light is that you are limited to the species of plants you can keep - you won't be able to get good submerse growth at the substrate level so carpeting plants such as chain swords and HC are out. also you won't be able to keep many (if any) of the red varieties of plants, as they usually need alot of light to get good colour.

The benefits of high light - greater oxygen saturation, greater variety of plants available, bushier lusher growth, carpeting plants allow you to cover every available surface with life :)

drawbacks of high light - cost of equipment, very egular fertiliser needed, regular pruning required (discus don't like this much, but they get over it).

Basic equipment for low light:

LIGHT

At least 100 watts of light for 75 gallons - either 4 x t8's or 2 x t5's (cheapest available on ebay - but you get what you pay for.)

SUBSTRATE

You will either need to change your substrate to a fine gravel and add root tabs, or look at one of the special substrates for planted tanks - such as eco complete or ADA both are quite pricey.

If you just want to add plants attached to wood, like anubis, java fern and java moss, that don't go in substrate that is possible too - though I have not had any luck with those at high temps..

also you could add a few plants in pots so that you won't have to change your substrate and can keep swords and the like I know ILLUSN does this.. so he could tell you more.

FERTS:

you could probably get away with a good complete fertiliser like flourish complete.

no real need to add C02 to low light.


equipment for high light:

LIGHT:

Either 4 - 6 t5s or Metal halides (MH) both pricey

SUBSTRATE:

definately need good substrate see above ( I use a deep layer fine gravel with a thin layer or gravel/laterite mix beneath + root tabs (this is much cheaper than the commercial plant substrates, but I'll probably have to keep adding root tabs regularly every 6 months or so.

FERTS:

You'll need to add a complete fertiliser as above, plus chelated iron and potassium sulphate every 2 -3 days
plus root tabs in the substrate - some people make their own..

CO2:

you'll need to add C02 as the plants need it to make oxygen - and they use it up quicker if the light is brighter.

best way is to get a pressurised CO2 tank with solenoid to switch it on with the lights (plants don't need C02 at night - they actually produce it when lights are out so if your tank is heavily planted you might need to add an airstone at night to prevent PH crash)

some people make their own C02 - its cheaper, but alot of hassle and very hard to dose correctly. plus it runs 24/7 so definately need to bubble it out at night.

As to cost - how long is a piece of string??

you can find cheaper stuff online, sometimes dicey but does the job...

for high light tank don't expect much change from $1,000.00 to change over and that would be doing it on the cheap...

I've probably forgotten heaps, but I hope this helps..

Robert

[ILLUSN]

nice write up robert.

the most important aspects are light and substrate, followed by co2.

get your light sorted first, aim for a minimumof 2w/gal (150w =3x54w t5's 4 foot or 4x39w t5s 3 foot)

get a good substrate in there, if you dont want to spend heaps, get some 10cm pots and plant in those, hide these in your gravel.

get as many fast growing plants as you can, hydrophilla spp are proably the best choice, these will keep the algae down.

when the budget streches add a co2 system, spend money here.

pick plants that like it HOT! amazon swords, devils eye sword, Red october sword, red devil sword do VERY WELL. 1-2 of these would be enough for a 100gal (they get BIG mine are over 60cm tall and sprouting babies every where). the tiger lotus is another great plant, but needs HEAPS of root ferts.

[dandaman352]

Thanks for the excellent reply.

If I went for the low light, I wouldn't need CO2?

The low light plants seem very promising as, I would only need to change my substrate, buy flourish complete and probably not need to change my current lighting. So I'd only be looking at plants, substrate, and that fert. (anything i miss?) I think that would be pretty cheap, and very doable as I don't really know much about plants.

If I can ask for some more low light plants that I can do some research on I'd appreciate it.

But all in all change substrate -> add plants -> fertilizers -> enjoy?

[rwel4809]

I think you'll need new lighting... sounds like you've only got 1 or 2 t8s at the moment - that would be your biggest cost... have a look on ebay for t5 lights....

make sure you calculate your substrate correctly, you'll need more than you think, and it can be pricey..

R

[dandaman352]

Yeah, I would need a dual bulb?

[dandaman352]

http://www.petsolutions.com/Nova-Extreme-T5HO-Fixtures+I42901124+C40001722.aspx - would the 48 inch freshwater one be good?

[rwel4809]

that would be the minimum - like ILLUSN says 150wpg would be better..

saying that, that light is pretty cheap, so you could buy one now and if you have no success add another later...

or maybe it will be enough if you keep your current light as well... can you see the wattage written on your current globe/s?? to work out how much you've got at the moment.


R

[dandaman352]

I'll check it when I get home, but I believe its 55 watt or 45 watt

[ILLUSN]

The CO2 will keep BBA out of your tank, twin t5's with your current light (if its 4 foot i assume 40w t8) will be fine.

[dandaman352]

bba is algae? I dont really get algae since my tank is in the basement and dosent get much natural sun.. (i assume thats something i should of also mentioned earlier)

[ILLUSN]

BBA grows in VERY low light, it looks terrible, is a PAIN to remove and the only fish that eat it are juvinile SAE's and american flag fish (who like cool alkaline water).

I've got a small plant tank with 5w/gal and the growth is AMAZING! light is the most important factor in any planted tank.

[dandaman352]

thanks good to know, so basically the fixture, substrate (ill go with eco complete 40 pounds should do it) and the fertilizer flourish. Any other basic tips or tricks? Also a few more questions if you don't mind..

1) any more hot water plants other then the swords that could be easy to care for?

2) is it possible with that light to get grass basically to cover my substrate (whats it called exactly) or something that can be like a carpet?

thanks

[ILLUSN]

Without good light (3-4wpg) your not going to be able to grow a nice "lawn'. lilliopsis wont do well and neither will glosso. if you were happy with a 10cm high lawn you could try E.latifolius, or even a few E."apart" which dont grow much taller then 15cm and spread out about 25cm.
bylaxa japonica would be another good choice, again grows to about 10-15cm tall, the dwarf variety from memory needs more light.

your best choice would be E.tennicalis narrow or broad leaf, but these will still grow tall and thin at 2wpg you wont get a nice "dense" lawn.

Lawns also make it very hard to keep the substrate super clean as it should be in a discus tank.

Pogosteum stella has grown well for me at 2wpg, but the best plants are still the swords, lotus, wysteria and blue stricta (both hydrophilla spp) and Val. Red lugwiga did ok as well but really prefered 3wpg, lower stems lost all their leaves and there was alot of elongation between nodes.

[dandaman352]

thanks a bunch, i guess i'll just forget about the lawn. thanks for all the variety I will begin research time. So other then light and the substrate nothing else is basically needed?