# New to planted tanks!



## Kisiel (Jul 30, 2014)

I have a 5 gallon with Cylindricfruit Primrose-Willow, Rotala Rotundifolia, Echinodorus Cordifolius Fluitans, Dwarf Anubias and a moss ball. I'll post a picture of the tank as soon as I get home, but as I'm new to planted tanks (and fish keeping in general) and I really don't know what I'm doing. I've already managed to kill my Brazilian Dwarf Grass... I currently use a regular desk lamp to give the plants some light as it's been dark for the past couple of weeks and they've not been getting much sunlight. But they're not really growing, in fact, some of the leaves have fallen off and a couple have turned brown - I've removed those. I thought about buying clip on aquarium lights but they're so expensive! I don't think I can afford to spend £30+ as I've already went way over my budget with the whole set up. I would really appreciate some advice as to what I can do to help my plants grow and prevent them from dying.


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## kittenfish (Dec 1, 2013)

A desk lamp is fine as long as you have the right light spectrum. Somewhere around 6500K is best for plant growth. For a 5 gallon you'd probably want something like a 15 watt CFL. Are you fertilizing at all?


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## Kisiel (Jul 30, 2014)

I have no idea how many Kelvin degrees the bulb has: this lamp is quite old and it's not even mine. I borrowed it from my mum. I plan on visiting a couple of shops later today so I'll have a look at lamps, but so far I haven't seen any that say how many degrees Kelvin they have. 

I'm not fertilizing and I'm not using CO2 either. I have small black gravel as my substrate - I know this isn't ideal but it has to do.


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## Versa (Sep 16, 2014)

you can buy fertiliser "tabs" (short for tablets) on Ebay really pretty cheap, mine were £4.49 for 20.... 

You just push the tablet into the substrate by the plants roots... Im not sure how often you have to replace them but it seems like a fairly cheep option to me... :-?


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## Crossroads (Jun 28, 2014)

Fertilizing as a whole is fairly inexpensive actually.
If you get the Fluval liquid fertilizer the dose is .5 mL per 10 gallons and the bottle I have is 16.9 fl oz. This means about 1000 10 gallon doses per bottle. It is dosed weekly so for a 5 gallon you're looking at about 2000 weeks of dosing for a bottle that runs about 15$. I think the same goes for Seachem Flourish Comprehensive. You might want to get a syringe or something to measure out .25 mL for your tanks.

CO2 is where things can get mildly pricy, I use liquid carbon, but you can also make DIY co2 reactors or buy them.
Liquid carbon around here is roughly 10-15$ a bottle, dosed daily. I have no experience with the other two. 

If you go to a pet store in the light section they should have compact fluorescent bulbs. I have the Aqueon type and they say what Kelvin they are. Mine for instance are 10,000 Kelvin. The way to tell easily is look for "Daylight" bulbs. These will be in the correct range. Soft White and other typical room lights are going to be about 2000-2500 Kelvin

However, this aside, don't feel that you need fertilizers or co2. Not all plants need this. Under good light, most readily available plants will grow, just more slowly. Anubias is near impossible to kill and Rotala rotundifolia is one of my favorite plants for a reason. I've never been able to manage to kill it.


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## Kisiel (Jul 30, 2014)

I've been in so many shops today and guess how many 6500K bulbs I've found? 

_One_. 

I wanted to replace the bulb (which is around 2800K) in the desk lamp I've got now but I couldn't find one that would be suitable. Looks like I'll have to buy aquarium lights then... 

Versa, would these do? http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/181529119362?nav=SEARCH
The seller states that they last approximately six months. Does that mean one tab lasts six months? Do I just put one near every plant I've got? I'm assuming that excludes the moss ball since that moves around the tank quite a lot. I only have 2kg of gravel which isn't much and I'm a little worried that I'll accidentally disturb the tabs when I'm using the gravel vacuum. What are the chances of this happening? 

Crossroads, I haven't seen many Fluval products around here. The local pet store definitely doesn't have that and I don't really want to order online: shipping relatively big/heavy items like that is quite expensive so I think I'll just stick to root tabs as Versa suggested. But thank you for the suggestion  

Here's a picture of the tank. Please excuse the quality, I took it with my phone. I'd appreciate opinions and suggestions as to what I can improve and change. I'm not 100% happy with the set up because the plants look a little out of place so I'll be happy to change things.


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## Versa (Sep 16, 2014)

yes thats the sort I use  they just get pushed into the substrate at the roots and do their magic, not sure about the vacuum sucking stuff up :/ I wouldnt imagine it would because its probably dissolved fairly fast ....


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## Tony2632 (Aug 30, 2013)

Ebay seller is selling DIY root tabs. It can cause ammonia spikes if you add to many. For a 5g tank I would add about 2. 

You live in the UK, that's awesome. You can visit The Green Machine in Wrexham
Wales. I don't know how far you are from them.


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## kittenfish (Dec 1, 2013)

It looks like you have the emersed form of rotala rotundifolia, so it's normal for some of the leaves to die while it converts to submersed. I would only be concerned if you don't see any new growth at the tips.

Two root tabs should be plenty for that tank. I would put one right under the sword and the other in a location that doesn't get disturbed often.


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## Kisiel (Jul 30, 2014)

Thanks guys, I'lll order the root tabs at some point today so hopefully I'll have them next week. I'll only put two in as Tony suggested - I don't want another ammonia spike. How will I know when to put more in? 

As much as I love The Green Machine and all the great aquascapes they put up on YouTube, I doubt I'll be able to visit them: I live up north, in Scotland. If by chance I'm ever in Wales I'll definitely try my best, but I'm not gonna travel a few hundred miles just for that haha. 

I've had a look at lights on ebay and found this: http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/221552299758?nav=SEARCH
Would it be any good? I've also ordered water lettuce so I'll set up my 3 gallon and see if I can grow some plants there. I'll buy some more different kinds of plants but I current have no spare gravel to bury the roots in so that will have to wait. Also, should I tie the Anubias to the rock bridge? Or will it be okay just sitting in the gravel?


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## Kisiel (Jul 30, 2014)

I forgot to ask one more thing. Will I need a heater for the 3 gallon? There won't be any fish in it, just the plants. If no, will the plants be okay if I transfer them to the heated 5 gallon at some point?


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## kittenfish (Dec 1, 2013)

Osmocote root tabs should last for several months. 

You're better off with a desk lamp than that LED imo. You should be able to find a 6500K bulb on ebay, but if not anything that has "daylight" in the description will probably be ok.

The anubias should not be buried but sitting on top of gravel is fine.

You don't need a heater for a plant-only tank, in fact, most plants do better in the mid-70s.


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## Kisiel (Jul 30, 2014)

Thank you for the reply  

I didn't really like that LED anyway, thanks for talking me out of buying it  I have instead found a very cheap desk lamp (I'll need another one for the 3 gallon) which is simple and has regular bulbs instead of LEDs so I'll be able to change them easily whenever needed. It's this lamp: http://www.wilko.com/table-lamps/wilko-desk-lamp-black/invt/0325668

I've also found bulbs to go with the lamp on ebay ( http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/351142970564?nav=SEARCH ) but the bulb alone costs more than the lamp which I find ridiculous. I'll see if I can find some cheaper than that but is this the kind of thing I'm looking for? 

The Anubias floats as soon as the roots are out of the gravel :/ but on a more positive note, during yesterday's water change I noticed that the Echinodorus is growing! There are several bright green baby leaves! I'm so happy, it's the first plant that I've noticed any growth on - I can't really tell if the others have any new leaves because they all look the same to me haha. 

Good, that will save me some money. If I decided at some point to get a snail (no fish) for the 3 gallon will I need to buy a heater then? Also, in the case of having too much of a certain plant in the tank how can I split it into other tanks without damaging it?


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## Crossroads (Jun 28, 2014)

If they are stem plants like the rotala you can just "top" them. This basically means you can pretty much chop the top off and replant that piece. Or if the plant grows side shoots you can just clip them off and replant. Swords reproduce by runners. Whenever the runner starts sprouting roots you can clip it and replant. No harm to the parent plant.


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## Kisiel (Jul 30, 2014)

Thanks for the info! 

I just came home with two new desk lamps and I also found bulbs! The bulbs are 11 watts but they're energy saving bulbs so apparently that's equal to 55 watts: that's what it says on the package anyway. 650 lumen - whatever that means - and 6500K. They're spiral bulbs but I don't know if that makes any difference or not. 

I'll set up the 3 gallon tomorrow and I'll get gravel on Tuesday to plant whatever else I buy. I'll cut a piece of the Rotala and see if I can grow more of it.


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## Crossroads (Jun 28, 2014)

It's part of the reason my tanks are filled with Stem plants. Because I can just clip and make more if they get too tall 

That and swords get too big for my liking xD


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## Kisiel (Jul 30, 2014)

That's great! I've read that stem plants also grow the fastest. I'm assuming the primrose-willow is a stem plant too? The echidorus is a type of sword but it's not producing runners: just baby leaves from the main part of the plans. I can't use those, can I? Or the fully grown leaves? I would really like to propagate all my plants (obviously not the moss ball) and have some babies in the 3 gallon which is getting set up today. I'll get gravel before college starts as it's only a five minute walk to the pet store from college. I'm expecting the water lettuce to arrive today and the root tabs sometime during the week. So excited!


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## kittenfish (Dec 1, 2013)

Yes, the primrose-willow (AKA Ludwigia glandulosa) can be cut and replanted. I would makes sure the plants are healthy before doing this. The sword might take a while to start producing daughter plants.


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## Kisiel (Jul 30, 2014)

Great! I'll maybe wait a few weeks before cutting that one as it's not grown much. As you say, it's better to make sure the plants are healthy first. The rotala has grown and there are a few branches/stems (I don't know what they're called haha) that are really long - I'll cut a few of those and put them in the 3 gallon and see what happens


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