# up keep on a planted tank



## Aeon (Jul 15, 2014)

Im really thinking of doing one of these .... but I have no clue I have always used gravel, tried sand will never go back to that ---- 

is it hard to maintain a planted tank once set up?
how often do u clean it compared to a regurlar tank being cleaned?
what type of soil do u use?


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## tankman12 (Nov 13, 2012)

It all depends on what you want to do
Do you want co2, ferts, high light, and make it a high tech tank? Or a moderate with diy co2 and some ferts, good lighting. Or low light, where you will need basically nothing. 

It is all based on you budget and how you want the tank to look.

My tanks are mainly moderate tech and do great. Requires a little more work.

But this is what i would recommend for a low tech tank;
Very easy plants
Okay lighting, at least 1 watt per gallon of 6500-6700k spectrum
Flourite is a very good plant substrate, or some larger sand (like petco sand)
Than once things start growing some flourish comprehensive and excel (not needed with most low light plants)

Keeping a low light setup is almost impossible to not keep a live. When it comes to water changes, i still do normal schedule water changes. That way i will have super clean water.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## tankman12 (Nov 13, 2012)

Sorry double post. This is just a completely short summary, i can go deeper into it if you want.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Flint (Oct 22, 2013)

Watts per gallon is not a good source anymore, like inches per gallon. 

Planted tanks aren't even hard to set up. 
You still have to clean the tank just the same, TDS build up and need to be removed. Slightly less gravel vaccing, I suppose.
You can use plain gravel or sand, you don't need anything special.


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## tankman12 (Nov 13, 2012)

Watts per gallon is used quite a bit still. Besides with LEDS.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

Planted tanks are easy to maintain. I use sand but gravel will do. The only difference between the care of a planted tank and one with artificial plants is using fertilizer. There's no need to add C02 or Seachem Excel to a tank planted in "Beginner" plants. Some people do but it's not necessary. You do need fluorscent or LEDs as opposed to incandescent bulbs. Some use use compact fluorescents in an incandescent hood.

When new to planted tanks you should keep it simple and start out with the easy/beginner low-light plants such as Anubias, Cabomba, Java Fern, Banana Plants. Most online stores will actually have a section of "Beginner" plants. www.plantedaquariumscentral.com has a section of plants for Beginners and for Betta aquariums.

These are easy to maintain plants which do well with only doses of liquid fertilizer as they don't need to be planted. Swords are also easy but you need fertilizer tabs as they are root feeders. When you are comfortable with these Beginner plants and decide you want to go further you might try plants which need more specialized care. The descriptions of plants on the site above tell you which ones need this specialized care which includes C02 or additional nutrients.

On determining light:

Being used and being useful are often two different things. Most reliable is how many inches from the substrate the lights are effective and not WPG. A 20 gallon, for instance, can be 12"-24" tall yet the formula for watts per gallon is the same. 

If you want to delve further into lights and lighting requirements, this, is an excellent article. Me? I simply buy bulbs rated for planted tanks and don't' worry about it. 
http://www.prirodni-akvarium.cz/en/index.php?id=en_par

Have fun! And if you decided to buy plants online, PAC offers a 10% discount to Betta Fish members. Just PM me for the code.


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## Kyte (Jan 7, 2014)

It can be terribly easy or terribly hard. I have a planted tank with Java Ferns and Anubias and Tropical Hornwort. Good easy growing low-light low maintenance plants. I use gravel and the occasional flourish gravel tablet when I think its been 3-4 months. The plants have been grafting on really well to the rocks and logs I had inserted them in maybe a month or so ago. I have hardly had any troubles with algae either. I will say this though, if you do get plants, for the love of it check for snail eggs or snails as best as you can. Maybe quarantine them too - snails are always a pain once they start.


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## Flint (Oct 22, 2013)

The tubes and baggies at Petsmart and Petco are snail-free. Some aren't aquatic plants, though, so I always google the plant on my phone while I'm there.


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## Tony2632 (Aug 30, 2013)

Ok, great info up top. First off before lights think about substrate you wanna use. It's very important in planted tanks and makes your life a little easier.

Substrates ---> Eco-Complete, Flourite, ADA AquaSoil, and Organic soil. To be honest I really recommend organic soil or aquasoil. I find them very effective and without the use of root tabs. Eco-Complete and Flourite work great, but still need root tabs for them. Over time soils lose it's nutrients over time. Here's the kicker, soils contain very high CEC, which adsorbs nutrients from the water column. Which is why we dose fertilizer in the first place to keep soils fresh in nutrients. 

Second thing is lights. Which lighting you wanna go with. Since I recommend low tech for beginners, I would stay in the med to low lighting range, since high light tanks need CO2 and requires more maintenance. You wanna take baby steps.

Lighting---> LED, CFL bulbs, metal halide, and fluorescent tubes. If you have a endless budget, go with LED or T5HO. If your on a tight budget, go with CFL bulbs. Metal halide is very high light and only recommend for very huge tanks, since they give out extreme par levels. People still use the watts per gallon rule and it's a old method, but it's something to lean on. The best thing is to measure the par rating, which is hard since none of us own a par meter. Par is light intensity from light fixture to substrate. Best par rating is 30 to 50 which is med to high light, any thing over 50 is high light and any thing below 30 is low light. I can get really in depth with lighting. So what do I use, you might ask. I use CFL bulbs 6500k daylight in a work light reflector hung vertically very close to the water surface, which puts me in high light. But if I hang them higher around let's say 12 inches away that could put me at mid lighting range. Try CFL bulbs it's a good start for a beginner.

Next is fertilizer, it's pretty much food for plants. I recommend flourish comprehensive supplement for low tech tanks. Since it contains all your main nutrients from macro to micro nutrients. Oh, what are macro and micro nutrients you say? Let's give it a go shall we. Macro are you main nutrients which is phosphate, nitrogen, and potassium. Micro nutrients are stuff like iron, magnesium, calcium, zinc, and other traces of elements. Again this can get confusing, but this is why I recommend flourish comprehensive supplement, because it's easier. Once you gain experience and start setting up high tech tanks, you'll want to get in to dry fertilizer, since it's way cheaper. In low tech tanks you won't be dosing ferts alot, since plants are more hungry in high light and CO2 tanks.

Start slow, gain confidence, research a lot, and all ways ask questions.


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## Aeon (Jul 15, 2014)

im gonna def do research on this b4 i induldge in anything but i luv the tanks i see


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## Tony2632 (Aug 30, 2013)

I'm still learning more stuff everyday. Just found out there is like 4 different types of hairgrass I want for my new project lol.


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

These are two excellent reference sites. And Tony is spot on: Start slow and build.

Aquatic Plant Library - Everything Aquatic

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/plantfinder/all.php


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## Aeon (Jul 15, 2014)

russell thank you very much for those links...... I really want as low of maintaince planted tank as I can


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## Aeon (Jul 15, 2014)

or should I ask can I put a few live plants in my tank with just gravel?


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## Tony2632 (Aug 30, 2013)

Aeon said:


> or should I ask can I put a few live plants in my tank with just gravel?


You could use just gravel if you wanted. If your going that route, I suggest using root tabs also. I only recommend soils if your going very heavy on plants. Some plants don't even feed from the roots, mostly from the water column, like for example anubais, java fern, or even hornwort. The 3 I named are extremely easy.


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## myexplodingcat (Apr 9, 2014)

There's kind of a difference between "planted tank" and "tank with plants in it." I mean, technically there isn't, but when you're talking to people, if you say "planted tank" then it kind of implies you want a LOT of plants, or want them to be the focus or main decoration. But it's super easy to just throw in low-tech plants like java fern, moss balls, java moss, frogbit, water wisteria, and anubias.

It's just about how much money and time you're willing to put into this. As I understand it, it runs something like this. I can't be terribly specific due to lack of personal experience, so a lot of this comes from secondary sources--I'll warn you up front. This is just to give you an idea.

1. No real lighting, straight-up aquarium gravel... you can keep:
Java fern, Marimo moss balls, java moss, duckweed and frogbit (and a host of other floaters, just check on a plant profile or two before buying--most will be fine), water wisteria, anubias, and banana plants.

These will help a bit with tank quality but are very unlikely to make a dent in harmful substances unless you absolutely crowd the tank floor with them. Frankly, these plants are so hard to kill that you can just throw them in without changing anything in your tank. It sounds like this is what you're looking for.

2. Low lighting (like, a desk lamp with a 13w 6500K lightbulb in it for a 10g), a bottle of Seachem's Flourish fertilizer, and some root tabs--you can keep:
More options. Any plant marked "Low Light" in a profile is likely to do just fine. Crypts, swords, some more stem plants--bacopa, green cabomba, anacharis, etc. Ludwigia repens would grow in this, but probably wouldn't show red color.

With DIY CO2 or, to a lesser extent, liquid CO2, you might be able to get away with a few more plants. The ones you already have will flourish better. A warning about the liquid CO2 additive Excel... it tends to melt certain plants at full dose.

3. Medium lighting, Flourish, root tabs, maybe liquid CO2
Opens up more plants. If the tank's dirt based, you can get away with more. Look at dwarf four-leaf clover, dwarf lily, and this neat plant for examples.

4. Med lighting, Flourish, root tabs, DIY CO2, NPK ferts, test kit
You can get away with basically all but the most difficult plants, but at this point you're probably dosing stuff most days and testing regularly.

5. High-tech--high lighting, all the fancy fertilizers, root tabs, special substrate, truckloads of CO2 and enough testing materials to make a small broom closet look like an undercover chemist's.

Basically this can grow anything that will survive underwater. But you're dosing stuff every day.


Does that make it clearer?


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## Lettuce (Jul 12, 2014)

Flint said:


> The tubes and baggies at Petsmart and Petco are snail-free. Some aren't aquatic plants, though, so I always google the plant on my phone while I'm there.


man I had no idea that any of the ones in the tubes could be submerged.

I always limited my selection to the ones in the tanks.


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## Tony2632 (Aug 30, 2013)

13watt CFL bulb 6500k daylight with a desk lamp can create a lot of par depending how close you have your light from the water surface and how much depth is in your tank. But the cons with CFL bulb will lose it's brightness over time. I run 3 6500k CFL 26 watt, work light reflector, with tons of CO2 and I watch my plants pearl really hard. If I had to choose lighting now with future projects, I would go the LED route, since it lasts very long time. I just got a Dutch Planted XB LED from BuildMyLED.com.


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## myexplodingcat (Apr 9, 2014)

Tony2632 said:


> 13watt CFL bulb 6500k daylight with a desk lamp can create a lot of par depending how close you have your light from the water surface and how much depth is in your tank. But the cons with CFL bulb will lose it's brightness over time. I run 3 6500k CFL 26 watt, work light reflector, with tons of CO2 and I watch my plants pearl really hard. If I had to choose lighting now with future projects, I would go the LED route, since it lasts very long time. I just got a Dutch Planted XB LED from BuildMyLED.com.


^That is true. And yeah, the downside of CFLs is you need to replace the bulb every year.


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## Tony2632 (Aug 30, 2013)

I just replaced my bulbs recently. I only had them for about 4 months. Reason I changed them is because photosynthesis stop happening. When I changed them the next day, it started pearling again. I only run them for about 8 hours.


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## myexplodingcat (Apr 9, 2014)

Tony2632 said:


> I just replaced my bulbs recently. I only had them for about 4 months. Reason I changed them is because photosynthesis stop happening. When I changed them the next day, it started pearling again. I only run them for about 8 hours.


Really? That's far more frequent than what I've heard. Is there a certain brand you use?


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## Tony2632 (Aug 30, 2013)

GE I think, I might replace CFL for 2 buildmyled fixtures. I can't complain I have spare bulbs for my lamps.


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