# Quick questions from a planted tank noob



## momo18 (Sep 21, 2008)

Well first things first. I just want to try out planting in a 10gal. If I enjoy it as much as I think I will I'll plant my 75 then if I feel I really like it I'll plant the 150. Now to the questions.

Can plants be kept with any substrate i.e. sand, small gravel? If so how do they get nutrients?

Do I need a special bulb?

What type of basic plants can I do in just a 10 gal? I really like carpet type plants very interested in having most of the tank carpeted with something.

What type of maintenance is there?

Thanks in advance.


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## ju5tin95 (Nov 25, 2008)

momo18 said:


> Well first things first. I just want to try out planting in a 10gal. If I enjoy it as much as I think I will I'll plant my 75 then if I feel I really like it I'll plant the 150. Now to the questions.
> 
> Can plants be kept with any substrate i.e. sand, small gravel? If so how do they get nutrients?
> 
> ...


well im new to plants too, but ive got a few in my tank now in a 55, i have sand but its inert so I use flourish tabs, and as far as lighting I went to walmart and bought daytime lights 6500k but im pretty sure a pro will give you waaay more 411 in the next responses


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## lo4life (Aug 12, 2008)

Deffinatly get the 6500K bulb. They are the best for growing plants. Yes you can have plants with ANY substrate from sand to gravel. If you use sand you have to get florish tabs to insert near the roots of the plants. I went to aquariumfertilizer.com and got their PMDD (Poor Mans Daily Dose) dry ferts. Just follow the directions on the bag when you get it. These work pretty good imo. The reason I went with this fert is I have gravel and the nutrients can get down to the roots of my plants and Im poor lol. Florish Excel is also something that is good to add to your tank. Plantgeek.com is a good resource for plant info and it will help you out also. Dippy Eggs, ryanimpreza, Seedlessone, or makinwar will have to help with the carpeting plant names. Im pretty new to this myself but getting the hang of it from these four guys. They know their plants!! GL with everything momo. You will deff be planting the rest of your tanks when you get the hang of things!!


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## lo4life (Aug 12, 2008)

Just give it sometime. Trust me dont rush into this! You rush into it and fail and you wont want plants ever again. You only posted this yesterday. Dippy or one of the others that I said will chime in. Dippy is very good about answering ppls questions just give him a couple of days.


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## Trigga (Jul 1, 2006)

momo18 said:


> Well first things first. I just want to try out planting in a 10gal. If I enjoy it as much as I think I will I'll plant my 75 then if I feel I really like it I'll plant the 150. Now to the questions.
> 
> Can plants be kept with any substrate i.e. sand, small gravel? If so how do they get nutrients?
> *you can use regular substrate though the ones made for planted tanks are better for your plants. If you have regular gravel then you would have to dose using nurtient tabs you bury in the grab next to the roots or dose liquid ferts such as flourish.*
> ...


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## ryanimpreza (Jul 19, 2006)

a lot of what has been said here is right. For lighting you will need anything from 6500-10000, 6500 is what most people use. Next would be how much light anything over 1.5 watts per gallon you will need to use injected co2. CO2 to me is like the next level of putting live plants in a tank. I recommend you look at tanks online on this site or others and find one you like so you can get an idea of how you want to scape your tank and post the pic on this page so we can give you advice according to the style you are looking for. Ground cover med light,,,,I like micro swords they are easier then hair grass and it grows like mad. I also like clovers.


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

momo18 said:


> Well first things first. I just want to try out planting in a 10gal. If I enjoy it as much as I think I will I'll plant my 75 then if I feel I really like it I'll plant the 150. Now to the questions.
> 
> Can plants be kept with any substrate i.e. sand, small gravel? If so how do they get nutrients?
> 
> ...


Everyone has good advice for you.

Plants do best with a fine gravel. Sand works ok, but compacts over time. Large grain gravel is very poor for small plants, and overall is not very good for them.
I would suggest splurging on good planted aquarium substrate like Eco-Complete, or Flourite. There are cheaper products that do just fine too.

Plants can take nutrients in from the root and the leaves. So, fertilizing the substrate is fine, and dosing ferts in the water column is fine too.

Any bulb between 5000k to 10000k will grow plants. Wattage will answer your question on what plants you will be able to keep. 1.5wpg (in a 10g that is 15w.) should be ok to grow most aquatic plants decent.

Adding CO2 to your 1.5wpg planted aquarium will do very good things for your plants. It is the difference if you ask me.
You should make sure you have nitrate and phosphate present in your water column at all times. Algea forming is the least of your worries here.

Weekly water changes, keeping filters clear and clean, and dosing some ferts is the basic maintenance for any planted aquarium. IMO

Hope that helped some


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## momo18 (Sep 21, 2008)

thanks everybody I now have an idea on stuff I need now I'm just looking for a few good plants. Ryan listed a few that I'm going to check out, but if anyone has any ideas for a "carpet" like effect (very close together) thatd be great.

This is what I'm thinking about doing right now. This drawing is museum quality I know.
Legend: Black = Plants; except on rock which has plants as green.
Green = Carpet Plant









The black dots in the front left corner will be open gravel with some bigger pebbles/rocks. Then The rest of the tank will be carpeted with a plant. In the middle will be a decent sized rock or driftwood center piece. Haven't yet decided. I'd like some moss/algae growth on it, maybe also a small plant. Then A few medium to bigger than the carpet sized plants around the rock/driftwood. Probably one plant taller than the center piece. Then in the back right corner a larger plant (keep in mind this is a 10 gallon so when I say larger 12" is the roof). Also a few medium/smaller plants on the right side scattered or another very small piece of driftwood.

So that's the plan, yea the drawing is amazing







. I really know nothing about plants and how to pick them out at the LFS. Petsmart only gets 5 kinds I believe(kyo-something grass, amazon swords, wysteria, anubis something, and 1 more) and my LFS gets some but they let them go all to sh*t but has a bigger selection. What classifies a plant as buyable, and which plants would people recommend for what I'm looking to do. Thanks again.

Edit: I've looked around a lot of aquascaping sites and I found 5 of the carpet type plants I thought looked good if someone could tell me if a beginner can handle them. Glossostigma elatinoides, Hemianthus Calitrichoides, Eleocharis acicularis, riccia fluitans, hemianthus micranthemoides.


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## ryanimpreza (Jul 19, 2006)

that plant you mentioned kyo-something is not an aquatic plant dont get it. I would buy the sword and place it in the corner where you have that big black blob and try that out for awhile. Get your rocks and substrate situated while you are practicing with your sword.


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## lo4life (Aug 12, 2008)

Yea I would start out with a couple of plants and if they survive get some more. Its better then sinking 30-40 bucks in plants all at once and seeing them die.


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## momo18 (Sep 21, 2008)

well I did what you said and got 3 4" swords for like 3 bucks. Hopefully everything works out.


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## momo18 (Sep 21, 2008)

well the swords have stayed the same. But they are growing new leaves from the center on all but 1 of the 3. Unfortunately I can't move on and do more cool things at the moment until my convicts breeding tank is back up and running.


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