# New To Planted Tanks. Help Appreciated.



## Co. Caines (Feb 14, 2011)

So I have a 180g piranha tank that is currently highly overstocked. So I heard keeping a well planted tank will help with keeping water params in check. So I went out and bought about 30 plants. From swords to ferns, to anubis etc. All low light plants from what I was told. The LFS gives great deals to me since I drop a fortune at their stores. So after looking through a bunch of threads on here I see that there is a lot more to it than just plant in substrate and watch it grow. I currently have almost all plants on one side of the tank where almost all natural light hits... I plan on adding about another 30+ hardy plants that have low maintenance once I upgrade my lighting system to a 72" 4 bulb t5 setup throughout the remainder of the tank to get a carpeted look.

Right now I have black Tahitian moon sand as my substrate. I see a lot of people talking about CO2 etc. Which other plants can i use that don't require special substrate, meds or substances to grow?

How will I go about cleaning fish sh*t throughout the plant set up I currently have without messing up the scape?

What is the best T5 setup that big ALS online has that can cover my 6' tank?

What other advice can you give me to make maintaining my setup n future setup less time consuming?

I won't be home until tomorrow afternoon, so when I get back I will post pics of the tank currently so you can see what i am talking about.

I will also have the list of plants by then.


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## Guest (Jun 10, 2011)

Here's a good link to go to Plant Guide.
Read all the requirements of the plants you have there, and just follow them. Pressurised CO2 isn't essential to a low light planted tank, it's used to ensure that the plants in a mid-high light tank can out compete algae for nutrients in the water column.

As for the plants you already listed, swords are heavy root feeders, so a good substrate is required to see them flourish, IME they do poorly in sand without root tabs placed directly underneath them and they need to be replaced every so often due to sand being inert (unable to store nutrients).

Anubias and ferns aren't supposed to be buried in the substrate, this will kill them. Often they are tied on wood or pieces of slate and place on top of the substrate.


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

Traveller is giving you some sound advice.
Low light tanks are quite simple. My advice would be:

Take your time setting it up, so you don't disturb much, and you are happy with the way it looks. Especially if you use root tabs, because disturbing substrate with root tabs can bring on ammonia spikes. which can cause problems.

Keep smaller growing plants towards the front, medium size plants around your hardscaping, and in the middle, and the tallest ones towards the back. I know it sounds simple, but it is a good rule of thumb to think of when setting up your scape.
(rules are made to be broken, but it's a general rule)

Don't go much higher or lower than 1 watt per gallon of light for your low light plants,(in your case, you probably should go with around 150-200 watts total) and get bulbs for your fixture that are aquatic plant friendly (5500k - 10000k, best bet around 6700k)
--*remember, the watt per gallon rule is a 'general' rule, it depends on how strong of light you are using--T5's are bright, you can get away with less watts in that case, but it's a great general rule*

Don't bury any plant's rhizome, if they have one(As Traveller said--_Bolbitis_, java ferns, _Anubias_--these plants all grow from a rhizome)
I would also get lots of _Cryptocorynes_, because most of them do good in low light, and they are quite pleasing to the eye.

Just vac around the plants, being sure you don't disturb the roots. Your java ferns and rhizome growing plants that are tied to driftwood and rocks, you don't have to worry about it.. You can lift it up and vac underneath it if you want to.

Also, I would do water tests just to make sure everything is ok in there. Nitrates have to be present in the water, or your plants will die.
0 nitrates = plant death. (5-15ppm nitrate is just fine)
Also, plants can not feed on certain nutrients if there are no phosphates in your water, so you want a trace in there at all times. (.5-1ppm is great)

Hope that helps


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