[Randybar94]

Hey guys,
I am new to the forum, and new to planted tanks, i have just purchased some new substrate for my 10 gallon, the LFS did not have the plants i was looking for. I do however have all of my hardscape material such as rocks and driftwood. My question is, can i start my tank with the new substrate, add my hardscape, fill it up and run it until the LFS gets the plants? Then empty the water out and plant my plants then fill it back up? Or am i best to wait until they get it to do everything ?

Any advice would be great !
Current setup:
10 gallon long
1 betta fish
2 ghost shrimp
1 fire shrimp
Just gravel substrate
Topfin 20 filter
Tetra heater
Marineland LED

 

[thedood]

First thing I would do is ditch the tetra heater. I had one and they are trash. If you have everything minus the plants I would set it up if it was me. No need to drain either. Add the plants during a normal water change. I do that whenever I add new plants, I just remove my normal water change amount of water, add the plants, then top off.

And on the heater please look that heater up and you will see what I mean. Someday I'm going to post a pic of the one I have and again you would see what I mean.

 

[Randybar94]

Thanks for the reply, i have read good and bad things about the tetra heaters mine has been running about 4 months now and it holds a steady temp. But if thats something that can possibly mess with the system i will look into a new one.

I am looking to do a carpet of some sort of plant, can this be done with water in it? Everyone that i have seen online started with the tank empty.

Sorry for the rookie questions

I have been looking at the tissue cultured plants, as snails are already an issue in my 5 gallon, the ones called 1-2-grow or something? That is my concern with the water already being in the tank, not sure how these work and cant find much on them.

 

[thedood]

Ive never used tissue cultured plants so I will leave that to someone who has. Look at my 75g, the last few pics on page two I think. That was done with the water in but there are a lot of folks who start there setups emmersed and get the carpet going. I guess that would depend on what you want. My dwarf sag has doubled in quantity over the last pic. I think again that is a matter of preference and there is no magic answer and it all depends on what you want and your goals. There are pros and cons with a lot of things. There are a lot of things in this hobby that are that way.