Newbie Advice

leecasey said:

Hey, I'm Lee. I'm new here! *wave*. Was just after a bit of advice....

I've just purchased a 2ft aquarium to have a go at a planted tank. This is a first for me. So this is what I wanted to ask:

1. Substrate.
I've had a read around and it seems ADA Amazonia is a good substrate? Would this be suitable for me or an overkill as it isnt cheap. Do I need any other substrate or additives?

2. Plants.
I don't want to invest in a co2 kit at this stage. So I was wondering are there any nice carpeting plants which dont require additional co2 requirements? something like Cuba or a short Hairgrass? In fact is there a list someone can recommend of plants I can use without additional co2 that are beginner friendly?

3. Fertilisers
This is an area I am not very familiar with? what fertilisers do I need to dose with? How often etc?

Apologies if you get these questions a lot. I had a quick look but couldnt find exactly what I was looking for.

thanks
Lee

Click to expand...

Hey there! I started keeping shrimp a year ago, but tanks two years ago. I'd suggest either cheap natural looking gravel, fluorite black or brown or Fluval shrimp stratum. I think that goes in appropriate rising price order.

I'm not sure how tall your two foot aquarium is, but I can get you a deal for $14 shipped fluval shrimp stratum 4.4 lbs.

I personally like the FSS because I wanted to go a natural look, but I liked the darkness of the stratum. I know the roundness of it doesn't last forever.

So that's my recommendation for substrate.

Ferts... If you see issues, certain Ferts are necessary. You can't go wrong buying Flourish plant packs and following a dosing routine.

I'd always recommend root tabs, however I try not to use any Ferts. I don't want my plants to rely on it.. But that's just my odd head.

Plants aren't my area of expertise on selection. I'm still playing with what works for me well.

I wish you luck if You want to talk more bout it, I'd be happy to pm with you.


From MABJ's iPhone
2G Fluval Spec ~ fauna and flora in the works!

Do you have your lights yet? If so, what lights do you have? As a general rule of thumb, you'll have a much larger selection of plants to choose from if you have high light, but you'll need alot more in the way of ferts and c02 to keep them happy. You also are more prone to algae problems with high light. If you have low to moderate light you can still have a nice planted tank but without all the maintenance. Some plants that do well in lower light include mosses, java fern, anubias, swords, sagittaria (aka sag), and duckweed, which is a floater. All of these plants are pretty cheap.

The above are the ones that I am personally familiar with, but here is a list of some others:

http://eveliens.hubpages.com/hub/Aquatic-Plants-for-Beginners

I used Eco Complete mixed with a bit of black gravel in my tank and am very pleased with it. I don't add any ferts at all and my lighting is low. My plants grow slowly, but that's fine with me as it means less maintenance on them.

One nice thing about mosses, java ferns and anubias is that you can use super glue to attach them to rocks, wood, and store bought decor, so you can have plants anywhere, at any level of the tank. You can use them cover up decor and make them more natural looking (like little terra cotta pots used for caves, for example).

http://www.allpondsolutions.co.uk/a...quarium-90-litres-60cm-2ft-three-colours.html

Dimensions: 598 x 349 x 450 mm (23.5" x 13.7" x 17.7")

Ive used Eco-Complete in all of my tanks. Runs at about the same price as bags of cravel @ Petco/petsmart... 15-20$/bag. You can get em for a pretty good deal at drsfostersmith.com
Thats where i get a lot of my stuff nowadays because of the free shipping over 50$, plus they have awesome Customer service. Had a package come in that was all wet and crap (Bag of eco complete was packaged with two filters. Bag ripped open a bit and water got all over the new filters and the boxes and wat not) and i wrote them an email telling them how dumb their shipping dept was for shipping a huge bag of rocks with small plastic filters.
They gave me 15$ off plus i get a free upgrade to UPS Shipping on every future purchase

As for ferts, i personally use Rootmedic liquid ferts. macro's and micro's. never really used anything else, only ever used the rootmedic, but it seems to do the job. Also use the occasional rootmedic capsules that you stick in the substrate so the roots get some ferts too.
Not saying either are the best, just tellin ya' what works for me

tank arrived this evening! Just assembled it and chucked my wood in. Will go get the substrate tomorrow. Happy with the tank. You guys in the US might know the brand as Sunsun? They are a china company. Got this dead cheap (trade price). Overall very satisfied. Heres a little pic. I might start a journal thread.

AquariumNoob said:

Just realized your in the UK

Sweet tank!
That light is definitely plenty, if not too much. That tank is something like 25 gallons, i think? I Generally look for around 2 to 3 Watts of light per gallon. Closer to the 2 watt side. Thats considered kind of between low and medium id say? maybe closer to medium.
If your running that much light i would definitely suggest ferts and c02.

Definitely heard of sunsun. Id say they are known quite well for their economically friendly canister filters, that arent half bad for the price, hah.

Click to expand...

Thanks yeah I got one of their canister filters with the setup. Got the big one on my 5ft tank. Never had any problems with them. The light setup has 2 white lights and 2 blue lights. They have separate switches so may just run the two white lights which will give me 48 watts and yeah its ~25 US Gallons.

Just thinking...have they sent me a marine light? Those two blue bulbs would have been better red no?