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Newbie Needing Help!

543 Views 5 Replies 4 Participants Last post by  FishRFriendz
Hi! I have a Fluval Chi 5 gallon tank with the filter and LEDs that came with it. I also have a Tera heater that is for 5-15 gallon tanks. I am wanting to focus on moss and ferns to do a low tech tank. But I have no idea what I else I need. Any advice?
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You'll want to decide on a substrate! You can go with something designed for planted tanks. I would recommend though that you pick something that you like the look of, because you can always fertilize with liquid ferts and root tabs if needed.

Pick one or two plants to start with and see how they do in your tank - add from there.
Do you recommend any kind of liquid ferts and root tabs?
If you're not doing rooted plants - you may not need to worry about the tabs. For the best advice, I would decide on which plants you want to keep and then post in the Fertilizer/Water Prams forum and ask for advice on how to dose your specific tank. It all depends on if you want to do low/medium/high tech. Make sure to include all the info about your tank: size, lighting, substrate, water parameters (pH, GH, KH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate.)

Also decide if you are going to keep fish or not - as some may or may not eat certain plants.

:)
I am wanting to focus on moss and ferns to do a low tech tank.
Java moss is easy as far as nutrients, just blast em with a lot of light and keep the water well aerated with sufficient flow to keep stuff from settling too much on moss. And i really mean blast em with light, they can take 24hr high lighting as long as you have moving aerated water.

I don't have a Chi, but photos vary from showing it having decent lighting to photos where the lighting is terrible and doesn't have good coverage. I'd prepare for the worst as stock lighting is rarely ever sufficient.

Java fern will be fine in any case.

Beyond java fern, plants can grow without additional nutrient supplementation, but no amount of nutrient supplementation will grow plants without light, unless you're growing mushrooms. The budget really needs to skew towards lighting more than substrate/fertilizer (Especially given your selection of plants).
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