Starting a planted tank???

[MikeTag]

Hi, im new here and thought it would be a good idea to try and find some people who know what they're talking about. I have a 30 gallon tank that hold a jurupari, 2 blue gouramis, an angel, and an upside-down catfish. its stocked with fake plants and grape to pea sized gravel. I want to plant some hardy plants so i can reep the many rewards of having plants in an aquariumthumbs2: . Btw, im 16 and on a very low budget. I want to get some some java moss to make a carpet/foreground out of, sound good? And I need some ideas on lighting, because i dont think that the light i have will be sufficiant for oppitmun growth. If I need to get one of the CO2 systems, ill jsut forget about the whole thing. should i make a home made one? how do i get the fish:plant:CO2 ratio right to fit everything in my tank? should i buy some kind of fertilizer. any ideas, please share :fish: thanks a lot!

[doug z]

Welcome to the forum!

With a 30g you should be able to just use liquid carbon, like Flourish Excel, rather than pressurized CO2, as long as your lights aren't too strong, and you have only low-light plants in there..

What is the lighting for the tank? How long do you leave them on?

How often do you do water changes?

What do you have for a substrate?

[troy]

Some low light plants are java moss, java fern, amazon sword, anubius, crypts, and hornwort. I've grown these plants with no CO2 or fertilizers.

[MikeTag]

thanks :) i have the light that came with the hood and it says on on it "Eclipse" F18T8 Natural Daylight. and the other one i bought was an "Aqua Rays" brand andit said fresh+saltwater 20 watt. dont know if that helps.

I have it in the basement on a timer probibly around 12 hours on and 12 hours off. I plan on moving it in the living room sometime in the summer so it can be appreciated.

ummm, about a 50% water change in a time span of no more than 3 weeks.

Its stocked with fake plants. Grape to pea sized gravel. I think its called stream pebbles or something.

[Cameron]

50% in 3 weeks is like minimal at least 50% every 2 weeks or more frequent smaller changes are better

[MikeTag]

well, what i meant was its broken up in 3 weeks. so like 20% a week.

[MikeTag]

i do aobut 50% within the 3 weeks. so like 20% a week.