Planted Tank definition, lol

[sheamurai]

Hi
At what point can you say you have a planted tank? I started slowly planting one at a time into my 16gal tank. It wasn't what I considered a planted tank at one plant, or two, but now I have as many plants as I would have put in plastic, tho I'm not done yet.
When is a planted tank, a planted tank?

[domjd05]

I think its fair to call it a planted tank when its all real plants and no fake ones.

[sheamurai]

oh, there aren't any fake plants in there now...all real plants, but one fake wood decoration...

[Mith]

I would say one plant constitutes planted LOL. Got a pic of yer tank?

[Aeonflame]

I think an aquarium whose main purpose is the plants and whose fish are secondary is considered a planted tank. As opposed to just a tank with plants

[sheamurai]

hmmm, by that definition I will never have a planted tank...

[domjd05]

I think you have a planted tank then.. a lightly planted one.. go online and look at some of the planted tanks out there, and you'll see what I mean when I say yours is lightly planted lol.

Nothing wrong with fake plants.. I prefer to keep some fish with nothing but fake plants.. but if I can help it I go Live planted.

[sheamurai]

well, I thought planted tanks were harder to maintain, so I started with plants in my smallest community tank. If it goes well, I will start planting my 77gal. For some reason tho, the planted tank is cloudy, even tho the two other tanks in the same room are clear - same water, same readings. I wonder if the clay pots I am using for the plants are clouding the water?

[domjd05]

thats possible, I've never used clay pots.. and I've never had plants cloud my water..hm

[sheamurai]

well, I can't seem to get my plants to stay in the gravel and I read about using pots...I'm hoping it will clear up with a carbon filter, which I don't normally use...

[domjd05]

Just curious as to what kind of plants your putting in your tank?

[Ampatent]

I think you have a planted tank then.. a lightly planted one.. go online and look at some of the planted tanks out there, and you'll see what I mean when I say yours is lightly planted lol.

Nothing wrong with fake plants.. I prefer to keep some fish with nothing but fake plants.. but if I can help it I go Live planted.

Planted is the past tense of plant, so if you go by the definition then "planted" would mean that you have added live plants to the aquarium. A plant tank, on the other hand, would sound more like an aquarium that is focused on the aquatic plants.

I would say that as soon as you have a plant that is successfully living in your aquarium, you have a planted tank.

[Afk4Jfk]

instead of pots to hold them down you can use plant sinkers also its good that you dont normaly use carbon filters cause i believe that they're not good for the plants

[domjd05]

When I hear "planted" .. to me it sounds like theres more then one plant.. not that it was planted in the past... but I get what your saying.

[sheamurai]

plant sinkers??? Never heard of them...are they at the LFS or do I need to go to a landscape/pond place?
So far I only have Cobombas and amazons...The cobombas are doing very well, the swords are new last week but seem to doing ok.
Ya, I only put the carbon filter in as a temp fix but it doesn't seem to be doing anything after 3 days...sigh...

[Afk4Jfk]

Plant sinkers are little strips of lead that you wrap around the stem or root of the plants. my lfs sells the plants with them already on.

[sheamurai]

prolly a stupid question but the lead doesn't poison anything? The plants actually did come with those on them, but I took them off in order to separate the bunch into smaller groups of plants to put in the aquarium. I still have them...
the reason I ask is because I know they don't use lead pellets for duck shot anymore, because the lead pellets were poisoning anything silly enough to eat them.

[rich311k]

The bands are not lead. they are a nickel alloy which is soft and heavy like lead.

[Sarkazmo]

1 plant equals planted tank. Because of that one plant you have to change the way you treat your tanks or that one plant will wither and die.

I've used terracotta pots in my tanks with no cloudiness so I doubt that it's the pots.

What kind of substrate are you using? There could be any number of things causing the cloudy water, give us a rundown of your setup.

Sark

[sheamurai]

ahhhhh great thanks!
I'm glad I kept them! Next floater I see is getting lead boots, lol...

[sheamurai]

its a 16 gal bowfront. readings are:
pH 8 (thats what it reads out of the tap, and I don't mess with it even tho I know its high)
Ammonia 0
Nitrate 20mg/l
Nitrite >0.3mg/l
GH 15
KH 9
CO2 2.7
phosphate 0mg/l
I have some shrimp in there, 2 corys, a really small (its hardly an inch long yet) sunset dwarf gourmai, 2 otos, 3 female bettas, and 5 small neon tetras. I usually do weekly water changes, but in an effort to get rid of the cloudy water I've been doing say 20-30 percent every other day. I tried a phosphate filter pad for a week, then took that out and put in a carbon pad instead. This in addition to a plain filter pad which is what is usually in there. I took all those out after a week and put in the stock filter/carbon combo thing thats made for the filter.
Temperature varies between 80 and 82 degrees, and it does get a lot of light as its near a window - but from what I've read the cobombas need a lot of light (they are the red variety).
I kinda think it looks clearer today. Prolly wishful thinking...
OH and I forgot to mention the water lettuce, I have say 25 percent of the surface covered with it. I'm not putting more of that in as I want the bettas to have easy access to the surface.
I have three other tanks in the house, 2 in the same room as the planted one, and they are all crystal clear.
The next thing I was going to try - in another week - was a purigen pouch. I read somewhere that using one of those on a planted tank is kinda useless, but I really want the tank cleared up. there is a lovely planted tank at the LFS and you hardly realise there's water in it, its so clear.
Sigh.
Nothing prettier than a planted tank thats doing well...and mine isn't there yet.
sorry for the long post, but you can blame Sark - he asked for a rundown of the tank, lol.

[Owlbehere]

I have not read your previous posts so I don't know how long you have had the tank set up but you should not have both Nitrite and Nitrate readings. It seems it is not cycled fully yet.
Also I have had cobombas cloud my tank before, but thats my personal experience. They need very high light and your stock lighting may not provide enough light, also the water lettuce will block a lot of the light too.

If it were me I would blame the cobombas. Or a bacteria bloom from it cycling.

[sheamurai]

Hmmm, thats a typo - its <0.3 nitrites which is the lowest reading my colour card shows.
So if I provide more light for the cobombas, the cloudiness will go away?

[Owlbehere]

I would ask someone more familiar with this plant. BUT what I experienced was I didn't have bright enough light (I have 2.4 WPG) and it started to, I guess, die. My tank got very cloudy and the plant was very slimy and started to fall apart.

[bushwhacker]

lightly planted tank

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[Owlbehere]

What's the tin foil for?

[cfgsteak]

What's the tin foil for?

It stops the aliens from talking to the fish. :shappy:

[Owlbehere]

LMAO that caught me off guard

[bushwhacker]

lmao it keeps the lights from glaring in my eyes .... these tanks sit right beside my desk nd the lights are above eye level without the foil id' be blinded

[mac]

Planted tank is a tank with all real live plants.

mac

[domjd05]

Thank you mac.

[sheamurai]

hmmm. Looking at the plants closely I can see where the red tops are fading out. They were fine for a few weeks, but I guess my adding the water lettuce in an effort to clear the tank faster is causing the cobomba to fail. Out with the water lettuce...
I'm glad I picked a smaller tank to try plants in!
Next thing I guess I start replacing cobombas with other plants...

[sheamurai]

Did a water change today, and the water was green.
Planted tanks are hard! Looked for a brighter bulb today too for that hood and the fs didn't have any.
sigh.
My two other tanks are doing just fine, thankfully - I ain't putting plants in them anytime soon!

[Owlbehere]

You will probably need a new hood as well. What size is this tank? Its really hard to get bright light because you usually need multiple bulbs. I ordered one from a catalog that holds two bulbs. It has two 24 Watt bulbs, giving me 48 Watts total, bringing my tank to 2.4 Watts per gallon [I have a 20G tank]. I think that is about med light. If I wanted a brighter light plant I would need a new light fixture to hold more bulbs. Most high light plants like to have around 4 WPG. But if you also have low light plants like Java fern, the bright light will burn and kill them. Hence you need to choose plants from a similar light range. Low light plants like Java fern, Java moss, and anubias are great for beginner plant keepers because they will usually grow with your standard lighting.

[sheamurai]

Its just a 16gal. All thats in there now are the cabombas and amazons.
I think I will print me a list of low light plants to bring with me to the fs so I know what to look for!
I've seen the anubias, but they are always rather dear as my fs sells them attached to wood.
Rather than get a new hood, I will toss the cabombas and replace with different plants...til I get a bit more experience with plants (and have the $$ to spend!).

[Owlbehere]

It would be a good idea to start with lower light plants to get the hang of things and its a much cheaper way to enjoy a planted tank. I started with driftwood and 3 Java Ferns. When I didn't kill them I gradually moved up to getting a new light fixture and then getting fancier plants. I'm trying not to kill these lol :)

edit: I learned the hard way with cobambas ;) It made my tank disgusting lol. Check out the plant section of this site and read the stickies!

[sheamurai]

will do - and thanks
on the plus side - my betta sure likes the water lettuce I moved to his tank!

[domjd05]

2wpg should be sufficient for most plants.. the higher light plants just won't grow as fast.. but should survive.. sounds to me like your bulbs are at too low of a K rating.. anything from 5500k to 7500k is normal for plants..

Be careful because many place sell "'plant and aquarium" lights that only put out roughly 2500k, that will only make your tank into an algae farm (hence, your green water)

[sheamurai]

thanks all for your input - I beleive y'all that low light is the problem, and won't get another plant til I up the wattage on the tank...