40 Gallon Tank - Soon to be with Live Plants - Opine Please

[BattleFurby]

Hello.

Never had live plants before other than anacharis...

Anyway.

What I'd like from you guys if you have some time is two things. One of which is asking a lot. But if you have the time, I have the patience to read/listen.

1 - Your experiences with planted tanks/your methods of starting one up/ keeping it healthy. (Or links to them.)

2 - Book recomendations on starting up a live plant aquarium.

Look forward to seeing what pops up in here and what I find using the search button here.

Get back to me when you can!

[TowBoater]

I love mine and they are supper easy to take care of in my opinion. I only use forapride every once in a while, my fish take care of my plants. I give them 12 hrs of light a day and the do fine. I have a large variety as well. I think on here I put a list of plants in my tank if you wanna see some that are easy to care for.

[RobbieG]

The most important thing to get right from the beginning is the substrate - I would reccommend EcoComplete - its the best that I have tried.

If you have good substrate from the get-go you can tinker with all the other stuff as you move along.

[cocoa_pleco]

start with easy plants like java fern and java moss, get some good lights (min 3W/G, i run 80W on my 20g and the cabomba is like a weed), get some good gravel (sand, ecocomplete, fluorite, etc. anything small), run a CO2 system, use a filter that has little surface disturbing, and thats about it!

[TowBoater]

Am I the only person with a planted thank that doesn't use CO2?

[cocoa_pleco]

i dont bother with CO2 in my 55g since its just cabomba, java moss, and java fern, but as im redoing it im adding a CO2 system since its going to be heavily palnted

[TowBoater]

Mine is heavily planted and mine don't need it, weird?

[cocoa_pleco]

what kind of plants? hardy ones dont need CO2

[TowBoater]

Do I really have to type the list again? I know there is an amazon sword, brazilian pennywort, banana plant, echinoduers or sumtin like that, and crypt, I can't remember anything else but there is like 12 different types and some I have more than one of.

[cocoa_pleco]

hmmm, youre really lucky then!

[RobbieG]

A lot of plants will do OK without the CO2 or too much in the way of ferts until you add extra light - once you do that they turn into the plant from the little shop of horrors

[Incredulous_Ed]

lol, good one robbie!

I would read this guys site. http://www.rexgrigg.com/

[TowBoater]

Lol, I guess.:1:

[RobbieG]

One of the Seachem Excel products (I think its flourish) contains a supplement that can take the place of CO2. It stinks to high heaven - but it seems to work OK

[Dave66]

The best book I know of is Diana Walstad's Ecology of the Planted Aquarium. If you're looking for pretty pictures buy Amano's Nature Aquarium World trilogy, but if you want to know the how and why, get Walstad.
If the poster wants to use Co2, there are several units that run on paint ball Co2 cartriges. The units are around $100 US.

Dave

[TowBoater]

You can get them for like 30$ here.

[Dave66]

You can get them for like 30$ here.

Kuhli,
I was speaking of those with a solinoid, so you can have the unit turned on and off with a timer. Otherwise there can be catastropic overdoses. And remember; you get what you pay for. Going cheap never pays off in aquarium keeping, nor does it anything else.

Dave

[TowBoater]

That is all that is around here is cheap stuff. If I was to get one it would be the more expensive ones if the cheap ones overdose. Hopefully I never do have to get one and from the looks of it now I may not.

[cocoa_pleco]

yep, you need the ones where you toggle the co2 dispersion for paintball ones. i have lots of CO2 bottles from my paintball gun but none with toggles

[RobbieG]

If you decide to go with CO2 Kuli - I use the DIY soda bottle setups - they are very cheap - very easy to make - and work very well on the size tanks you have.

[TowBoater]

Is it in the DIY section? I may make one for the heck of it.

[RobbieG]

Get a soda bottle (2 liter) - some tubing - and a tiny airstone.

Drill a small hole in the cap of the soda bottle - pull the tubing through it about half an inch or an inch. Seal it up with silicone. Stick the airstone on the other end of the tube.

Fill the soda bottle 1/2 - 3/4 of the way up with warm water - add 2 cups of sugar and 1/2 a teaspoon full of yeast. Stick your thumb in the bottle (the good one) and shake the crap out of it.

Stick the airstone in the tank under the outflow from your filter - screw th cap back onto the bottle and your done - it may be a little while before bubble come out - but thats all there is to it.

Just a couple of points

Make sure the end of the tubing that goes into the cap doesn't wind up anywhere near the mixture in the bottle.

Keep the soda bottle on the floor / below the tank

Change the mixture in the bottle every 2 weeks to an month

[TowBoater]

I am trying to empty a 2 liter of sprite right now.:19:

[TowBoater]

Got it done all but I need the yeast so it will have to wait until tomorrow when I can get to wally world.

[RobbieG]

Told ya it was easy:19: