The Balanced Planted Tank

[AquaBANG]

oh yeah, I notice that now... the edit button's gone for my earlier post! :)

[Northernguy]

ILuvMyGoldBarb this a great article!
Very educational and well written.
I know its an old post but it should have been Stickied.
Great explanation for cyanobacteria and Co2 injection!
Thanks.

[Shea]

saved for when I get my planted tank going.

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

Thanks NG.

[hockeyhead019]

i kno this is old but this is a great article especially for first time plant people like myself

so well done and thank you

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

Thank you, and you are welcome. :)

[NickFish]

Awesome article GB!

Although, I would have to disagree that biomass is the best indicator of CO2 and nutrient requirements. That theory implies that all parts of a plant have the same energy requirement, in truth new growing leaves stems use more energy than a developed root system or rhizome.
The superior method would be measuring energy requirement in joules.

...then again, I suppose biomass would be the easiest for the aquarist to measure.

Besides that I agree with you completely, great article!

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

Nick, you may want to go back to Tom Barr. :) He is the one who introduced me to the relationship between biomass and CO2 usage. ;)

[Bur01014]

Thanks for the great information on proper plant balance. I am a complete newb to plants and just had a question. I know you may not be able to put a specific number on this question, but how many wpg is considered "low" enough, where nutrients and C02 shouldn't be added? I have a 10 gallon tank, planted with "easy" plants. (anubias, java fern, anacharis, marimo ball) I have a 26 watt CFL light custom setup over a glass canopy on the tank. As a result, it is roughly 2.6 wpg.....any advice would be helpful. Do I need the flourish stuff, excel, root tabs??? Or ride it out with nothing. It just has two GBRs in the tank. Thanks!

[Wild Turkey]

Thanks for the great information on proper plant balance. I am a complete newb to plants and just had a question. I know you may not be able to put a specific number on this question, but how many wpg is considered "low" enough, where nutrients and C02 shouldn't be added? I have a 10 gallon tank, planted with "easy" plants. (anubias, java fern, anacharis, marimo ball) I have a 26 watt CFL light custom setup over a glass canopy on the tank. As a result, it is roughly 2.6 wpg.....any advice would be helpful. Do I need the flourish stuff, excel, root tabs??? Or ride it out with nothing. It just has two GBRs in the tank. Thanks!

As long as you have the right temperature/color (5500 or 6500k) they should do fine without ferts or co2. 2/3 of my tens have the same bulbs, and are planted pretty thickly. I do ferts but usually not co2 on those tanks, dont seem to need either for decent plant growth though. Probably the exact setup I would recommend for your first planted tank Great choice

Replace the bulbs around every 6 months