aquatic plants

[christine hall]

Hi.
can anyone help? I have just set up an Aquarium. My question is, can I just have the plants in it for the time being? It will be a COMMUNITY TANK.The filtration and Heating are all working correctly!
Thanks. christine

[Nick_Pavlovski]

Of course you can just have plants in there!
They will help begin to settle the water for the fish when they arrive.
Also, you can practice getting the placement of plants right before some fish start claiming some as territory.

[Dave66]

Hi.
can anyone help? I have just set up an Aquarium. My question is, can I just have the plants in it for the time being? It will be a COMMUNITY TANK.The filtration and Heating are all working correctly!
Thanks. christine

Ms. Hall,
I encourage you to click the links in my signature, especially the one for my book list, and specifically the planted book section within it. There are also links to my plant primers, and also sections on various families of fish, many of which would be suitable for a planted community tank.
And welcome to AC, by the way :)

Dave

[donvichu]

that'll be great...I had one of my 10G planted for a month before introducing fishes in to it....its fun...and welcome to the community

[christine hall]

Hi.
thanks for your helpful reply, another question>> leaving the aquarium just with the Plants, do I still have to change 20% of the water weekly??
also, how often do I feed the plants.

thanks.
christine

[Dave66]

Hi.
thanks for your helpful reply, another question>> leaving the aquarium just with the Plants, do I still have to change 20% of the water weekly??
also, how often do I feed the plants.

thanks.
christine

Ms. Hall,
Yes, you do have to change 20 percent weekly to replace electrolytes that the plants, and future fish, need.
As for feeding, that depends greatly on the pH and hardness of your tank, plus the makeup of your substrate and your lighting. For example, the pH in my planted aquaria is 6.8, and the general hardness is 4, which is very soft. My substrates are very nutrient rich, and the full spectrum lighting is very bright, over 4 watts per gallon. There are also 30 ppm Co2 via pressurized systems.
Thus, all I use to fertilize is a half-dose of Flourish daily per aquarium.
People with different pH and hardness levels, different substrates, different lighting and with or without Co2, usually have to use a plethora of fertilizers with their tanks to get proper plant growth.
PM me and I'll explain things more fully.

Dave