I'm Attempting a Planted Tank

[Fish from Philly]

Tank looks good! Since you already have the juvies, I really wouldn't add more plants in yet. The timing can always be adjusted and will depend on the amount of nutrients and plants you have. If you get too much algae, then lights are on too long. At 10 hours, you should be fine but adjust as needed. White Worm said get lights in the 5K-10K spectrum - you actually NEED 6K-8K to grow the plants. Before you go and buy them, see if you existing light works.

[camuth8]

Thanks. I will do that!

[du3ce]

i would remove your background it will look weird with plants in the tank

[White Worm]

I've always liked a solid black background with the planted tank. It really makes the plants pop in the light.

[camuth8]

I've always liked a solid black background with the planted tank. It really makes the plants pop in the light.

The main reason I have it is because it's not a dark color and I have 2 pigeon-based fish and I'm not wanting them to pepper much. I may remove it though and just leave it plain.

[White Worm]

tank.jpgI think the lighting in a planted tank makes up for the dark background but this is in a heavily planted tank where you can see just a bit of the background through the plants.

[camuth8]

I'm not planning on doing a tank with a bunch of tall plants in the back. Maybe a few, but not enough to cover up the entire background. The other side of the poster though has a planted background. Would that work? Or should I keep it like it is?

[camuth8]

Okay, I found out the type of lights I have. I have 2 lights, I'm pretty sure they're both 24 watts. Are there not enough watts in these lights? Should I get new ones? Or are they okay?

[Fish from Philly]

Caleb - Lights are probably OK but would be considered a low light tank (rough estimate is take gallons and divide by wattage - you have nearly 1 watt per gallon). I think you will have issues growing certain plants that you named but you already bought them so time will tell. For future, again, I would consider only doing minor planting as your discus are still growing.

[camuth8]

Okay. I'm not going to be adding any big things until they're bigger(4-5"). I might add some Java Moss or a few Baby Tears, but I'm not going to go crazy.

[Fish from Philly]

Your fish will grow based on how much you feed and maintain water quality. You will want to siphon out the fish poop and leftover food in order to get them to grow larger. The discus are in critical growth stage when under 5" so if you don't maintain that water quality, they will not grow to be the 7"+ fish you see in pretty pics. Some are OK with that but most just don't realize growing out discus in a planted tank is super hard.

Not sure how many more times I can reiterate Caleb...do research on plants before putting them into your tank and stop putting more into the tank! If it says you need high light, CO2, and/or ferts and you don't have those, you should not put them in. Baby tears are probably one of the most demanding plants out there...
Baby Tears - http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p...79&pcatid=2679

[camuth8]

Okay, thanks. I'm not going to be putting any plants in any time soon. I'll just try to keep my water quality good and update in a few weeks or so.

[Fish from Philly]

Caleb - I look forward to seeing the progress! I am also fairly new at fish keeping and discus keeping and want to convey my experiences to you so that you don't make same mistakes. Just remember, this should be a hobby for fun but it takes patience to have planted tanks, especially with delicate fish like discus.

[camuth8]

Caleb - I look forward to seeing the progress! I am also fairly new at fish keeping and discus keeping and want to convey my experiences to you so that you don't make same mistakes. Just remember, this should be a hobby for fun but it takes patience to have planted tanks, especially with delicate fish like discus.

Thank you! I will remember your advice!

[camuth8]

So I'm leaving on a trip tonight and I have a question that I don't think I've seen asked before. Will the plants be fine for long periods of time with the lights off? Not a biggie, but I'm just kinda wondering what happens.