Plant People....Hello!!!

[darcy]

Hello all you plant people!!!! Thought I would finally come over and take a boo!!!! I'm thinking of setting up a planted tank and throwing in some of my fish that I don't want to breed. I tried this before and failed of course so here I am and looking forward to some good advice!!!!

I'll be back!!!!
Darcy

[Ralph]

Hi Darcy,
I think we all have failed attempts in our pasts. It is certainly not the easiest thing to do. Most of us built our knowledge on trial and error anyways, so you will fit right in.
But it is all worth it though, there is almost nothing as amazing as a well-made discus show tank.

[ronrca]

Hi Darcy!
I do not think that anyone was successful on their first or second attempt to achieve a successful planted tank! Patience and diligence is the key along with perserverance! Of course a lot of research helps however when it really comes down to it, actually doing it, experiencing it, getting your hands wet teaches you a lot more (imo)!

The above is my best advice! Secondly, setting up the tank! Very important is substrate and lighting! Without those two, you may as well not bother! Not having a good substrate means plants will not root well! Some plants are column feeders however when plants have a good root system, they do a lot better. Not having good lighting means plants will not perform good, weak growth, sickly looking and only limited to low light plants. Having the right intensity will make a world of difference.

Next, we get into the details of achieving excellant growth! This now goes into fertilization, providing the correct nutrients and C02!

Once the above is under control, it is time to plan/design/landscape the tank! This may be one of the most difficult however since your plants are growing nicely, you can change things around if you want though!

Thats it for now! I probably missed something but Im sure someone will compensate for it!

[ChloroPhil]

Darcy,

Welcome to the Dark Side.. There really is nothing better in the world for a captive fish to live in than a planted aquarium. After doing a number of planted tanks my first advice is to READ READ READ! Then, PLAN PLAN PLAN. There is nothing worse for a plant keeper than to set up a tank only to find that what you've done isn't quite right...(I've been there :-[ )

1. Read- Check out the forums at www.aquabotanic.com, and the APD at fins.actwin.com

2. Plan- Get all your hardware together and running well before putting the plants..then fish in there. Do it right the first time, and don't cut any corners it'll hurt you in the long run.

Do a careful plan of your aquascape before putting the plants in and especially before the fish are in there. Neither the plants or your fish will like the plants being moved around much.

3. Get your aquarium stable and plants growing for two weeks before putting any fish in there.


Good luck!

[dm]

Good to see you over here Darcy. We will all try to help all we can.

[darcy]

Thanks for the welcome people!!! Just what I wanted to do right now is more reading and reasearch!!!!!! Not!! I guess I will read up bit by bit and see where it leads me. I've seen some awesome planted tanks and I need one of them all for my very own!!!!

Well off to do some reading! Later!
Darcy

[dm]

The key is to plan it out first. I'm sure you will do great with it. Give us some pics when you getit finished ok??