Tell me what to do to make planted tank on the cheap

[rgh69]

Like the title says, I want to make a planted tank as cheap as possible. I already have 3 reef tanks so if I spend much more mony, my wife will kill me. I have some used equipment listed below. I am hoping y'all can tell me how you would proceed step by step (I am a planted tank noob).

Oceanic 75G Tank and stand.
Emperor 40 Hang on filter
Eheim 2213 canister filter

Thats really it at this time.

[IvanSanchez]

You can go low light which would be decent lights and water. (Seachem Excel would be a consideration)

Java ferns, Anubias, Crypt wendtii(green or red), Red tiger lotus would be awesome! Amazon swords.

Substrate is your choice. There are quite a few plant substrates out there. (Flourish, carribsea, ada etc. )

You can go root tabs or Flourish excel. your Choice.

You'd want around 2wpg of light. That would be a good amount for several plants. (T5HO, DIY leds or CFL)

uhmmm.... That would do it. In my low tech tank (1.8WPG) I grow java fern, wendtii red, rotala indica with out a problem. It's all slow growth though :)

[rgh69]

Well after looking around at different substrates and their prices I am thinking about going with this.... http://www.aquariumplants.com/Freshw...trate_p/ss.htm

I am thinking the 5 gallon bucket should be good. Does this product look good? Then I will get some of the plants listed above after the substrate and water are in. I am starting a company that is making LED lighting for Aquariums. So that lighting should be ready mid to late July. Until then I will use some PC's that I have laying around.

[kevin_4u2nv]

substrates looks expensive in the site. I have see people are sucessful in using root tab with pool filter sand. If you are thinking of low tech planted tank then i would go for root tabs. If you get a good substrates then you need good light and CO2. I tried DIY co2 but the plants looks happy when I'm using pressurized co2.

For a cheap Plant Tank I would go for root Tab, Pool filter sand and some big rock with driftwood. Do not miss to put some Moss. I love all the moss.

[davemonkey]

That substrate is excellent for planted tanks. It is basically "Soil Master Select" or the equivalent. It is very light weight, which allows excellent root growth, but it also is easily disturbed due to its light weight.

Since it is a baked-clay product, it is inert and will have no nutrients in it, meaning you do NOT need good light and CO2 just because of the substrate. The only substrate that would make CO2 needed is the ADA due to the ammonia it releases in the first few months of its life (which feeds the plants).

If you do go with the aquariumplants.com substrate, I still recommend root tabs for the plants unless you plan on adding ferts to the water column.

Another method of doing planted tanks on the cheap is called "El Natural". You can find info on that at aquaticplantcentral.com in the section titled "El Natural".

[Rock]

I started with a similar setup. I had old gravel substrate, it cam with the tank, the tank and everything had been sitting unused for a few years.
75 gallon tank, an old magnum 350 canister filter, and an under gravel filter with two power heads. For lighting i was using a 2 strip t-8 shop light from Lowe's.
I put one power glow and one aqua glow light in it and did really well with amazon swords, java fern, java moss.
I used some plant food tabs from the start and eventually started adding flourish excel and potassium. I had roughly 30 to 40 fish in this tank + shrimp, very little maintenance was required. I kept this tank setup for about a year and had good growth.

I have read and heard a lot about the pool filter sand and if you like the way it looks you should defenestrate go with it, especially if you are going to get any fish that like to root around in the substrate.

for algae control i would recomend a couple bushy nosed pleco's

[Tek]

I have had anacharis grow in a covered bucket that was forgotten for a week. Amazon swords can grow in varied light, it depends on what look you prefer. It can either grow really tall, or in a short thick Rosette. I like the tall broader leaves so I prefer the lower light.

I grew Amazon Swords, Anacharis, Crypts and Java Fern. I used a small grain gravel (some will tell you that Amazons don't do well in gravel, but they grew for me for years in gravel). The tank was overstocked with amazon fish so I rarely used ferts. It was a 65 Gallon tall tank and I had about 6 angels, 4 Emerald Corys, 4 Juli Corys, 6 albino corys, about 20 Serpae Tetra, 10 Bleeding heart Corys, a ton of shrimp, and 8 hi fin tetras.

The plants produced a hella lot of bubbles so my airstone was usually turned off. It was so pretty watching a stream of bubbles coming from the plants. I fed the fish twice a day and had 2wpg for 8 hrs a day and 1 wpg for two more hrs a day, just to give the room light and to see the fish.

I unfortunately lost my tank when my dad and his monsters f'ed it up last year when I was moving. As soon as I move again to a bigger place my Amazon tank is going back up. I miss my angels :( They would run up to the front everytime I came into the room :( :(