Planting a tank advice needed

[Fishkeeper19]

So i love the way plants look in an aquarium and i love how it makes an aquarium that much more amazing and natural. However i am not the best at aquarium plants. So i really want to get a congo puffer and have a natural lush green forest for it to hide in. Of course it'll dig so i need help with figuring out how we can avoid him uprooting roots. And if i can't plant the puffer tank lol i still need the advice for my 200g and possibly my 75g if i have the room to set it up. Anyways, i also like the look of sand and when i watch all these videos on youtube and read all these threads on the internet of people just keeping plants in sand i'm not sure if they are adding co2 or adding other chemicals so i get confused. So I would like to know how to make a nice planted tank that will thrive in sand. I am not sure about lighting, other substrate (like adding stuff under the sand), adding chemicals, and the number 1 thing i am confused on is c02. I keep hearing that you need it then i hear that you dont need it etc..., Ik that this is a lot (at least it is to me don't really know about you experts lol) thanks for any advice at all :)

[JAYGEE]

It gets easier as you go, I cant answer most of your questions because I am still learning as well and I wouldnt want to give you bad advice. My lighting is what is hurting my plants the most, and need to upgrade, but since I am planning on going Salt Water soon Im not going to bother.

I run co2 and root tabs and my plants seem to be doing ok.

[mnemenoi]

It is a complicated question, I will try and answer them all when I get a bit more time and give some recommendations for your specific tank as well. We keep a puffer in a planted tank and can offer some specific advice.

[Fishkeeper19]

yeah srry lol i wrote this when i was up too late lol. Theres basically 1 main question. What are the steps to making a lush green tank with sand?

[wesleh]

Most low tech plants I believe should do fine in stand but the experts will chime in soon as I am still learning as well!

[Chester]

Well honestly you can almost grow anything in sand if you use root tabs to help supplement the nutritional needs of the plants specially with plants that are root feeders. Oh and get good lights.

[Fishkeeper19]

what kinda of lights? lol thats ususally a big problem i am running into lol i am just using the lights the tank came with.

[mistahoo]

Main key tips for lush plants in any substrate:

Light
CO2
Fertilizer

It doesn't matter what substrate you have. If you have these three key components (and of course water if you want to get technical), you will have lush colorful plants.

[mistahoo]

what kinda of lights? lol thats ususally a big problem i am running into lol i am just using the lights the tank came with.

Lights depends on how much work you want to put in. You can use high light on low light plants, but as light increases, CO2 and nutrient demand will increase.

[Fishkeeper19]

so could i be able do just put sand down and where ever i put the plants put like tablets of some sort? would that be good enough for some plants? Keep in mind i'm going to try and start out with easy plants like Java fern etc.., I'd like to also stay away from the co2 stuff for now. If i have to i'll go into it now, but i am just really scared that i'll do something wrong with the co2 and over dose a tank or something and kill the fish.

[mistahoo]

Easiest way to acclimate yourself to CO2 is to do a tank with no fauna (livestock) and just keep flora (plants). It's actually not that hard to maintain and easier than what most people make it seem like.

[Fishkeeper19]

oh so what i'm thinking so far is putting some simple plants (like java fern, driftwood w/ java moss/other moss on it) with sand and put root tablets (whichever ones are recommended from you guys) under the area where plants are. Also using c02 (gonna need more info on like how much per gallon, where to get it, how to maintain it etc...,) and also was wondering if a 8,000 full spectrum daylight 15w 120v T8 18" bulb will be able to sustain the plants in a 20g high?

[mistahoo]

Scrap the t8. In deeper tanks, they're just horrid. Go T5 or LEDs

Sent from my spaceship using Tapatalk 2.

[Roshan8768]

I have sand in my 20H, and I went with the GLO T5HO 2x24 watt fixture. I don't run CO2 and I don't dose. Just root tabs for the heavy feeders.





I would start with some java moss, java fern, and anubias. Have a sword or a tiger lotus (the plant in the center in the first pic), some vals, and some cabomba or something similar to start with. Just make sure you have a lot of plants in the beginning or you'll have some major algae issues