# getting started with planted tanks



## biofish (Jan 4, 2007)

I want to start my first planted tank. I'm a beginner. I've been looking at some of the stuff here and they are very impressive... what do I need to do differently to keep the plants at their best? What type of Plant fertilizer? What substrates do you suggest, because I've read up on countless mixes. What about the water conditions... I'm sort of assuming that if I match plants to the ecosystems of the fish I have in my tank and adjust the water conditions to the fish then the plants should be healthy... am I wrong?

I've been reading up on DIY CO2, and need some suggestions on what is the best way to attach the tubing to the cap of my pop bottle? Are there any special adhesives I can use? I was thinking of perhaps going with a premade canister... like the one here: http://www.petsmart.com/global/prod...=0&Ntt=CO2&In=All&previousText=CO2&N=2#detail
unless I get some suggestions that will work well. What type of lighting do you suggest? Right now I'm going to start off with a 10g planted with no fish, just so I can get the hang of things. I want to have it brightly lit... so that i dont limit myself. What type of lighting? So many decisions. I'm thinking compact fluorescents? And i've read that even if you have the right WPG that the intensity might not be enough... especially on smaller setups. Any suggestions on upping the intensity if I run into this problem?

sorry its a lot of questions for one post... im such a newb.


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## JamesG (Feb 27, 2007)

First off I am sorry that I don't have time to answer all of your questions at the moment but I can tell you from experience that the CO2 kit you are looking at is a good buy, although not from petsmart. I got mine at Menagerie (Parliment & carlton/wellesly) for much less than that as I recall. Also with these you can easily get a lot of life out of a single pouch of the yeast if you simply save some of the old solution to 'seed' the new solution with yeast, provided you don't let it run so long that the culture dies out. Also the canister and the bubble ladder work quite well and are good quality. Basically I've used this setup on my 20g for over a month now and I am quite pleased with the added boost to growth it provides. 

PM me if you need. I am not the most avid post re-checker.


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## Zebrapl3co (Mar 29, 2006)

For a beginner, a good tank to start with would be a Hagen Waterhome 5 gallon.
It has a builtin filter and pc light inside the hood. Just add water, heater and gravel, and you can start planting. It's built-in light is enough to grow most of the carpet plants. The only down side is that you can't grow larger plants in there.
Forget the multi layer gravels for now. Just get a bag of Seachem flourite. Lightly rinse it first. It's just harden clay, if you rinse it hard, you'll end up grinding the clay to dust. It'll be cloudy for a few days, but thing will eventually settle.
You'll need a 25W or 50W heater.
As for fertilizers, start with Seachem Flourish Excel. Just becareful as this doesn't go well with shrimps.

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