planted 125 tank help?
- Thread starter Robbiekrause33
- Start date
I once thought about doing a planted tank. A few months back I was at Aqua Imports in Boulder, and the guy (owner?) there knew his stuff, and had a huge selection of plants. He'd be a great resource. He's also willing to put together a discounted package deal. That should save you some money, at least.
I dunno...low tech planted tanks (low light, not CO2 injection) are fairly easy and low maintenance if you set things up right from the beginning. Once you get into high light systems that run CO2 injection paired with dosing of Nitrate, Phosphate, and Potassium, things can get tricky. It can be a delicate balance trying to keep algae in check by running enough CO2 without asphyxiating the fish in your system.
Most of those amazing tanks you see do run CO2 to keep that amount of healthy growth and diversity of plants. Depending on how you dose the tank...you either end up with a lot of testing on a weekly basis, or just intentionally "overdosing: the tank and doing large (50%) weekly water changes.
To the OP, check out www.plantedtank.net as a great resource to get your feet wet with the different types of systems. Decide whether you want a low maintenance tank with slow growth and low cost, or if you prefer faster growth with more diverse species in exchange for more equipment and maintenance. I had both types running simultaneously...and although my "high tech" system running off CO2 injection crashed, I was ready to ditch that setup months before since it was so much more work for (IMO) similar results. My current system uses mineralized top soil underneath a gravel bed for nutrient and CO2 supply...and I do water changes 2x a year. My other tank that crashed had me doing 50% weekly water changes and dosing multiple nutrients daily.
Most of those amazing tanks you see do run CO2 to keep that amount of healthy growth and diversity of plants. Depending on how you dose the tank...you either end up with a lot of testing on a weekly basis, or just intentionally "overdosing: the tank and doing large (50%) weekly water changes.
To the OP, check out www.plantedtank.net as a great resource to get your feet wet with the different types of systems. Decide whether you want a low maintenance tank with slow growth and low cost, or if you prefer faster growth with more diverse species in exchange for more equipment and maintenance. I had both types running simultaneously...and although my "high tech" system running off CO2 injection crashed, I was ready to ditch that setup months before since it was so much more work for (IMO) similar results. My current system uses mineralized top soil underneath a gravel bed for nutrient and CO2 supply...and I do water changes 2x a year. My other tank that crashed had me doing 50% weekly water changes and dosing multiple nutrients daily.
Start off with good substrate! I used the basic gravel that was epoxy coated and I had to dose two or three times a week! With the better substrate you don't have to dose and you get great results! I was even figuring out that "high light" plants would grow perfectly fine off of simple lighting as well... On my 90 I grew bacopa (high light requirement plant) off of one Marineland single bright led, and when I switched my tank to having high light noticed no difference in growth! But my second suggestion would be seachems planted line! Stuff works amazingly! I don't run c02 anymore and I do a water change about every 6 months and all my test results come up perfect! I really enjoyed my planted tank to the point where I moved it in to my room because of such a natural look to it.
