# New to planted tanks



## Huckleberry Hound (Mar 9, 2016)

Im setting up a 15 gal. breeder tank with hopefully lots of live plants, what i need to know is what is the best substrate to use, and how much fertilizer do i need to add each week :|


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## Summer (Oct 3, 2011)

What types of plants do you intend to keep, what level of lighting, and will you have co2?


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

In general, most people do well with a generic plant-specific substrate like FloraMax, Fluorite, or Eco Complete, available at most pet stores like PetsMart or PetCo. If you'd like to go more exotic, there are some Aqua Design Amano products (ADA) such as ADA AquaSoil or, if you plan to keep shrimp, ADA Shrimp Stratum. These have added fertilizers and, as such, once you've added the substrate and the plants, you'll have to let the tank run for a few weeks with frequent water changes until some of the nutrients in the surface layer of the substrate have leeched out into the water column and the concentrations become low enough that your critters won't suffer any ill effects.

As far as fertilizers for the water column, and the fact that your tank is only 15 gallons, you should be able to get away with a generic liquid fertilizer like SeaChem Fluorite Comprehensive, SeaChem Prime, or API LeafZone. Here's the sneaky one - carbon dioxide. You can either inject carbon dioxide into the water using a DIY yeast-fermentation setup, paintball CO2 setup, or full pressurized system. Alternatively, you can buy some SeaChem Fluorite Excel (liquid CO2 supplement) and dose the tank on the regular. As far as dosages for all of these things, you'll need to consult the directions on the bottles themselves, or consult literature at the company's website.

Let me know if you have any additional questions, or want some links to various CO2 setup threads. Hope this helps!


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## SueD (Aug 4, 2012)

Just a couple of corrections to Gizmo's post. The products mentioned should say Seachem Flourish (not Flourite) Excel, or Flourish Comprehensive. Also, Seachem Prime is not a fertilizer - it is a water conditioner/dechlorinator. 

For substrates, I've used CaribSea's Eco Complete in a few tanks and CaribSea's Super Natural sands in a couple of tanks. The sands I've used are tahitian moon and sunset gold. If you want something a little less expensive, many people have used pool filter sand with great results.

I don't use any fertilizers as my plants do well without them. If you do use something, I would suggest to use sparingly, at least in the beginning. Below is a pic of one of my 20 longs with CaribSea Instant aquarium substrate and a FugeRay LED light. (Excuse the low water level) When I started this tank, I used some root tabs and Flourish Comprehensive. But I had problems with lots of hair algae and ended up ripping out the affected plants and replacing them. I also stopped adding anything to the tank. Growth has been really good since then.


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## welok (Jul 20, 2015)

One thing I'll add to this is that Plants need fertilizer. However, you don't necessarily have to add fertilizers. You have to cycle the tank so you get the beneficial bacteria (BB) needed to maintain the tank. You can do this before or after adding plants, though my recommendation is always before. Once cycled, add plants and some sort of fish, depending on what your preferences are. Plants produce waste, BB converts that into fertilizer for the plants, and the plants remove the fertilizer to make the water safe for fish. 

Doing a planted with fish tank removes the need for over the counter fertilizers (though sometimes you still might need CO2, depending on the plants chosen), as well as cuts down on (but never removes the need for) the water changes necessary, as now you don't have to do them to control Nitrate levels, only to replenish the minerals in the water that the fish absorb. 

All that being said, I have actually taken an over-populated tank, removed the fry that were in it, but very little of the water as the nitrates were through the roof, and used that (since it was already cycled) as my planted tank. The waste from having 350 crayfish fry in a 10 gallon tank continued to add to the Nitrogen Cycle well into the month it took to add any more fish to the tank, and the plants have really taken off, more than doubling in length over those 2 months such that they are now at the top of the water, instead of the 1/3 height that I put them in at in mid January. Now, there are 3 baby albino Bristle Nose, about a dozen ghost shrimp from the pond, and 4 dwarf crays that are plant safe, and everyone is happy, the levels are completely stable, etc.


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