# New to the hobby..need some advice



## Islander (Feb 19, 2015)

Hi,

I am thinking of getting into this hobby and I need some advice on some of the things I will need.

I am thinking of starting off with a 5 or 8 gallon tank and I was wondering which tanks would be recommended to beginners? Also, I would like the aquarium to be a fresh water planted type, so I plan on putting a few plants and moss in the tank with driftwood and a few stones. Any recommendations on substrates, CO2 systems, maintenance equipment/supplies that I will need?

In addition to the advice on starting up with a new tank. Here are other questions I have.

1. Do planted tanks require more on going maintenance than regular tanks with artificial gravel and plants?

2. How long does the substrate last? I have heard that some planted tanks can last for years without having to replace the substrate, is this true?

3. Do planted tanks require an addition system for supplying oxygen into the water, or will the oxygen generated by the plants be sufficient?

4. How often you need to clean a planted aquarium?

I have many other questions but an answer to these will suffice for now.


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## shoopuf1 (Jul 27, 2013)

Islander said:


> Hi,
> 
> I am thinking of getting into this hobby and I need some advice on some of the things I will need.
> 
> I am thinking of starting off with a 5 or 8 gallon tank and I was wondering which tanks would be recommended to beginners? Also, I would like the aquarium to be a fresh water planted type, so I plan on putting a few plants and moss in the tank with driftwood and a few stones. Any recommendations on substrates, CO2 systems, maintenance equipment/supplies that I will need?


Since you're thinking of getting into the hobby, I would suggest finding a cheap tank in the size you want. What will drive everything else in your questions above are what types of plants you plan on growing. It appears you are looking at mosses, so my suggestion would be to go with a low light, low tech setup. Growth may be slow, but it really is low maintenance.



> In addition to the advice on starting up with a new tank. Here are other questions I have.
> 
> 1. Do planted tanks require more on going maintenance than regular tanks with artificial gravel and plants?


Yes & no. They just have slightly different considerations if you go for higher rates of growth. If you go with a low light setup, then it's about the same, just do your weekly water changes.



> 2. How long does the substrate last? I have heard that some planted tanks can last for years without having to replace the substrate, is this true?


Usually about a year at the most, at that point the pH buffering and any fertilization qualities are gone and you're using root tabs for any root feeding plants.


> 3. Do planted tanks require an addition system for supplying oxygen into the water, or will the oxygen generated by the plants be sufficient?
> 
> 4. How often you need to clean a planted aquarium?
> 
> I have many other questions but an answer to these will suffice for now.


Depends on the fish load in the tank for oxygen. As for cleaning? It depends on many factors.

My suggestion would be to keep reading up on the hobby. There are a number of websites that focus primarily on planted tanks, feel free to pm me for some more information.


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## Islander (Feb 19, 2015)

Thanks for the reply! I will do some more reading.


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

Islander said:


> Any recommendations on substrates, CO2 systems, maintenance equipment/supplies that I will need?
> 
> 1. Do planted tanks require more on going maintenance than regular tanks with artificial gravel and plants?
> 
> ...


Hello, and welcome to the forum & the hobby! It's fun for those with OCD and a God Complex like myself, haha. I love lording over my little microcosm. So let's get started on your questions:

As far as a whole-sale approach to planted tanks, I would read up on the following links:
Basics to starting a Planted Tank - The Planted Tank
General Planted Tank Maintenance - The Planted Tank

You can get away with easy stuff like Eco-Complete, Floramax, or Fluorite for a good substrate, but as stated you will need to provide additional fertilizers over time as the substrate gets tapped out. You don't need to worry about CO2 or fancy lighting if you get easy plants (look into BeamsWork LED fixtures, you can get a great one for a 10G tank for about $35 with free shipping). If you want CO2, for a small tank you can either do a yeast fermentation DIY CO2 setup, or a paintball DIY CO2 setup. Here are links to threads that cover both:
Paintball Co2 Injection DIY Setup with Tons of Photos
DIY CO2 Made Easy - DIY Aquarium Projects - Aquatic Plant Central

1. Less maintenance is required for a planted tank, actually. You can do away with the carbon in your filter (it actually strips some of the nutrients from the water which your plants need), and you don't need to vacuum the gravel. Depending on your filter, you only need to clean once every month for HOBs (hang on back) or once every 3 to 6 months for canisters. And you only need to change the media if it is falling apart.

2. Things like Fluorite, Floramax, and Eco Complete do not have much in the way of nutrients in and of themselves. What they do have is a great Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC), which allows plants to absorb nutrients more easily. Things like Laterite, Dolomite, Muriate of Potash, and simple organic potting mix soil from the hardware store are what have great fertilizing qualities. Many planted enthusiasts put some sort of fertilizer at the very bottom of their tank and cover it with a healthy dose of regular substrate, or simple stuff like kitty litter, pool filter sand, Safe-T-Sorb, or Black Diamond blasting sand. If you want to use organic potting soil, I would check out the following link to prepare it for your tank, so you don't flood your water column with lethal amounts of fertilizers:
How-To: Mineralized Soil Substrate, by Aaron Talbot - Library - Aquatic Plant Central

3. Nope. Plants and gas exchange provide plenty of O2.

4. With good root-feeding plants and a good cleanup crew of shrimp, snails, catfish, plecostimuses, snails, frogs, or any combination of the aforementioned critters, you really never need to clean the tank, aside from regular water changes to help your plants and fish.

Hope this helps! Again, welcome and I hope you have fun!


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## dhoch (Jul 14, 2014)

The best advice I can give you is to stay with at least a 10 gallon tank or more. A 20 gallon would be better because the larger the tank the less volitile the tank will be. Meaning with the smaller tanks you will have trouble keeping the water clean enough for your fish unless you plan on doing a lot of water changes. We had a 8 gallon tank to start and swore it was the biggest mistake that we ever made. We have seen a tremendous difference in our 20 gallon tank and are currently fishless cycling a 30 gallon tank.

All being said, if I had known then what I know now I would have started off with the 20 gallon tank and worked my way up from there. In the beginning with the 8 gallon tank we were changing water every day to keep the water parameters in check and make the water safe for the fish. In the 20 gallon tank, before we overpopulated it, we were changing water once a week with the weekly cleanings.


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## SueD (Aug 4, 2012)

A 20g Long tank is a great size to start with. I have Caribsea Eco Complete in some tanks and have just started a tank with Caribsea Instant Aquarium (Tahitian Moon), which is a finer sand than Eco Complete. Both have been easy to plant in, and the Eco tanks have done well - too early to tell for the new tank as I've just started planting a couple of things 2 days ago. But I really like this substrate texture so far.

I don't use CO2, but I dose Excel every few days (sometimes every day) and use Flourish once a week. I have Current Satellite+ lights on a couple of tanks and the FugeRay on another couple. Personally, I think I prefer the FugeRay. 

If you did want to start with a smaller tank, I would recommend the Fluval Spec V, which is a 5 gallon tank, filter and LED light. I've added an Aqueon 25w heater in the pump compartment. I have 2 of these tanks running and really like this for a small tank.


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