# Fairly new to plants



## holly12 (Apr 21, 2011)

Hello there!

I just recently put some dwarf water lettuce in my tank, along with 2 hygro plants (dwarf and giant). I use aquarium plant fertilizer once a week, (since the water lettuce was turning yellow - not enough iron in our water the LFS guy suggested). :fish10:

So, I have a few questions:

1. Is a tank considered "planted" with just a few real plants, or does it have to have a lot of them?

2. If a tank has the entire bottom covered with plants, how do you clean it? (obviously no gravel syphoning).

3. If I just have gravel as a substrate, can I have the entire tank bottom covered? (I'm not sure if just bunch plants will grow in gravel, or if I can have the entire bottom covered like a meadow).

4. If gravel will work, do I siphon it really well before I cover it with plants so food and other stuff doesn't rot under the plants?

5. Can I have the entire tank planted (whole bottom) if I have cherry shrimp, ADF's and snails... and a pleco, or do they need gravel to pick off of?

6. The LFS ppl never mentioned a CO2 system needed for plants...... do I really need one? (My hubby will roll his eyes b/c I've already spent so much already, lol)

:fish9: Lol, lots of questions! If I think of anymore, I'll ask.


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

holly12 said:


> Hello there!
> 
> I just recently put some dwarf water lettuce in my tank, along with 2 hygro plants (dwarf and giant). I use aquarium plant fertilizer once a week, (since the water lettuce was turning yellow - not enough iron in our water the LFS guy suggested). :fish10:
> 
> ...


Water lettuce does a lot better in high light. I ended up pulling it out of my tanks and putting it into the pond and it litterally covered the pond.

1. A planted tank is planted no matter how many or how little of plants you have.

2. If the tank bottom is covered in plants all you would be able to do is hover over it to get gunk off the top of the plants.

3. You could but it would take a lot of work and lots of ferts. Some plants prefer a different type of substrate than just gravel though so you would be somewhat limited to what you plant. Also most ground covers need good lighting.

4. Just vac as normal, some of the detrius will be good for the roots of plants as fertilizer..

5. You can have the entire bottom planted, but it won't stay that way with the pleco as they tend to be pretty rough on the more delicate plants.

6. Co2 isn't needed unless you have high lights over the tank, then it would be a good idea.. There are some plants that really need it though, so always research the plants to make sure it fits what you have.

Hope this helped some.


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## Justonce94 (Apr 23, 2011)

I think it's fine just to have a small amount. But whether you want alot of plants or not. It doesn't really matter.

I'm no expert so i cant really give away advice on every question haha.

But the two answers above were pretty correct about everything so yeah... hope i helped


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## holly12 (Apr 21, 2011)

I had hoped that since the water lettuce floats at the top right under the light it would be good enough.... I have a 14-15 watt light.... the LFS ppl said it was fine for the water lettuce, dwarf hygro and the giant hygro. (He said if I wanted to go with a higher wattage, I would need a whole new lighting fixture... which I don't have the money for).


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

If you can go to walmart and pick up a 2 ft shop light, it will give you better lighting that what came with the tank. I have some, only paid 13.00 and it came with bulbs.


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## holly12 (Apr 21, 2011)

So then, I would take the light off that I have, and hang the shop light over the tank? (Sorry, I'm really not good with they DIY stuff, lol).


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

You can either hang it or just set it on the tank.


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