# live plant aquarium advice?



## squishy (Apr 13, 2011)

Hello everyone,
I am new to this forum and have just recently gotten into fish tanks. I wanted to start a live freshwater plant aquarium with a few small fish and African dwarf frogs (ADFs). I have been reading a couple articles on live planted tanks and am still confused so I thought I’d throw I join this forum and ask for some specific answers. I have raised gold fish and other fresh water fish before and ADFs. 

Since I am just a beginner (and I kinda have a black thumb history with gardening land plants) I was thinking of starting with something sturdy. The four I was thinking of are: Java Ferns, Anacharis, Wisteria, and Dwarf Sags.
• Is this a good combination of plants?
• How far apart should they be spaced? (u know how when you buy land plants it says like it should have 6 inches space around to grow)
• I am guessing here but the Dwarf sags and anacharis grow to resemble grass rite? Should I plant both or just 1 or the other? Which is sturdier?
• Is it better/easier to tie the Java fern to a rock? Or burry it in the gravel?
• In your opinion, how many of each do u think I should get? I don’t want to overpopulate the tank.
• Should I keep some of them in pots and put them in that way?
• Any colorful or interesting plant recommendations I could grow? (remember I have had bad luck with plants)
• Can I put bamboo in the tank? I have a few that r ugly in their vases.

I currently have an empty 30 gallon tank, it’s about 20 years old (my parents wouldn’t give me a puppy so I got goldfish). From what I read they say to put a layer of nutrient rich (fertilizer?) on the bottom and I was just going to put the colored small gravel on top. I want to get the same 50 gallon filter (the kind that hang off the side) as I have in my other tank cuz I don’t want to keep buying different brands of filters and it cleans pretty well and the filters last awhile.
• They said 3 inches deep, so should it be an inch of (fertilizer?) and 2 inches gravel? Or like some fertilizer and 3 inches gravel on top?
• Can I do it without the fertilizer layer on the bottom and just add liquid fertilizer? What kind should I use?
• Do I need an oxygen air bubble pump in the tank?

I plan on setting up the tank first, adding in the water and gravel, running the filter for a day or 2, then adding the plants, running the tank that way for 2 or 3 days and then adding in the fish. The tank will be in front of a window, just because it’s the only convenient place for me to put it right now.
• So I know I don’t have to de-chlorinate the water for the plants because it has nutrients for them, but I do need to de-chlorinate it for the fish right? So should I do that before adding in the plants, after adding in the plants? Right before I add in the fish? When????
• Is this sufficient amount of time between each step? (I just learned about cycling & that totally explains the massive death of fish that usually occur when I first get them)
• I don’t really need any CO2 pump if I have live fish in the tank rite? Especially with the species of plants I listed above?
• Do I need a specific UV light? Or can the above listed plants survive with a normal tank light? (esp. if the tank is infront of a window)
• Should I block off the back of the tank (facing the window) with one of those picture things to prevent algae growth?

The fish I was thinking of are Platies and getting some large African dwarf frogs (they don’t bother plants). I was also thinking about those shiny fish… I think they are called White Mountain cloud fish?

Out of curiosity
• They say that tap water has nutrients enough for some of these plants but I cant just add a cup of tap water to a tank with live fish rite? Would that be too much chlorine for them?

sorry for the million questions, but after reading a million articles and threads, I still wasnt satisfied with the info. please answer any of the questions u can! thank u!


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

squishy said:


> 1. Java Ferns, Anacharis, Wisteria, and Dwarf Sags.
> 2. How far apart should they be spaced? (u know how when you buy land plants it says like it should have 6 inches space around to grow)
> 3. I am guessing here but the Dwarf sags and anacharis grow to resemble grass rite? Should I plant both or just 1 or the other? Which is sturdier?
> 4. Is it better/easier to tie the Java fern to a rock? Or burry it in the gravel?
> ...


Alright, here we go. This is gonna be a long one...

1. That sounds like a great combo. I'm growing anachris, LOTS of wisteria, and some moss right now, and I can truly say I love it. If you'd like a giant hygro plant, let me know - they're pretty cool too.
2. Try and plant them as far apart as possible, but keep in mind that you'll want the taller plants in back, shorter plants up front. Try and space them off the tank walls a bit too.
3. Not entirely sure, sorry.
4. Easier to tie it to a rock with some fishing line, in my opinion. I let my riccia moss grow free-floating in the water, but that's just me.
5. There's no such thing as overpopulating with plants. They will grow and fill the space as long as there's room for their roots, and enough nutrients, light and CO2 to let them grow. For a 30G tentatively I would do a clump of java moss for each rock or driftwood bit, 4 wisteria, 6 anachris, not sure about the sag.
6. No, remove the pots, lead weights and ESPECIALLY the rock wool - it will severely screw up your tank and kill your fish (it's basically fiberglass insulation, and that stuff does bad stuff to people too).
7. Anything red would look cool, but red plants are very iron-intensive and iron overdose is the easiest way to generate an algae bloom. With that being said, most stores sell generic plant food liquid supplement (like API LeafZone), which is basically chelated iron in liquid form. My personal favorite cool plants are tiger lotus`.
8. Don't put bamboo in unless it can grow freely out of the water - it's not a plant that can be completely submerged and you will kill it that way.
9. 1" sphagnum peat moss bottom layer, soaked for 24 hours (for the hardness and alkalinity buffering), 1" play sand (washed thoroughly) or pool filter sand (because plants like fine material to get their roots into), 1" common aquarium gravel or pea gravel (washed thoroughly). You can get the peat moss, the play sand, and the pea gravel all from a hardware store and it's dirt cheap, but you'll need to do some washing and you'll be buying large bags so you'll have leftovers. I would wet the gravel and line the edges of the tank with it, then heap the layers of peat moss and sand on the glass in the open area surrounded by an edge of gravel, then pile the rest of the gravel on top. That way, it looks like your entire substrate layer is gravel. I never liked the look of moss-sand-gravel through the glass.
10. That's an awesome idea. Always go for extra filtration, and more of the same kind is best, in my opinion.
11. Whatever you do - 3 inches total. Don't do too much or you'll get buildups of anaerobic bacteria, hydrogen sulfide gas, and bad juju.
12. You can just use regular aquarium gravel if you'd like, and add supplements in the form of generic liquid plant food and root fertilizer tabs. I grew several healthy plants this way in the beginning.
13. You don't need it specifically, but I consider my air pumps as great emergency backup tools. They aerate the water (especially useful if you ever dose medications that de-oxygenate the water) and assist plants by helping diffuse CO2 into the water from the surrounding air. The process is called gas exchange, it's a really cool thing to research if you get time.
14. Cycling is vital! And no, you're not giving your tank enough time. Set everything up, plants and all, but DON'T add fish. Instead, add daily dosings of 3-5 drops of ammonia from an eye dropper and a bottle of pure unscented ammonia. Plants love ammonia (easy way for them to get nitrogen), so don't worry about them. Wait a few weeks to a month, dosing 3-5 drops of ammonia daily, and THEN add fish. If you're unsure of what's going on, buy a liquid titration test kit (API Master Freshwater Test Kits are da bomb), and test your water for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. Your tank's establishment of a nitrogen cycle will be denoted by an initial ammonia spike, then a nitrite spike as nitrosomona bacteria colonize and eat the ammonia, then a nitrate spike as nitrospira bacteria colonize and eat the nitrite. Your end goal is to have 0ppm ammonia, 0ppm nitrite, and 20-80 ppm nitrate (zero nitrate is bad if you have live plants - they need their nitrogen somehow!).
15. You need to dechlorinate your water because chlorine is toxic to fish (just like ammonia). It won't rob your water of nutrients, so don't worry about that. Add dechlorinator to any water you add to the tank BEFORE you add it to the tank. All the initial water that goes in, then any new water you add during water changes afterwards.
16. If you're going to be using an air pump, don't do a CO2 pump. Injecting CO2 is risky business and the object is to boost the CO2 levels abnormally high. Aeration with an air pump raises CO2 to the level normally achieved by the water of its own accord, and this will suffice just fine for now. I would get the hang of taking care of the basics in your aquarium before you try and tackle injected CO2, otherwise you might be biting off more than you can chew.
17. Normal light is just fine. UV lights are only needed by reptiles. Plants enjoy any light in the visible spectrum, in general.
18. Most definitely. Natural daylight is the biggest cause of algae next to iron overdose, in my experience.
19. Sounds like a great set of critters. Be careful with the platies - they are livebearers and if you're not careful they'll breed you right out of house and home. I would buy all males if possible, or else you run the risk of the females being pregnant. You can tell a male by a fin near its anus - females will have two fins, one on each side.
20. You're right. As stated above, dechlorinate any water you add to the tank. I would suggest a weekly 25% water change as the easiest way to feed your plants and keep your tank healthy and happy. I do 50% changes on my 3 tanks every week, just out of habit. Many on here will tell you that's a little much, but amongst other reasons it gives me time to get into my tanks and work with them.

Whew! Hope that covers it all. Welcome to the hobby!


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

You got some good info there that will help in the long run.
Dwarf sag will grow like grass, but will be a little taller. The Anacharis will grow as tall as you let it. Doesn't resemble grass at all. 
Red plants will need iron dosed and will take a fairly high light so you need to basically stay away from them until you get better experience in plants. If you add enough plants to cover at least 75% of the tank, you can start adding fish in a couple of days but do it slowly like one or 2 at a time.
Always use dechlorinator if your water contains chlorine and chloramines, Chloramine won't dissapate like chlorine will, even your plants won't take up chloramines to keep it from hurting your fish.

Feed your fish lightly, no more than what they can eat in a couple of minutes.

With a heavily planted tank you can get away with fewer water changes. But if you start dosing ferts you will need to do them more often to reset the parameters. I'm like Guy though and do big water changes each week, most tanks 50% but a few of them I change 90% each week, and my fry tanks get 50% every day.


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## DocPoppi (Mar 4, 2011)

Wow! I've just gotta say that was really great advise Guy


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## squishy (Apr 13, 2011)

holy cow, thank you so much Guy!! u r a very knowledgable and patient soul.... 
and thank u susan for explaining dwarf sag n Anacharis . u guys r great! I hope to start on a live plant tank in about 2 weeks and this is great advice!


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

Not a problem (though, it took me 30 minutes to respond and I was up for an hour later thinking about it, haha). Basically, keep yourself to the basics (simple plants, low tech, etc.) until you get the hang of it. THEN you can upgrade to higher tech and more demanding plants and/or fish.


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