Mon Nov 05, 2007 4:13 pm GMT   Reply      

60 gallon tank (freshwater), looking to plant and wondering what I need to get started, lights, fertilizer etc. Ideally would like a tank with significant foreground cover and some large plants for background, would also like to keep a population of 15-20 fish

Mon Nov 05, 2007 5:14 pm GMT   Reply      

I dont have a planeted tank but all I have to tell you is that you do not want to mix cichlids with planted plants, they twnd to destroy them by either eating or digging them up.

Hope it helped, Michael!

Mon Nov 05, 2007 7:02 pm GMT   Reply      

i have a planted tank however im not a pro like some of the other people on here but i can tell you that your going to need a strong light. a likght with 3 watts pergallon i think is a dependable amount.i find that 6700k bubls work good i have all ym tanks run off of powercompacts but im only 17 and cant afford stronger and better ones. also you will need a subtrate bed which will have nutrients alredy in it. i know that seachem makes a subtrate for planted tank and also other brands do the same. Many people use root tabs which are fertilizer sticks thast u put in the sandbed so the roots can absorbe nutrients. Amazon sword plants are heavey root feeders which will thrive off these fertilizer sticks. other fertalizers are liquids tha u pour into the tank. some keepers have c02 systems which pump co2 which is a need for plants into the water. there are do it your self ways to creat one if you dont feel liek spending hundreds of bucks on a co2 tank. this do it yourself ideas are good because it uses yeast, warm water and sugar to make Co2. there is one problem with planted tanks, and that is algea. if you do not keep your water leves right algea will grow and u will dislike the look of your tank and your plants will die due to insuficient nutrients.
i dont know what else there is to say hopefully a profesonal reads ur question and helps you because im only 17. but i hope what i have said helps and if u need any help just ask i may be able to answer them

Mon Nov 12, 2007 4:59 am GMT   Reply      

Hi werjack15.
A planted aquarium isn’t as bad as many think. Unfortunately you don’t give any stats except 60g (approx 230L)
At a guess I would say your tank is approx 3ft long? Given that you want ground cover also I would suggest the following:
Good substrate under gravel. (I personally use black glass gravel in my tanks for two reasons. 1. It helps in planting & 2. It also helps show the colours of the fish better.) There are many good substrates inc. tropica tetra, etc.
Aim for about 2wpg lighting. Again not knowing all the details, but if you can get 4 tubes in then split them and go for two daylight tubes and two glow tubes. Both help the plants and also help with the color of the fish. If you can only have two tubes then 1 of each tube. Lighting no more than 8-10hrs a day until you learn how the tank reacts to the lighting.
If you plan a heavy planted tank then c02 would be a must. A yeast based c02 system will NOT suffice a tank that size and would suggest an injection system.
As for plants it’s a personal choice but HC, pogostemon and hairgrass all make good low foreground plants. You will also need a good liquid test kit for checking your water stats. pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, kh, gh, and p04.

I hope this helps a little but with out all the information I cant really go any further.
You

Fri Nov 16, 2007 10:50 pm GMT   Reply      

Here's my suggestion for a beautiful planted tank at low cost. I had great results with my 60 gal tank with 4 4ft 40 watt shop flourescents(8-10 hrs per day) growing anacharis, java fern, java moss, and amason sword (that's about 1.6 watts per gal). The sword probably wanted more light, but it still stayed alive and grew. The anacharis, which comes in small(forground) and large(background and attatched to wood) sizes, and does fine with relatively low light, but I wouldn't use any less than the lighting I was using. My tank was a low cost alternative to the expensive with high output lights and or the CO2, I had a beautifull, plant filled, tank and I actually had to thin out my plants due to overcrowding as they grew, and with the proper biological cycling of fish waste I never needed any aditional fertilizer. Actually, fertilizer just grew algae when I tried to use it. Use a subtrate that is recommended for plants, and like I said, proper biological filtration can supply all the nutrients nessecary for thriving plants( I suggest using the largest Fluval type canister filter you can find; they're quiet, allow the tank to be close to the wall, and are easy to clean, and an oversized one allows you to allow more time between cleanings) Use an undergravel filter with one or two powerheads and just tear out the roots if they clog the riser tubes. Obviously, if you want to spend lots and lots of $, and you want to grow grasses and plants requiring strong light, you can go with the above replies. One note: even a 40 watt flourescent bulb should be replaced after 6-8 months due to the decline in it's quality of light over time. Here's the BREAKDOWN LIST: A 4 bulb 4ft shoplight w plant bulbs, 2 strong powerheads, 3-4 inches plant substaight, an undergravel filter, at least one peice of wood (the sinking kind for aquariums), some large anacharis for background ( roots can grow down over wood), a amazon sword for background, small (petite) anacharis for mid to forground, and java moss and java fern (both should be tied to the wood so they can have a chance to grow onto it).XXXXXX Everything but the Fluval should cost less than $200, and I would go with a 100-200 gal tank capacity canister filter ($100-$150) with different size mesh sponges on the bottom level, a lot of medium for benneficial bacteria to grow on on another, and another level for activated charcoal. When you need to do a 30% water change, use a siphon type gravel cleaner and clean all the muck out of the gravel with that. Don't worry about disturbing the roots too much. Just push the roots back in and let the water clear. If something happens and the benneficial bacteria die due to fish wast overload or use of some medications, reboot the cycle with bacteria you can buy for that purpose and almost starve your fish so the cycle can reestablish. I wanted to groe grasses and some plants which demand lots of light, so I bought a 4 ft 65x4 watt light, and that was $200 plus by itself, and I'll need to change all 4 bulbs at about $45 each every 6-8 months, and they can get hot too, and if you don't have a proper fan they will heat up the tank and can kill your fish in hours. I'd start the way I suggested, and if you want to start spending mega bucks and fighting algae infestations by getting high output lights and maybe CO2 you can just do that later. Like I said, I had a gorgious tank with cheap shoplights and had more plants than I knew what to do with in no time. Good luck! Peter

Fri Nov 30, 2007 7:02 pm GMT   Reply      

I think what I called anacharis may actually be anubis. It has really cool roots that look good on wood and has thick, hardy, football shaped leaves. It's buy far my favorite in terms of looks and low light adaptability. They cost a little more than most plants, but I think they're very worth it. Oh yea. Remember that fine grained soil can mess up under gravel filters. I've gotten away with putting a blanket of filter material around the up tubes, about six inches radius around tube under the substraight, and then putting the substraight over it. Usually it isn't the slots of the UG filter that lets the fine stuff in. It's the space around the edge of the filter plates that allows the grains to funnel in.