New to plants....LOTS of questions

[carrieann]

Hello all, I am going to set up an apisto breeding tank within the next month. It is a 20 gallon and I am planning on stocking it with a duo or trio of viejita's and some other fish (have not decided yet-not that far in the planning). I'm going to make it a planted tank and since I have never even attempted one single live plant in the history of my aquaria-mania (I keep oscars) I really have no idea what to do. Here are my questions:

I am going to cycle the tank with one of the AquaClear 500 filters on my oscar tank. I will have one sponge in it with peat on top of the sponge. Just using the AC until I order and recieve the filter that will be on the tank permenantly. Would an AC200 or AC300 be ok? I have been told on other forums to use only cannisters for plants and using peat, but I just can't afford a decent one at this time.

How long after cycling should I add the plants? What should the water params be? Do different plants require different params? And should I do anything to the plants before adding them to the tank?

How long after adding the plants should I add the fish. I think that I will probably wait a week or two before adding any fish, just to make sure that the plants are ok and that they have time to get established, etc. Does that sound good?

Trimming. How do you trim? When should you trim? and How much do you trim at a time?

And finally: how often should i replace the peat in the filter? Has anyone buried peat in their gravel? What were the results? Worth the fuss?

Sorry for so many questions. I just want to have all my bases covered before I start throwing plants in the tank and holding my breath.

Thanks for being patient with me, I appreciate it!

--Carrie

 

[Christine-FishGrrl]

I am just getting into Apisto's but have been doing planted aquariums for quite some time. To do well, plants need three things in this order: light, Carbon Dioxide (CO2), and nutrients. You want to keep these three in good balance or you'll have algae like crazy. For example, if you put in high light (3-4 watts per gallon) with no CO2, the plants will be limited by the CO2 and not be able to grow well - leaving the algae to grow well.

Decide what you are willing to spend and what you are looking for. A high light setup will require 3-4 watts per gallon, a pressurized CO2 system and the addition of nutrients a couple times a week. Moderate light setup will require 2-2.5 watts per gallon and either pressurized or DIY CO2 (2 liter soda bottle filled with sugar, water, baking soda and yeast replaced every few weeks), and may not require additional nutrients depending on tap water quality and fish load. Low light setups is the easiest/cheapest with 1-1.5 watts per gallon, no CO2 or DIY CO2, and probably no nutrients added.

High light setups have incredibly fast lush growth but high maintenance levels and can crash if things go out of whack. Moderate light setups can be very lush altho the growth won't be as fast but maintenance is much easier. Most plants you will find will grow just fine in both of these setups. Low light setups are a little trickier as you have to choose your plants carefully, but maintenance is a breeze.

I would recommend that you use something that adds nutrients to the substrate. Either use Flourite (a substrate that has iron in it), or add laterite to gravel. Some people use peat and/or clay soil under their substrate but I wouldn't recommend that to a beginner as they can have serious drawbacks. I also recommend algae eaters such as shrimp, or catfish like cory's or otocinclus (my favorite). Don't get Chinese Algae Eaters which really aren't algae eaters.

I had a small tank that was a low light plant tank for a looong time. It was packed with Anubias, Crypts, java moss and java fern and they grew really nicely. I have really hard water so they got the trace minerals from water changes, and nitrates from fish poop. My display tank is a 25 gallon long, moderate light tank with just over 2 watts per gallon and 2 DIY CO2 bottles with a small CO2 reactor. I have several stem plant types, Anubiases, crypts, java fern, micro tennelus and java moss. I am getting a lot of growth on my stem plants and a little pearling in the evening. The most expensive part on my tank was the lighting since most standard hoods only come with a tiny bit of lighting. I think it was about $70.00 plus the cost of the plant bulbs.

Here's how to cycle a new tank: if the tank is new from the store, let it run a couple days to get rid of any residues. If not, plant the plants before completely filled with water. After a day or two, add your algae eaters. After a week if your water tests come out okay, slowly start adding fish. This method should mean algae doesn't get a chance to start and you may only notice a small spike of ammonia/nitrite.

Trimming is at your discretion - artistic appeal versus laziness amount. Of course, you may want things more overgrown during breeding (good hiding spaces) or you may want to fiddle with sculpting a perfect aquascape. Plant selection should be easy as most plants you'll find like the parameters we give apistos unless the pH or the GH is extremely low (my plants grow fine at pH 6 and KH 3, I haven't tested my GH recently). Valisneria is an exception as it prefers harder water.

Good luck, sounds like it will be a great tank.