# New to planted tanks, need guidance.



## richard brown (4 Apr 2016)

Ok so I have a rekord 600 64l tank with a 15w t8 6500k tube.

I am currently using tetra complete substrate with tetra active substrate.

I dose TNC complete once a week with a dose of 6ml (1ml per 10l of water) and tnc carbo once a day (2ml daily)

I have roughly 8 tnc root tabs spread around the substrate also.

PH is 6.8, GH is 8.

Will all of this work ok with most easy plants as listed by tropica?

Can anyone advise what plants etc would do well in these conditions.


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## richard brown (4 Apr 2016)

I forgot to mention I already have plants in the tank, the plants I have are:

Dwarf hair grass (attempting to carpet)
Cryptocoryne Willsii (hortilab)
Anubias golden nana (doing ok)
Hygrophila polysperma 'Rosanervig' (nice pink tips to the plant, seems to be doing ok)
Echinodorus Tricolor (new in tank 2 days ago, so far so good)
Hygrophila Siamensis 53B (melted, I did trim it a bit much in the first week though)


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## wijnands (4 Apr 2016)

I've used this tank for a long time. Low light and the spread of the light is also an issue.  I got some reflective polycarbonate from the hobby shop and lined the hood with it which helped some. 
Even then I had the most success with low light plants.  Anubias did amazingly well  as did Hygrophilia.  In the center of the tank pogestemon helferi did very nicely. After some struggles I also got a smaller crypt to do well.


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## richard brown (4 Apr 2016)

I have got the juwel reflector fitted, thinking of buying this: http://www.aquariumgardens.co.uk/t5-aquarium-lighting-60cm---two-tubes-370-p.asp later this year.

I forgot to say I have some christmas moss in there too that is surviving but is not exactly growing much and has brown patches.

The siamensis 53B was in the back left of the aquarium so that could explain why it did not do well, the other hygro is more central.

Edit: If I got that light, re-did the substrate using tropica aquarium soil powder, add the plugs as I add the substrate instead of after and keep using the tnc ferts and liquid carbon will I be able to grow most plants apart from vali?


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## wijnands (4 Apr 2016)

I've found that in these setups it's not necessarily nutrients but mainly light that's the issue. I did this on ordinary gravel and a thin layer of tetra soil under it. Bit of general purpose mix weekly and easy carbo:


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## richard brown (4 Apr 2016)

Thats very nice and I am jeleous now ^^ lol

If I am honest apart from the moss the plants I have are doing ok now, just felt I had to be doing something wrong for the hygro to melt.


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## wijnands (4 Apr 2016)

I think you have to be realistic. It's a very basic tank and, at least that's my impression,  you seem to be a beginner. It's unrealistic to expect the stunning high energy landscapes some people here show us.

It is perfectly possible to do a nicely planted tank or a biotope in one of these but award winning aquascapes require more equipment


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## alto (4 Apr 2016)

richard brown said:


> If I got that light, re-did the substrate using tropica aquarium soil powder, add the plugs as I add the substrate instead of after and keep using the tnc ferts and liquid carbon will I be able to grow most plants apart from vali?



"most" plants do better with compressed gas CO2 rather than the liquid carbon (which is really just a small organic molecule with a "reactive" site) - the latter is taken up by plants through a very different mechanism than CO2, while some plants are quite good at utilizing this as a carbon source, others just don't.

If you add considerable amounts of hardscape you may find that flow is an issue ... if you begin upgrading everything, investment will be significant so consider if you want to just plan on a complete new system or make the Rekord work 

This is an older journal from Troi    Low-tech aquarium 

If you put "Rekord" into _Search_ over in Journals, then select "Search this forum only" & "Display results as thread" you'll get back a reasonable # of "Hits" to go through


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## richard brown (4 Apr 2016)

I cannot replace the tank outright, also gas co2 is a no option as I have a very curious 3 year old in same room most days.

I will stick with what tropica describe as easy plants, get the light and make do best I can, hopefully this will help the grass carpet at least.

I am also sold on getting the finer aqua soil from tropica later this year and will do a rescape then, I do not have alot of hardscape in the tank but what there is is fairly low down, will try to get a pic up at some point.


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## richard brown (4 Apr 2016)

Thats how it looked before lights out tonight.


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## Aqua360 (5 Apr 2016)

the plants i have found easiest include types of bacopa, anubias, pogostemon helferi, lobelia cardinalis, and ludwigia palustris. These offer a nice mix and match of shapes and colours, I'm also very new to planted tanks btw


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## richard powell (5 Apr 2016)

richard brown said:


> I cannot replace the tank outright, also gas co2 is a no option as I have a very curious 3 year old in same room most days.



I have a 2 year old n a 5 year old mate I have a high tech pressurised co2 system I simply put a lock on my cabinet doors my son n daughter can't get anywhere near it, 

don't no if this will help you just thought I'd mention it to you


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## Jake101 (5 Apr 2016)

Some of Tropica's easy category plants need "medium" co2 levels, according to their own labelling. Nevertheless, there are examples here of non-co2 / non-excel tanks with these plants thriving. Success depends naturally on many factors, but if you use Tropica's labelling as your reference, then I would recommend choosing plants requiring low light and low co2.


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## john dory (5 Apr 2016)

Maybe make use of natural light.


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## richard brown (6 Apr 2016)

john dory said:


> Maybe make use of natural light.



How so?


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## john dory (6 Apr 2016)

Put the tank in a place that gets lots of sunlight


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## richard brown (6 Apr 2016)

would that not cause excess algae growth?


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## john dory (6 Apr 2016)

Dunno.
Just an idea really.
One of my tanks is in a West facing room,and gets the evening sun shining directly at it (if no one is around to draw the curtains)and is algae free.


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## richard brown (6 Apr 2016)

I have just ordered the lighting unit I posted earlier in the thread, I am still going to stick to undemanding plants though, until I learn alot more at least.


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## john dory (6 Apr 2016)

That sounds like a good idea.
Have fun.


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## richard brown (6 Apr 2016)

Heres a question, should I remove the green nitrate sponge?

I am feeding nitrate to the plants and this sponges job seems to be gobbling it up.


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## john dory (6 Apr 2016)

I hav'nt


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## richard brown (6 Apr 2016)

you see where I am coming from though don't you?


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## john dory (6 Apr 2016)

I do....yes.
But I did'not know it was a nitrate sponge tbh


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## richard brown (6 Apr 2016)

http://www.juwel-aquarium.co.uk/out/media/en/Rekord_600.pdf

page 4

I am going to do some more research and make a phone call or 2 with a view to removing it during water change on monday.


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## john dory (6 Apr 2016)

I don't know about that mate.


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## john dory (6 Apr 2016)

You can chill with a low tech.


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