Newbie advice!

[SiobhanGledhill]

So I'm going to be planting up my 160l tank, I just have basic lighting and I currently already have black gravel and white gravel which im hoping to build up the back with to add depth - my question is, what plants survive well in just gravel as a substrate e.g plants that get their nutrients from the water - not the soil.

Adding onto this, do plants that get nutrients from the water need co2 added to the tank/fertilizer or are there hardy plants that just get their nutrients from fish waste with maybe a little bit added in? I had a live plant in my last tank but it survived without me adding anything extra to the tank.

 

[MichaelJ]

@SiobhanGledhill You can set up and run a successful planted tank without CO2 and just gravel - you don't have to spend money on expensive aqua soil - especially not, if you go without injecting CO2.

The main advantage with CO2 injection, IF you get it right, is that it will allow for faster growth and more challenging plant options. It's a BIG IF though, as all the posts around here about CO2 related issues shows. But I do believe it can be very rewarding, as you can tell from the Journals on this forum, where arguably the most stunning tanks are almost exclusively CO2 injected tanks.

As far as fertilizer goes, relying on food, fish and plant waste to provide enough "fertilizer" for the plants is not recommended as you will never quite know if you have enough of the necessary nutrients, and certain trace minerals you certainly won't get from fish poo or food waste. Furthermore, your going to accumulate a lot of additional waste that wont necessarily get taken up by plants. The best approach, that will also take out all the guesswork, is to use a fertilizer (NPK + trace) and do regular (weekly) water changes to get rid of waste buildup.

For a non-injected tank I would stick to the Easy Plants - Make sure you get the light intensity right - its very well worth to invest in a light where you can adjust the intensity - in a non-injected tank you should (must) keep the light intensity low. In both my heavily planted 151L tanks I use regular Eco-complete gravel and no CO2. Early on I used root tabs to get the plants started especially the heavy root feeders (such as swords - if root feeders are really even a thing...) - I stopped after a few months. It might not have been necessary to add the root tabs, as the fertilizer I was adding to the water column likely provided enough, but it certainly didn't hurt. Of course you need good flow/circulation in the tank to make sure nutrients are properly distributed. As long as you get that right and add enough fertilizer you generally do not have to worry about how the plants prefer to feed.

Welcome to UKAPS

Cheers,
Michael

 

[SiobhanGledhill]

Hi Michael,

Thank you very much for the advice! really helpful and explained in a way I can understand haha

With regards to the lighting, I have an aquatropic 160l tank with the following light - AquaTropic LED Bright White Lighting System - which has a timer so it goes off at night, how do I find a light I can change the intensity for?

Thank you!

Siobhan

 

[Kogre]

Hi @SiobhanGledhill. If you are happy with the light you have and want to experiment with different intensities and you have no electronic means of adjusting the intensity, you could also using sparse strips of electrical tape to block out some of the light. If the light is too dim and you're not happy with not being able to see enough, remove some of the tape. If it's too bright and/or you have a large algea explosion, reign in the intensity and apply more strips to block out some more light.

 

[MichaelJ]

With regards to the lighting, I have an aquatropic 160l tank with the following light - AquaTropic LED Bright White Lighting System - which has a timer so it goes off at night, how do I find a light I can change the intensity for?

Hi @SiobhanGledhill I assume it might be the 90 cm model. With an output of 10.8W it might be OK. I do not know this light and its always hard to judge based on wattage and all depends on how diffuse the light is, how far its mounted from the surface etc. You can put some semitransparent scotch tape over the LEDs to diffuse the light - or go with @Kogre advice above using waterproof electrical tape to block out some of the LEDs - I've done this myself.

As for advice for a new light you might want to ask in the Lightning section - You do not have to (should not) spend a fortune on a good light - For instance this one from Hygger LED with timer and dimmer. The good thing about this one is that the dimmer will go really low - not all of them allow that, but you may not like the discrete steps (10%,25%,50%...) for intensity. With this particular light I would probably start out at 25% just to give you an idea.

Cheers,
Michael