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30 Nov 2014

Starting Your First Planted Aquarium

Posted By : Guest

Filed Under : Aquatics | Tropical Aquariums | Aquascaping

Setting up a planted aquarium may seem like a big task to start with which may put some people off, but you can make a basic planted tank very easily and the extra maintenance is worth it for a beautiful and more natural aquarium.

For a basic tank, we will start with a low-tech aquarium such as Aquael Shrimpset and Brillux tanks – leaving out CO2. This will mean that your planted aquarium will take longer to grow and you may not be able to grow certain plants, but is much easier for a beginner. You do not have to do any water testing or changes, do not have to prune your plants as much and algae growth is much slower. If you are happy to put up with a bit more hassle and want your tank to grow quicker, then we would recommend including CO2 in your planted aquarium set-up.

There are a few steps you must follow to get started with your planted aquarium. It may be worth having a rough vision of what you would like to achieve before you start to make sure you get the rights things as you go along to make your tank as beautiful as you hope! Take a look at other aquascape pictures on the internet for a bit of inspiration.

Substrate

The best place to start is the ‘foundations’ of your tank, the substrate. The substrate is the medium in which your plants will root such as soil or gravel. It is a common mistake to go for a very cheap substrate to save money, but this is not advised. It is one of the most important things to consider in your planted tank and a good quality substrate will be higher in cost, but also in payoff. Your plants will thank you!

You need a porous substrate that will provide your plants with Iron such as Flourite or Eco-Complete, and also a thin layer of peat or laterite at the base of the tank (be careful not to disturb this as it could cause algae problems). Whichever you choose, it should have a depth of around 7cm to allow your plants to grow.

Lighting

Lighting is probably the most vital step in setting up a planted tank. Everyone learnt at school that plants need light to survive and this is no different underwater! Any lighting which originally came with your tank is not actually to benefit the tank but just to view what is inside. That being said, you will have to purchase higher wattage lights so the plants can photosynthesize.

You may have heard of the ‘Watts per Gallon’ rule. This is generalised but can give you a good estimate of what you need. The ideal target for this is 1.5 wpg, never exceeding 2 wpg and can be different depending on which bulb you use. For less effective bulbs, such as spiral compact fluorescent lamps, you can increase the wpg up to about 2.25, for more effective bulbs, such as T5 tubes, the wpg should be dropped to 1-1.2. It sounds complicated but it is worth getting it right as lighting can make or break your planted aquarium. Aquael Shrimpset and Brillux aquarium kits come equipped with right lighting for plants.

It is ideal to keep the lights on for the same amount of time every day to maintain their routine.

Plants

The plants you use will depend on whether you have a tropical or freshwater tank. Make sure you purchase plants which can be planted in an aquarium from an aquatic retailer.

To begin with, you need to make sure your aquarium is covered in plants. The substrate should be 80% filled with plants at least. Buy some cheap, fast growing plants to fill in any gaps, this will help your tank get started and produce a natural cycle. Once this has happened, you can remove any unwanted plants and replace them with something you really want.

Nutrients

Aside from a good substrate and lighting, your plants will also need a good amount of nutrients to grow and thrive. If they are lacking nutrients, the leaves could turn yellow, the plants will stop growing and will look generally unhealthy – this is when algae can take over.

The plants will need a mixture of micro nutrients, macro nutrients and substrate fertilizers. Micro nutrients are not needed in a high amount but they cannot be overlooked. The most important micronutrients are iron, manganese, chlorine, copper, boron, molybdenum, cobalt and nickel. You can get these nutrients in some liquid fertilizers. For macronutrients, you need to provide nitrogen, phosphates and potassium. Be careful not to overdose macronutrients as this can not only produce algae, but also kill your fish. Finally, a lot of plants need to be fed directly at the roots with a fertilizer in the form of a tablet or stick.

Maintenance

Without CO2, the maintenance in a planted aquarium is not too strenuous. Make sure you dose with fertilizer once every 1-2 weeks and occasionally skip this to reset levels in the tank. You will need to prune the plants every now and then but the plants will not grow as quickly without CO2 so this will not be necessary very often.

Fish

After setting up your tank, you will have to leave it for 2-3 weeks before you consider adding fish. Make sure the tank is planted heavily, the plants are growing well and the levels are fine and then you can start to introduce fish to the planted aquarium.

Hopefully after following these steps, you will have a brilliant planted aquarium in your home! Please post pictures of your planted tanks to our facebook page for us to look at.