Bullet Proof Planted Tank

[Ghazanfar Ghori]

The Bullet Proof Planted Aquarium

If you’ve been in the hobby for a number of years, you’ve probably killed your share of aquarium plants. I know I have. It took me quite a bit of time to learn how to keep aquatic plants alive, and another few months to figure out how to make them thrive. This article is a summary of what I’ve learnt, and although there are many ways of setting up a planted aquarium, this is one of the simplest ways of creating the lush aquascape you desire.

Equipment needed:

·     1 20G long aquarium [30”x12”x12”]
·     1 Twin Tube fluorescent fixture 30” long. 2 x 20Watt bulbs
·     Hang on back filter
·     Seachem Flourite (2 bags)
·     Seachem Excel
·     Seachem Flourish

Let me explain why I selected the above equipment a little, so that it’s easier for you to scale if you want to setup a larger tank (who doesn’t right?).

Why a 20G Long? The dimensions are pretty good for basic aquascaping. It’s relatively cheap tank. Above all, the height is only 12”, which means you don’t have to pump in a tremendous amount of light to get results. That in turn, makes it cost effective, since lighting can be a major expense when setting up a planted aquarium.

Why a twin tube florescent? Again, it’s cheap. The amount of light that it outputs is perfect for a low maintenance, medium growth rate planted aquarium. If this is your first planted aquarium, you definitely want to stay on the medium growth rate side of things. Since the growth won’t be running at full speed, you’ll have fewer issues with nutrient deficiencies and algae. If you decide to go for a larger setup, I recommend Compact Fluorescent fixtures from Hellolights.com.

For the filtration you can go with pretty much any of the options that are available. Usually in a planted tank, especially anything larger than a 20G, CO2 needs to be supplemented. Any filter that produced a lot of surface agitation will dissipate the CO2. However, since we’re going with Flourish Excel as our carbon source, we don’t need to worry about that. Do keep this in mind when selecting a filter if you decide to scale up. I recommend Ehiem canister filters for anything larger than a 40 gallon tank.

For the substrate, we’ve selected Seachem Flourite. Although it’s a pain to rinse this out before use, it’s a good-looking substrate and provides nutrients for your plants.



The setup:

Rinse out the Fluorite in small batches. Use a colander if you can, it’ll make your life easier. Layout the substrate so that you have at least 3” towards the back, sloping down to about 2” towards the front. Two bags of Flourite should be more than enough. If you’re using any rocks or driftwood in your setup, this is the time to add them in. Its usually easier to plant rooted plants before you add any water in. Just make sure they don’t dry out while you’re planting them – a spray bottle with water works just fine. I’m going to recommend a list of easy plants that would work in this setup. There are TONS of other easy plants out there; these are just a few of them.

TIP: Planting is easier with a set of tweezers.

Foreground:
Eleocharis parvula
Marsilea crenata
Marsilea drummondii
Ranalisma rostrata
Echinodorus tenellus

Midground & Background
Micranthemum micromoides
Sagittaria subulata
Cryptocoryne wendtii
Cryptocoryne lutea
Cryptocoryne becketii
Hygrophila polysperma
Hygrophila difformis
Rotala rotundafolia
Lobelia cardinalis ‘small form’     

Epiphytes:
Anubias barteri var. nana
Anubias barteri
Anubias coffeefolia
Microsorum pteropsis (Java fern)
Vesicularia dubyana (Java moss)

Rooted plants go straight into the gravel. If it’s a rosette plant (crypts, swords fall into this category), make sure that the crown is above the gravel line. Epiphytes (like java moss, anubias, java fern) can be tied to rocks and driftwood using some fishing line. Once the plants grow and attach, you can cut the fishing line off. For stem plants/bunch plants, which come with little lead strips – cut the bunch about 1/2inch above the lead strip and plant them with tweezers, 2 –3 stems at a time. Next, fill it up with water, set the light on a timer for 10 hours and you’re ready to go. You should start dosing with Seachem Excel right from the start but give the setup about 10 days before you start with Seachem Flourish. Simply follow the instructions on the bottle.

It’s quite normal to have some form of algae or another, especially during the first few months when the tank is settling in. Algae are usually caused by an excess or deficiency of some nutrient. A few Siamese Algae eaters, Amano shrimp and Ottos will keep most of the algae at bay.