4 replies to this topic

[aajvcad]

Hi guys.

Need some advice from planted tank experts.

I want to plant one tank. Then I want to circulate water between a bigger tank which is not planted and the planted one.

All plumbing is sorted.

Now my question is regarding planting. The purpose is to use this tank as a additional plant filter.

I don't care about it looking great as much. Would like it to be low maintenance aswell.

Wondering what substrate and plants to use?

if the nitrates are going to feed the plants do I still require expensive substrate or would a home mix do?

Got lighting sorted.

Thank you

[jjm66smokey]

Are there going to be fish (i.e. fry?) in the planted tank?

For substrate you can do I what I've used, river sand (or playsand) plus a layer of aquasoil on top and a layer of natural river gravel on top of that.

Nitrates alone won't feed the plants... there's quite a few other critical chemicals (trace minerals) so fertilser spikes and Leafzone come in handy.

As for plants, I have heaps of vallis which grows exceptionally well in hard alkaline water (for my malawis) as well as soft neutral water (my tropical planted) and seems to soak up all the nitrates and phosphates in the water.

What's going in the bigger tank ... African cichlids?  Which means you'll be buffering the water to a higher pH and keeping it hard?

Vallis, Amazon swords and java fern all seem to do OK for me in these conditions and, in my Malawi tank, I only use river sand/playsand plus some gravel for the Vallis roots to hold onto.

 

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[aajvcad]

So far there is no plan of fish in the planted tank.

The main tank will end up with feontosas or rays. Not sure just yet.

Got heaps of sand and gravel. Need to get some aqua soil.

Not to worried about hardness just yet. Because if I put fish requiring high ph all the limestone and sand will do the job. Especially with hard stirling water.

The planted tank is 1/8th of the total volume.

[scarab]

Your plant choice depends on the water hardness. There are very limited number of plants that would survive well enough and grow fast enough in hard water to even affect nitrate levels. And if you are doing alkaline / hard water fish. Do not use aquasoil. Aquasoil buffers the water soft and acidic and I don't know how your water will end up being like if there's limestone in here. You might have neutral water with off the chart carbonates / cement as the acid from the soil dissolves the limestone and releasing all carbonates.

[jjm66smokey]

Rovik's the expert on cichlids in planted tanks, he did a PCS talk on the topic so PM him and see what he suggests.