My First Planted Tank! Here We Go!!!

So I'm really sick and tired of fake plastic plants and I wanted to step my game up! I finally picked up an All-Glass fluorescent 48" 40W twin-tube strip light, and I'm ready to order my plants. With the majority of help from Cory and some advice from Byron over at TFK.com, this is the list we came up with!


Sweet Aquatics.com Order

Foreground
11 Sagittaria Subulata (Dwarf)
3 Cryptocoryne Parva Pot
1 Anubias Barteri var. Nana 'Petite'

Midground
2 Cryptocoryne Wendtii Green
2 Cryptocoryne Wendtii Red
2 Cryptocoryne Walkeri
2 Cryptocoryne Crispatula
1 Pennywort (Hydocotyle Leucocephyala)
1 Anubias Barteri Var. Coffeefolia - (Will be planted on driftwood)
1 Java Fern LG (MIcrosorium Pteropus) -(Will be planted on driftwood)

Background
6 Vallisneria Spiralis 'Leopard' (Italian Leopard Val)
2 x Echinodorus Bleheri (Amazon Sword) (Extra addition From Byron, to fill out the background a little more)
2 Cryptocoryne Retrospiralis
1 Crinum Calamistratum
1 Ceratopteris Thalictroides ( Water Sprite )
1 Nymphaea Stellata Bulbs (Dwarf Lily)

Driftwood
2 DIY Driftwood Kits: I selected the pre-drilled driftwood because they come with 1 free 2" potted plant. Which makes them basically the same price as the standard driftwood.

Grand Total Including S&H
$90.10

IceBerg wrote:So I'm really sick and tired of fake plastic plants and I wanted to step my game up! I finally picked up my All-Glass fluorescent 48" 40W twin-tube strip light, and I'm ready to order my plants. With the majority of help from Cory and some advice from Byron over at TFK.com, this is the list we came up with!


Sweet Aquatics.com Order

Foreground
11 Sagittaria Subulata (Dwarf)
3 Cryptocoryne Parva Pot
1 Anubias Barteri var. Nana 'Petite'

Midground
2 Cryptocoryne Wendtii Green
2 Cryptocoryne Wendtii Red
2 Cryptocoryne Walkeri
2 Cryptocoryne Crispatula
1 Pennywort (Hydocotyle Leucocephyala)
1 Anubias Barteri Var. Coffeefolia - (Will be planted on driftwood)
1 Java Fern LG (MIcrosorium Pteropus) -(Will be planted on driftwood)

Background
6 Vallisneria Spiralis 'Leopard' (Italian Leopard Val)
2 x Echinodorus Bleheri (Amazon Sword) (Extra addition From Byron, to fill out the background a little more)
2 Cryptocoryne Retrospiralis
1 Crinum Calamistratum
1 Ceratopteris Thalictroides ( Water Sprite )
1 Nymphaea Stellata Bulbs (Dwarf Lily)

Driftwood
2 DIY Driftwood Kits: I selected the pre-drilled driftwood because they come with 1 free 2" potted plant. Which makes them basically the same price as the standard driftwood.

Grand Total Including S&H
$90.10

Cant wait to see it set up.. Where did you order the plants?

Doza wrote:Cant wait to see it set up.. Where did you order the plants?

I can't wait either! I will have to borrow my brother's baby momma's digital camera! Also, I placed my order with [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

WOAH! that is allot of plants for a 55gal..... jeeeez, when it fills out your gonna have a jungle in there! lol..... great choices on plants though, i didnt know what all of them were so I looked them up on the store you were buying from, VERY NICE PICTURES!

That is a great shop I heard too, Maybe we can talk them into bein a sponsor for us if we get allot of members buyin from them. Let me know if you put in another order, maybe we can do a group buy with a bunch of people, save on shippin!

i was thinking about wanting to get plants from there as well who knows when that will be tho..>$$$.. lol


I want some of the malaysian drift wood.. Cheap prices they have for it..

Having lots of plants off the bat is the way to start from what i heard.. Leaves no room for algea growth..

Sounds like a nice start! I love Sweet Aquatics, they're great to work with. What size tank is this? Please keep us updated with pics as you get everything planted.

Digsy wrote:Sounds like a nice start! I love Sweet Aquatics, they're great to work with. What size tank is this? Please keep us updated with pics as you get everything planted.

Sorry Digsy! I forgot to add the tank size, it's a standard 55. Also I really want to post pics, but I need to get a hold of a good camera.

Good choice of plants iceberg, you have very good advisers. The most plants require low to medium light are easy to grow and are beautiful. Pennywort is more like a background plant but will grow also floating. Take care with the dwarf lily is not a dwarf plant it may take over your tank(I hope that I can find a picture to show you what I want to say). Here is the poor dwarf after I pull it out of my 75 gal:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Since you ordered plants with a large rooting system choose a substrate rich in iron or use laterite.

Do you have 2x20W or 2x40W light? If your tank is 55 gal and you have only 40W of light you may consider to add another tube. Try to use daylight tubes 6500K.

Not really necessary with your choice of plants but any plant will apreciate CO2 addition. And helps fight against BBA(knock on wood).

Have fun and welcome to plants addicted club!

flo77 wrote:Good choice of plants iceberg, you have very good advisers. The most plants require low to medium light are easy to grow and are beautiful. Pennywort is more like a background plant but will grow also floating. Take care with the dwarf lily is not a dwarf plant it may take over your tank(I hope that I can find a picture to show you what I want to say). Here is the poor dwarf after I pull it out of my 75 gal:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Since you ordered plants with a large rooting system choose a substrate rich in iron or use laterite.

Do you have 2x20W or 2x40W light? If your tank is 55 gal and you have only 40W of light you may consider to add another tube. Try to use daylight tubes 6500K.

Not really necessary with your choice of plants but any plant will apreciate CO2 addition. And helps fight against BBA(knock on wood).

Have fun and welcome to plants addicted club!

I've personally seen Flo77's tanks and plants he brings to GSAS auctions. Top notch stuff.
And as far as I know, he got 2x 40watt fixture. I tried to start him out with lots of "easy" to grow things, and once youg et that going you can work on harder plants If you ask nicely maybe flo77 will post some pics of his planted discus tank.

flo77 wrote:Good choice of plants iceberg, you have very good advisers.

Do you have 2x20W or 2x40W light? If your tank is 55 gal and you have only 40W of light you may consider to add another tube. Try to use daylight tubes 6500K.

Not really necessary with your choice of plants but any plant will apreciate CO2 addition. And helps fight against BBA(knock on wood).

Have fun and welcome to plants addicted club!

Thanks Flo! But all the credit goes to my buddy Cory. He selected every plant from Sweet Aqutices.com. As for my lighting I have a 48" 40W All Glass twin-tube light strip. Also I have already picked up two 6500k full spectrum tubes.

I’m really trying to go “low tech”, but I'm not opposed to using CO2. Do you have a suggestion on what type of CO2 system I should use? And how often I should use it?

Also, any suggestions on how I should aquascape this bad boy? I have read a few aquascaping 101 articles but I really have no idea what I'm doing!

That's a good idea to start with a low light aquarium. Your plants are OK without CO2. If you decide to use CO2 I would buy a presurized system. It cost more money to start but it worth. Sugar-yeast-gelatine system are cheaper but messy and very hard to control. You can control the presurized system with a ph controller or with a timer. If you use a timer you keep the system on only when lights are on(usually 8-10 hr/day). The pH controller is more epensive but easier to use and more precise. I use both systems. I don't know how much you know about CO2 systems but we can talk more about this subject when you decide to go on that direction. Keep in mind , if you decide that you want to try plants that require high lighting a CO2 system is a must.
I don't know if I can give you a good advice in aquascaping. Aquascaping is an art and , my tanks are more like aquatic nurseries. It's better if you try start to aquascape your tank and we can have some opinion. You may follow our sugestions and adjust your aquascaping.

Thank you Cory for the nice words.