An Old Man Fishing

[TenToedSloth2]

Helllooo all;

My real name is John, and I am glad to meet you. I have enjoyed the hobby of owning an aquarium off and on for years, since I was a kid, Well I guess I am still a 55 year old kind now. I am currently without a tank now which is why I am here and why I joined Fish Lore. I will go into of the reason that I do not have a tank now later. I started explaining it but realized that I had gotten way off course for an introduction. I have owned tanks of various sizes and I had keep multiple species and even had the enjoyment of spawning multiple species.

I have lived all over being borne in a small town in Georgia (Gainesville), but have lived in Charlotte, Orlando, Miami, San Juan, Atlanta, Chicago, Gatlinburg. Pigeon Forge, Myrtle Beach, Denver, and currently Las Vegas. So that brings me here as now I want to setup a small aquarium again. I have never had a planted aquarium and I hope that I can get your help with that, and hoping someone may know of a club or co-op in Las Vegas as I am shocked at how much plants cost. But look for future posts of why I am without an aquarium along with my progress of setting up a new one

Thank you!

Your tankmate

 

[fishfoodlady]

Hi! Newbie here, too. I’ve had great success with Flourite as a substrate, and root tabs for plant roots, and water fertilizer for the water column. Years ago I had a tank with a CO2 system, but I find Seachem Flourish Excel to work just as well. I also use Iron and Flourish Advance, alternating between the three. I don’t believe you’ll need additional Iron unless you plan to plant red plants; mine seem to like the added iron, but I may be getting plenty from my other chemical sources, so I’m not sure if I’ll even repurchase; I got it as a package deal. For quick root reproduction, use Flourish Advance. You’ll save a ton of money by propagating new plants from old ones, and planting the new shoots when their roots develop. Vallisneria is an excellent and inexpensive beginner plant that will actually produce new shoots often. I get my chemicals on Amazon. Plants are expensive, but you can find many species on Amazon and Ebay for a reasonable deal (by saving shipping costs); just be sure to clean them well before planting so that you don’t introduce snails (they’re tough to get rid of). My local Petsmart marks down not-so-healthy packaged plants, and I save money purchasing those. Ask your sales person to mark them down if they look a little wilted. They bounce back quickly, once in my tank. I limit lighting to 8 hours a day (I use a timer) and add ferts, and have no issues. I have a Seachem Tidal 75 HOB filter where I can crank up the output to mix ferts, and then slow it down after a few minutes for steady output. The Tidal 75 also has a surface skimmer that works really well to suck up dead plant debris. Most aquarium plants appreciate gentle water movement, so I keep it on a lower output most of the time. Place your tank away from a window, and rely on your tank lighting only to help control excess algae. Ferts can cause algae blooms, that will also grow on plants, so you have to fine tune to find the right balance of lighting, temps, and fertilizer. Starting a planted tank is costly, as well as trial and error, but It’s easy to maintain once you get everything balanced. Good luck!