Live plants in an established aquarium

So, I have an established aquarium and I want to put live plants in it. My plan is to take out the existing rock and replace it with Eco complete and tahitian moon sand. I was just planning on getting everything laid out and ready. Then take the fish out right before I add the Eco complete and then add everything else. Is this an ok route or do I need to have an extra aquarium ready because the aquarium I am putting live plants won't be ready for a couple of days? Not sure what do if anyone can help it would be much appreciated.

 

Your plan sounds fine.

Plants don't really need a specific time to be put in a aquarium. Plants can be added on the first day of cycling or during the cycling process without issue.

Now, the only thing that I can ask is what type of plants do you plan on adding and do you meet their requirements?

 

Haven't decided on plant choice. I was more worried about putting in new substrate and if it would hurt my fish. Should I just keep the fish in the tank while adding the new substrate or take them out? I know I need to figure out a plant selection so I can get the right lighting and figure out if I will need co2.

 

Why replace the substrate? Plants do not have to have special substrates. I have planted tanks with sand or standard pea gravel.

There is bacteria in the gravel you currently have that will be lost when switched out. Be prepared for a minI cycle while you tank catches up. If you decide to switch it out, place fish into a temporary holding container, large plastic tubs work great for this purpose. Then, plan on daily water changes until tank again stabilizes.

As for plants themselves, you need to select what is appropriate based on your lighting. Low lighting greatly limits which plants can grow successfully; high lighting increases the demand for CO2 and fertilizers.

Good luck and welcome to the forum.

 

Good morning,

I have moved your thread from More Freshwater Aquarium Topics to Aquarium Plants section of the forum.

Thanks!

Ken

 

He won't necessarily have a minI cycle by changing out the gravel. I have changed my gravel multiple times in different tanks and I've never had a problem. Yes, regular aquarium gravel will work for plants, but Eco Complete is mineral packed and full of nutrients for quite nice plant growth + it contains heterotrophic bacteria to quickly convert fish waste into nice plant food.

I personally would recommend taking the fish out when adding the new substrate. Really, I would just recommend putting the fish in a bucket or tub and adding the filter to it, drain the tank, take out the existing gravel and adding the new substrate (Wash out the sand before adding. The Eco Complete doesn't need to be washed before adding though so you can add it right away). <- That way it will be not as messy.

 

I would't change the gravel either. just leave it, and use root tabs....and liquid ferts

 

I would just leave the old substrate in as well. I use regular gravel for my plants and in my opinion the larger gravel allows the roots to breath better and get more nutrients than they would get if they were packed in sand. Also what kind of plants are you wanting to get. And what kind of lighting do you have or are going to get.

 

Yes, Unless you really hate the old substrate leave it. You shouldnt have any problems growing plants and may find the need for a lot of upgrades to grow more plants lol its as bad as MTS is!

 

imo, and ime, eco complete is cheap, expensive , and not worth the money. it is lacking in some nutrients, and will not support plants indefinitely.

 

Well thank you everyone for the advice. I do really hate my substrate because I bought river rock from lowes on advice from a guy who is big into aquariums. The problem with this rock is that my fish are having babies and they are all living. As soon as they are born they live in the rock into they are big enough not to be eaten. I have given away around 200 fish. So I really want to change the substrate. Now one person said Eco complete is waste, then what would you recommend? And should I just stay away from sand altogether?

 

heck no, sand is a great substrate! I am going to be doing most of my tanks in it in the future. every tank I see with it looks great.

 

Do sand instead. It's as well a good substrate for plants.

Also a tip for sand -- make sure to stir up the a little each water change so that no nitrogen waste bubbles form.

 

or get MTS (Malaysian trumpet snails) They will do a great job at stiring the sand.

 

So my plan is, and tell me if this sounds right, to put in about 60 lbs. of Eco complete and about 40 lbs. of sand, I have a 75 g. Is that too much or not enough? Also I have decided to start of with easy plants like java fern and watersprites. With them needing low light requirements, is a co2 system something I need to invest in?

 

you won't really need to worry about CO2 until you get into higher lighting and fertalizers.

 

So my plan is, and tell me if this sounds right, to put in about 60 lbs. of Eco complete and about 40 lbs. of sand, I have a 75 g. Is that too much or not enough? Also I have decided to start of with easy plants like java fern and watersprites. With them needing low light requirements, is a co2 system something I need to invest in?

You will not need that much substrate. I'd say about 60 pounds.

What kind of light? How many watts? CO2 is required with moderate to high light.

 

So my plan is, and tell me if this sounds right, to put in about 60 lbs. of Eco complete and about 40 lbs. of sand, I have a 75 g. Is that too much or not enough? Also I have decided to start of with easy plants like java fern and watersprites. With them needing low light requirements, is a co2 system something I need to invest in?

That sounds like a good start.

How do you plan on adding the watersprite? Rooted or Floating? Since watersprite has a very poor rooting system and that it feeds off the water column (As well does the Java Fern so don't bury it's rhizome), I let it float and it does great.

C02 is not really required in low lighting set-ups. When you get around the Moderate to High lighting set-ups, then may it be time to add C02.

 

can I ask why you want to mix them? I don't see the point in spending that much on eco complete. but if you want to, go for it. i'm just saying that it isn't really 'complete' and you'll probably have to use root tabs anyway. so why bother with it in the first place, ya know?

I just use plain gravel, or sand, in a lot of my tanks, use root tabs, and sometimes liquid ferts. they are all low/med light, no co2. plants are excellent. plants I like:

-java fern
-dwarf sag
-dwarf hairgrass/large hairgrass
-narrow leaf chainsword
-crypt wendti, brown and bronze especially
-ozelot sword
-anubias....all sizes
-small and large crypts (forget the names right now)
-moss
-vals (jungle, italian, corkscrew...)

 

So, right now I only have a 40w 5000k bulb and I know I will need a better one. But I am going for plants with low light requirement so I don't have to use co2. Well, jerilovesfrogs, I see that you are not a big fan of eco complete, but you seem to be the only one that I have seen so far. Is anyone else out there think that just sand or gravel is the way to go?

 

I agree with jers. In a low light tank, eco is a waste. Even my high light tank has fluorite and sand mix, and the fluorite does absolutely nothing. These types of products help, at most 6 months, and then they become very expensive gravel.

 

thanks catsma

 

How large are the river rocks? I'd keep them and do a mixed substrate. Sand is cheap and looks brilliant, and decorating around the edges or particular areas with river rocks makes it completely awesome. I used some to make piles and so on, and a kind of border between the sand substrate and the gravel. I reckon it looks mad. Just my opinion, but it's a great opinion!

So, right now I only have a 40w 5000k bulb and I know I will need a better one. But I am going for plants with low light requirement so I don't have to use co2. Well, jerilovesfrogs, I see that you are not a big fan of eco complete, but you seem to be the only one that I have seen so far. Is anyone else out there think that just sand or gravel is the way to go?

I'm not a fan of wonder products in general. Basic sand, gravel or rock will be just fine in any tank, planted or not. Fish and ferts will give the plants all they need, and then if you go bigger and better then lighting and co2 will pick up slack and maintain your little Eco system.

 

As you can see I got shot of the plastic plants and now got live plants I have them in the tank about an hour or two,I was wondering should I feed them now or when do I feed them as there only just in,here is a pic or 2 tank looks cloudy that was me in messing it up and added a little bit of accu clear.

removed

removed

 

Seeing that you don't have a ton of plants they should get most of their nutrients from the fish waste. What plants did you go with? For root feeding plants you may want to get some root tabs to place into the substrate around the roots. For the water column feeding plants they should get what they need from your fish.

 

To be honest I don't know the name of plants just liked the look and they were cheap lol

 

To be honest I don't know the name of plants just liked the look and they were cheap lol

That is how I pick my plants too.

 

lol stu names are to compicated hey were in n.ireland are you?

 

lol stu names are to compicated hey were in n.ireland are you?

Dromore, the county Down version. How about yourself?

 

Am in Carrickfergus mate but originally Coleraine.

 

I used to head down that way on the bike. Any good fish shops down your neck of the woods?

 

I goto Grosvenor Aquatics in lisburn,you ever been in it,its massive plus my mate owns a place in coleraine who he and the guy that owns grosvenor are big mates and they have a quarantine place at grosvenor,all excellent fish.

 

I goto Grosvenor Aquatics in lisburn,you ever been in it,its massive plus my mate owns a place in coleraine who he and the guy that owns grosvenor are big mates and they have a quarantine place at grosvenor,all excellent fish.

That is where I go too, bought all my fish and my second tank there. They definitely are the best place I have been for all things fish related.

 

I was down there at lunch time today needed treatment for my clowns,bought 2 good sized firemouths they got some great tanks upstairs and there not overpriced like some other places.

 

Have you had many issues with the Clowns, I am hoping to get some when I can buy somewhere with room enough for a big tank. Are they as easily stressed as people say.

 

They get very stressed,ive always found it hard to keep clowns but that was down to ruby tail shark&redtail shark they stressed them none stop they swole up like a ballon then all died 8 off them,then a guy on another site told me my clowns are a bit thin on it and they have parasites so that's another reason they could of died on me also,so got to do a WC tomorrow then I'll begin treatment for the parasite/worms

 

Red Tails are good like that. Mine still tries to dominate the larger eartheaters she is in with, they just ignore her. You would think after 2 years she would have given up.

 

2 years what size is she? you should upload picsif your going to upload ones use photobucket its really easy,have you been on any other forums? am just heading out here a while catch ya in a bit.

 

I reckon she is about 6 - 7", cannot see her getting much bigger. I joined a few forums there just recently, the ones I have been using for info over the past couple of years. Thought I may as well since I was reading posts from them often enough.

 

, good luck with that oscar later in life.

from left front to right front:
marimo moss ball (algae),
Not sure about this plant,
Amazon sword
amazon sword
naja anarachis
looks likes cryptocoryne sp. not sure the species
naja anarachis

in the back middle. most likely a combomba sp.


amazon swords will require trimming and root tabs. if you see any leaves that start to decay, snip them off at the base (including the stem)