planted aquariums

Question
Hi,
talking about freshwater aquariums i am still a beginner but keen to learn more.i have a fifty gallon tank with 4 blood parrots,2 texas,2 auratus and two bala sharks.Somehow without the knowledge of water cycling i have managed to keep them healthy and colorful since last one year with no mortality.i use tetraflake and tetrabits.
i want to start with plantation in my tank.Need some advice on lighting,gravel,co2etc but please keep in mind i live in INDIA and all the items may not be available.I will greatly appreciate if you can give me contacts of other experts in INDIA .
regards
shailesh

Answer
Hi Shailesh!
You got through cycling and managed to keep all your fish healthy! I think you did something right and that is really good!

The planted aquarium is a wonderful idea. But unfortunately after reading your fish list which included the "2 texas" I assume you are meaning Texas Cichlids? If so, I'm sorry to say that these beautiful fish are not really suitable for planted aquariums because they have a tendancy to dig and will uproot plants. The Parrot fish, Auratius and two Bala Sharks are likely safe with plants. But with the Texas Cichlids, you likely won't have much luck with a planted tank for them.
An alternative is using only very hardy and tough plants like Java Fern, Java Moss, and maybe Anubias. These plants can be tied and attached with black thread or fishing line where the plants will eventually take root on wood or rocks. Another option you have also is to use a lot of floating plants. And one thing that many aquarists around here do with their cichlid tanks is to have the live plants in pots sitting around the tank.This probably won't look as good as a true planted aquarium but it works.


While Java fern, Java Moss, and Anubias are considered tough and fairly low-light plants, you must have a good florescent lighting fixture for them that produces the proper spectrum Make sure your aquarium is outfitted with a fluorescent tube that emits light in the blue and red ends of the spectrum. Wavelengths of 450 and 680 nm are those that are utilized by plants; therefore, your lights must provide these wavelengths.

Single light strips can work for the low-light plants. But they can do better and it's sometimes best to have two-light strips, especially if your aquarium is deep (18 inches or more) where the light has penetrate deeper so stronger lighting may be best.

As for gravel, this depends on if you want to risk having gravel-rooted plants or not. If you do, it of course would help to have a special planted tank substrate but remarkably, many plants except for the really delicate ones, can thrive just fine in plants aquarium gravel as long as the gravel bed is deep enough for their roots to take a hold. All they may need is a liquid or tablet fertilizer on occasion according to how well the plants are doing. As for Co2 things can get kind of complicated. You can have home-made Co2 and not have to buy a unit. Many planted aquarium enthusiasts make their own coz and have good success with it. You can read more about that in greater detail here-
"http://www.plantedtank.net/articles/DIY-Yeast-CO2/7/"

It's better for you to see the photos and read the instructions provided on the website rather than for me to try to explain it all.

You probably won't need that much CO2 at all for semi-planted cichlid aquarium so having a big co2 unit probably wouldn't be worth it and the DIY (do it yourself) Co2 would be better.

Having a simple planted aquarium doesn't require fancy equipment or lots and lots of knowledge. If your cichlids will allow it, you could have a semi-planted aquarium with java moss and java fern growing on driftwood or rocks and possibly other hardy plants like Anacharis or Swordplants growing in the gravel. With good but not overpowering lighting, and perhaps some liquid and tablet fertilizer on occcasion, the plants should do very well.

If you'd really like to have a beautiful planted aquarium likes the wonderful aquatic gardens seen on the websites, magazines, and books. Do plenty of research, and then setup a different aquarium as your planted tank. It can be as small as a 10 gallon or as big as your cichlid tank if you like. Remember the deeper the tank the stronger lighting you need and sometimes with stronger lighting, more co2 is needed by the plants.

I really hope this helps!

Hope the weather is good in India!
Karen~