# A newbie and a 30g tank



## pleco_fan (Aug 10, 2005)

I have a 30g with 1/2 inch of gravel and 4 danios, 3 black skirt tetras, and 2 gouramis. I want the tank to be heavily planted but I know absolutely nothing about keeping plants. I would like for the tank to be easy to take care of. I now this just sound like a question that is going to take forever to answer but if you all could help me out that would be great. Thanks!


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## Paul Higashikawa (Mar 18, 2004)

Welcome to APC. I am afraid once you get bit by the green bug you will have a hard time turning back 

I love the line when you said something easy to take care of, hehe! How I used to think the same, and that was back in 2003. 

But I think it does make sense when you first begin the hobby to slowly ease yourself into the situation. So things are easier to control. And later on you can tackle on more challenging stuff. 'Course I always do the opposite and end up spend more $ and dead plants than I should have. 

My opinions:

With plants you must need the 3 big things. Light, CO2, and substrate. With some plants you can get by without CO2, but I highly recommend you start with it. A good rule to follow for beginners concerning light is to go with 3 Watt per Gallon rule. So, if you have a 20 gallon, you should have at least 60 watts of light. As for the substrate, I recommend at least 2 inches of gravel depth with diameter no greater than 1cm and no less than 4mm. You don't want something too big or too small. Just enough so the roots can creep through and expand freely to soak up any available nutrients. 

Some good plants to start out with:
Anubias nana, 
Java fern and moss, 
Cryptocoryne wendtii, lucens, walkerii, willissi
Echinodorus tenellus, blehri, amazonia

Finally, it helps to draw a simple sketch of where you want things to be. It really does give your idea a more materialization so you can plan things better. 

The soul and backbone of this hobby is the hardscape. Without it, your work wouldn't have much of a presentation. Wood or rock? Or both? If you have more than one tank then you could try them all. Consider hardscaping to be the skeleton of aquascaping. Without it, it's difficult for the muscles/organs(plants) to function. What shape intrigues you? What scenes in nature interests you in particular? These are some of the things that are good to think about. It will go a long way, believe me. That's why I think sketching is important. A particular state park you've visited in the past? A special mountain or hill that mesmerized you? Go ahead and try'em out.

Hope this helps and good luck. Most importantly, have fun and learn from experiences, be it good or bad


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## pleco_fan (Aug 10, 2005)

Thanks for the reply lots of info. Right now I have a long strip of 15w flourecent light. I don't know if this is enough but when I use it it's really bright. Second the C02, how much does a Co2 thing cost and which kind do I need for a 30g? Is it like a machine that produces C02 or an additive? Right now in my tank it has cheap colored gravel but I right now have the option of real gravel or sand. Another one of my tanks use sand and it works really well. Is sand better for plants or gravel? If sand is better, how much of it do I need? By the way the sand I have is play sand. I am interested in plants that are big and will take up a lot of space so that the tank lots like something out of a big lake. Also I think big plants will give the gouramis a place to hide. Another quick question, will plants help keep the water quality stable?


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## Dewmazz (Sep 6, 2005)

Howdy from Hawaii! It's always nice to see someone else new join the forum. I like Plecos too. As for the lighting, a general rule of thumb is 3-4 watts per gallon for a "bright tank." Anything less would be considered low light, and you wouldn't need too much CO2. I find that Compact Fluorescents work well if you're on a budget, or limited on space. They also sell specialty plant bulbs. Between 5500-10000K is good. For gravel, if you have the option of planted aquarium substrate, go with it. A 15 lb. bag of Fluorite or Eco-complete goes for ~$15. For CO2 injection, I would highly recommend the following link: http://www.qsl.net/w2wdx/aquaria/diyco2.html 
Amazon Swords can get huge (20+ inches) under the right conditions. I don't know how the play sand will work. Wait for one of the more experienced aquarists to answer that one  . The plants should help keep nitrate levels down, but the CO2 can mess with the ph, especially if the water is soft. You're also gonna want to get nutrients for the plants, Seachem's Flourish line of nutrients works well. Because I too am new to the hobby, you might want to get feedback from the other members. I hope some of this helps...

Oh, go to Drs. Foster & Smith for neat supplies (just google it)...


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## Laith (Sep 4, 2004)

Here's a pretty good article to get you started:

http://www.aquatic-plants.org/articles/basics/pages/01_intro.html

The main thing to remember is that plants need various types of nutrients. These are:

Light (shoot for around 2wpg or watts per gallon). Higher is possible but get the hang of things at 2wpg first.
Carbon  This is usually added by adding CO2 to a tank. Seachem's Flourish Excel is also a source of carbon but best is CO2
Macros Nitrates (NO3), Phosphates (PO4), Potassium (K) etc
Micros Iron (Fe) and associated trace elements.

Start at the top of the list and work your way down. Make sure you've covered one nutrient before moving down to the next one. For example, you do not want to add a bunch of macros with hardly any light and no carbon addition...


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

pleco_fan said:


> Thanks for the reply lots of info. Right now I have a long strip of 15w flourecent light. I don't know if this is enough but when I use it it's really bright. Second the C02, how much does a Co2 thing cost and which kind do I need for a 30g? Is it like a machine that produces C02 or an additive? Right now in my tank it has cheap colored gravel but I right now have the option of real gravel or sand. Another one of my tanks use sand and it works really well. Is sand better for plants or gravel? If sand is better, how much of it do I need? By the way the sand I have is play sand. I am interested in plants that are big and will take up a lot of space so that the tank lots like something out of a big lake. Also I think big plants will give the gouramis a place to hide. Another quick question, will plants help keep the water quality stable?


If you use sand then use pool filter sand. It will no alter your water parameters like some play sands will. Also pool sand is a little larger grain and will not compact as easily as play sand.

The only gravel that is better than sand is the Fluorite or Eco-complete, which already have nutrients for the plants roots. Unless you use Onyx sand, which also has the nutrients added.

If you are going to have a low light tank 2WPG or under than you can use Seachem excel for a carbon source. If you plan on 2WPG up to around 3WPG then 2 bottles of DIY C02 will be better. Near or over 3WPG then go pressurized for sure.

15 watts on a 30G tank will not be enough light. To get 2WPG you will need at least 60 watts of fluorescent lighting using plant bulbs (5500k-10000k) or better yet use power compacts.


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## pleco_fan (Aug 10, 2005)

I'll change the gravel into sand next week and will buy a higher watt light. For now, what kind of plants would cover most of the aquarium but would not out grow my tank?


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## pleco_fan (Aug 10, 2005)

By the way I checked my ph after I changed the substrate into sand in my other tank and it stayed the same. I was wondering how much sand would I need for a tank this size?


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## pleco_fan (Aug 10, 2005)

Sorry one more thing, I have a bag of natural colored real gravel and can I mix that with sand or is it better to just go with sand all the way?


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

If you like you can mix sand and gravel together. Just depends on the look you are going for.

In my 30G tank I only used 1/2 bag of pool filter sand. You will need a depth of between 2-3".

Not all brands of play sand will change the water parameters. If you know that yours won't then use it.

The light that you have now is not good even for low light plants. You have only 0.5 wpg and you need a least 1.5 wpg to grow low light plants. I would wait to get the new light fixture before planting.


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