# First planted Tank



## kweeheng (Jun 5, 2006)

Hi, Greetings fro Malaysia.

I just bought a 2 ft tank. 1 Philips PL lights 36 watt. Aheim Liberty (Medium Size) 1 CO2 tank with Azoo Regulator , CO2 Diffuser ( The one with small Ceramic plate, Amano soil-big beads. With these equipments , am i able to do tanks like the rest of those tanks in the picture gallery ?

I ve tied Whipping/Singapore Moss into a wood and i bought some glossostigma for my carpet.i planted it 1 by 1 onto my soil. CO2 buble is 1 sec / bubble. 

I have no idea what i need in my water. But i sure want to know what chemical is needed. Iron, pottasium nitrate ? nd how do i know which substance is enough for my tank. PH tested out at 6.2 . And i add 7 drops of Ferropol every 3 days time. Am i doing it wrongly ?


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## Laith (Sep 4, 2004)

What is the water volume of your tank (liters/gallons)?

My first reaction is that you probably don't have enough light with 1x 36w...


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## kweeheng (Jun 5, 2006)

Laith said:


> What is the water volume of your tank (liters/gallons)?
> 
> My first reaction is that you probably don't have enough light with 1x 36w...


6500 Kelvin lights from Philips PL lights. On a 2ft lenght X 1ft width X 1ft tall.
Sorry i dontknow any calculation. my MSN is [email protected]
please add me masters. Need someone to help me out


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## anthonysquire (Mar 15, 2006)

That would be about 15 gallons / 56 liters. To get the volume in gallons take length x width x depth (all in inches) and divide that by 231.


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## kweeheng (Jun 5, 2006)

anthonysquire said:


> That would be about 15 gallons / 56 liters. To get the volume in gallons take length x width x depth (all in inches) and divide that by 231.


So, is that enough for my tank ? Is the lights bright enough?


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

So it seems you have 36W on 15 gallons. You definitely have enough for low light and some moderate light plants. A lot depends on your light coverage and how good your reflectors are. Bottom line is try planting what you want and see how it goes. That kind of lighting should make for a fairly easy to manage tank.


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## kweeheng (Jun 5, 2006)

Bert H said:


> So it seems you have 36W on 15 gallons. You definitely have enough for low light and some moderate light plants. A lot depends on your light coverage and how good your reflectors are. Bottom line is try planting what you want and see how it goes. That kind of lighting should make for a fairly easy to manage tank.


Ahh. thank you. i bought a mini fan to blow at my tank to cool down the temperature of the water.But i think my new grown moss is a little yellowishin color. Any idea ? i put feropol . Important question is , I m not rich enough to own ADA products, i m just using basic products. And the color of the moss on internet i see are super green. Did they invest in those ADA products to get that pretty result ? I m from malaysia, temperature of the room is different in day time. it gets warmer. but very cool at night time.Advise needed . . .


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## kweeheng (Jun 5, 2006)

Oh, and i grow only Whipping Moss/singapore moss and on the ground i grow some glossostigma. are all these in needs of high lights? am i capable of growing these 2 plants?


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

You don't have to have ada products to have healthy plants. 

It sounds like you need to add some macro elements to your tank: nitrate, phosphates, and potassium. With that low a light tank, I think a once a week addition of about 10ppm of K, 15ppm of NO3, and 2-3ppm of PO4 at your water changes should suffice you, especially if you feed your fish well. I would add micros in small amounts 2-3 times a week. I am guessing that your ferropol is an iron based mixture? What else is in that? 

I don't think you have sufficient lighting to grow a glosso 'lawn'. You can try Marsilea quadrafolia in its place. IMO, the mosses should be ok with that lighting.


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## kweeheng (Jun 5, 2006)

Bert H said:


> You don't have to have ada products to have healthy plants.
> 
> It sounds like you need to add some macro elements to your tank: nitrate, phosphates, and potassium. With that low a light tank, I think a once a week addition of about 10ppm of K, 15ppm of NO3, and 2-3ppm of PO4 at your water changes should suffice you, especially if you feed your fish well. I would add micros in small amounts 2-3 times a week. I am guessing that your ferropol is an iron based mixture? What else is in that?
> 
> I don't think you have sufficient lighting to grow a glosso 'lawn'. You can try Marsilea quadrafolia in its place. IMO, the mosses should be ok with that lighting.


According to Sir Bert , this means i have to buy NO3 ,PO4 and K tester to test if i have these nutrient available in my tank. and i need to also get NO3,PO4 and K liquid ? Are all these available in a 3 in 1 bottle ? And are these also called ferts? Sorry for asking all these noob questions. i m not a chemist nor a biologist. And the diffuser i get is transparent. I can see bubbles coming out from the diffuser before going through the mini ceramic disolver.Does this mean i can save up my money getting a bubble counter ? 
As for the glosso , i already added another PL lights. Now i have 2 X 36 watt Philips PL lights with 6k kelvin each i think.Is that enough for me to grow a glosso lawn? ? And my moss isnt growing green. They re yellow. And i cut them off and after a few days later , they grew and its still light green and not dark green like how i see in the pictures on internet. Ferropol is Iron based correct. Please advise my dear Sifus/Gurus/Masters.


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

Adding another 36W for a total of 72 on a 15gal, puts you into the realm of 'high' light. You will really need to stay on top of your CO2, and all ferts (macros and micros) to go this route.

You don't really need to buy test kits for these. Just dose according to this sticky. You can purchase these items either in dry form (Greg Watson) or from liquid (form from Seachem). Your choice according to your budget.

You might want to do some reading:
http://www.rexgrigg.com
http://www.aquatic-plants.org/articles/basics/pages/index.html
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/new-to-aquarium-plants/14684-new-tank-set-up-parts-1-a.html


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