# Newbie looking for some information



## erock (May 19, 2008)

Hello all,

This is my first post. I'm a long time marine reef keeper who is setting up his first planted tank. My tank will be an Asian biotope tank to go with the motiff my wife created in our sitting room. 

My question is about water quality. I use city of fort worth water and wanted to know if it is ok to use this in my tank. Of course I'll condition the water and buff the ph, but wanted to get feedback on if our local water is ok to use or do you recommend RO water.

Also, if I want to add the plants to an unfilled tank so that I can easily aquascape it. If I do this, is it ok to add tap water to fill in the tank and then condition once it is full, or will this harm the plants?

Thanks in advance for your help. I look forward to learning more about this society.

Eric


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## ranchwest (Jul 17, 2005)

I'm not familiar with Fort Worth water (they have at least two distribution plants, so there could be a difference depending on what part of the city, I don't know), but most members of the club who I've heard discuss this topic are either using their city water or a mix of city and R/O water. It is difficult to produce a lot of R/O water. I use Arlington water unaltered, just adding Sea Chem Prime to condition the water. Sometimes I use the Kordon conditioner.

Personally, I would recommend trying to avoid pH buffering if possible. IMHO, it tends to be more problematic than helpful.

A lot of people aquascape the way you describe. If you think it is going to take a while, you might want to mist the plants every once in a while.

I think it takes 2+ months to get a tank to start settling in. During that time, there's lots of battles -- algae, nitrates, nitrites, ammonia, slow or inconsistent plant growth, etc. Once the tank gets going and the plants are growing well, the water seems much easier to control. In other words, it controls itself to a much greater degree than when you're starting out.


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## erock (May 19, 2008)

Thanks for the good information. I ran into a fellow hobbyist at work who has experience with planted tanks and he shared similar thoughts. I think my reef background has me thinking this is going to be more difficult than it should be.

What are some opinions on a good source of plants? I've run across a couple of online companies that look promising. One is Arizona Aquatic Gardens and the other is thatfishplace.com. Any feedback on experiences with these companies would be appreciated.


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## ranchwest (Jul 17, 2005)

Well, initially you may find the planted tank so difficult that you want to throw up your hands! Hang in there. It probably won't be long before it gets much easier if you are conscientious about maintaining and monitoring the tank.

It's been years since I've ordered plants. Comments here on Aquatic Plant Central (APC) suggest that Arizona Aquatic Gardens might not be the best place. I've gotten a lot of plants from club members. 

If you are going high light and CO2, you may find it difficult to find the really pretty plants. You may find the For Sale section here on APC to be a good resource. The Fish Gallery in Dallas sometimes has a good selection of plants. Other times, it is only slightly above average. Or, you might try True Percula in Arlington. Their plants are not the best, but sometimes I find something I want.


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## CherylR (Aug 12, 2004)

Aquabid is pretty good.


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## erock (May 19, 2008)

Hey local planted aquarium enthusiasts.

Just wanted to provide an update on my progress now that I've had my tank up and running for a few weeks. 

So far everything is going great. My end goal is a planted discus tank, so I was careful to select plants that are both easy going as well as tolerant of the higher temps that Discus require. I plan to keep the tank and the lower end of the temp spectrum for discus, around 82-83 degrees. I'm currently riding it out at 80 degrees to let the plants settle in.

I'm running 3 wpg lighting in a 72g tank. I run the lights for 10 hours, but only at full intensity for 7 hours. During those 7 hours, I have an eheim doser adding Excel and the plants seem to love it. I dose 7ml of Excel per day and I'm getting great colors and decent growth with no noticeable algae.

Thanks go out to you and all of the other posters on this web service for my initial success. I regularly sought out answers to questions I had on APC and truly feel I would not be in the position I'm in without this great forum.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Are you providing any fertilizer? Seems like with that amount of light you're gonna need it.


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## erock (May 19, 2008)

My substrate is 100% eco-complete, and I'm not planning on using any different ferts unless the plants begin to show me they need it. My hope is that with frequent water changes, good lighting, good substrate and regular doses of excel in lieu of CO2 that I will maintain the appropriate balance. I've been in this hobby a long time as a reefer, and my philosophy is to keep it as simple as possible and create balance.


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## ranchwest (Jul 17, 2005)

Excel is not a fertilizer and some plants need ferts from the water column. Also, the substrate will eventually deplete. I suggest using ferts.


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