Live Plants?

Question

I am thinking about setting up a new 30 gallon tank with live plants.

Can I use gravel as the substrate? And what plants should I use?

Also can I have some tips on how to plant them and how to make them survive?

Answer 1

I have gravel in my tank and my plants are thriving. If I were you I would look into Italian valisneria. They are very nice, I have one and dont regret it. They are also a cheaper plant.

Answer 2

Live Plants can be a big benefit to the aquarium.  I can give more specific recommendations, but would need to know the pH and dH of your water, as well as what lighting you have available.

You really don't want to use gravel.  It won't absorb any nitrates from the water and it doesn't allow for good root growth.  Flourite is good for this, but requires repeated thourough washing so it doesn't cloud the water.  Eco-Complete and Aquasoil are two very good choices.  I do find the Aquasoil makes the water more acidic.  For a cheap option you can use untreated kittly litter (clay).

EDIT: If you don't have a test kit, many local fish stores will test your water for free.  It is a lot easier to deal with plants that prefer your water, and I don't recommend adjusting pH much as this is difficult to do safely and with stability.

I have included links to new planter guides and webites that I use for a good resource when selecting new plants.

http://www.plantgeek.net/article_viewer....

http://www.plantedtank.net/articles/Set-...

http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant...

Just explore the websites listed to find more articles and detailed species descriptions.

Answer 3

Put about an inch of fluorite under about an inch of gravel. The flourite will help the plants grow very well, and have no side effects and will not affect your fish. Plant the roots into the gravel, and they will grow into the fluorite.

As to which plants you can keep, if you have a weak light system, go with plants that require little light. If you are willing to buy a strong light, then any plant will be fine. It all depends on what you want.

Ask your local petstore or fishstore what plants can survive in low light.

And by the way, ive seen an answer that says to keep the roots in the little pot/basket... DONT. The basket suffocates the plants roots!! They will die soon after you plant them! You have to take them out of the baskets.

Answer 4

well,If you use gravel that is a problem.I would buy the live plants and keep the roots in the container that they give you at the pet store.Plant the container in the gravel.They make you're tank dirty, quick.So clean the fish tank often,and you will need to replace the plants every few month's.If you can not do these do not get the live plants,buy some fake plants.Fake plants are much easier to have.If you do the cleaning and replacing then you will be OK with you're live plants.

                                 hope this helps

                                       -Jacob     :))

Answer 5

For substrate  you can use a combination of vermiculite and small gravel.  this will help your plants root. the type of plants really depend on the amount of light you have. and the type of light is important. it should be a full spectrum bulb, or have a color temperature of 5500K-6700K.  

types of plants that I recommend and and are simple to care for are:

anubias- low light, foreground, slow grower

java fern- low light, mid-ground, slow grower

check out plant geek.com for more info on many other plants

and don't get any fish that might tear up the plants such as plecos and cichlids.

wb