plants

hey everyone , im a newbie here so might sound like a silly question , i just set up my 100L tank , i have a fluval 206 external filter ,an air pump , so im going to plant some live plants in it ....my question is , how many plants can i have in the tank before i need to put in co2 we are talking maybe 2 moss balls and 10cm of grass each side of the tank for the shrimp .....also do i need to feed these plants and if so how many times a week ...cheers

Hi decky...

I'm no expert, far from it! Not sure about how many plants you can put in, but I've put in about 6 in my 150L. Three long grasses and three smaller plants in front of them. I got advice from Seahorse Aquariums for feeding them, I give them some EasyCarbo and some Ferropol every day. I planted them a couple of weeks ago, they haven't died yet and some of them are bigger, so that's success in my book!

J.

Like jason said 5 or 6 plants will fill out nicely and in time look good for you. The more co2 and fert they get the faster they will grow. Plants are wonderful once they go well for you.

Hey Decky

As far as the Moss Balls go I dont think they will need much in the way of C02 , what type of substrate are you using in the tank?
If you are going with the C02 option it`s worth taking into account that having an airstone and C02 on at the same time will more or less cancel each other out so turn off the airstone during the day and back on at night, just keep an eye on the fish for signs of stress in case the lack of oxygen is affecting them

Chris

Hi Decky , i have about the same size tank as you, and find that small leaf plants , moss(java moss grows very well) and grasses will work best with no co2. I have about 1/3 of my tank planted and dose with ferts once a week and just a sand substrate.The plants wont grow as fast as with a co2 system but you will still get good results. In terms of keeping the tank oxygenated just make sure you have plenty of water movement at the surface and you should be fine.

Stuart.

Thanks ja thats good to know

Thanks to everyone who replyed to me , sounds like java grass etc will be ok , good to know guys like ye reply to newbies cause you worry when you dont know , thanks again guys

Decky never be shy to post a question here, no such thing as a silly question just an incorrect answer

Ask as many questions as you like , there will always be someone here with the answer .

Stuart.

cheers pauly i will have your head wrecked lol

cheers stuart

Hi!
Just I'll will try to add my 5 cents to this..

You can keep as many plants as you would like to
once you can meet some important requirements and maintenance
The question is - what plants do you want to keep
and what growth you are expecting..some sort of plants
feels much better with a higher levels of Co2 in the
water ..some does not requires as much..
No doubts all plants will feel better with Co2, they
will grow faster, they will look greener and healthier..
also your maintenance of the Hi-Tech planted tank will
take much more time..

BUT, Co2 does not deliver on its own. It is a whole cycle
you need to follow. To let the plants take in the CO2
you need to fertilize the plants properly. Once you
have it done (mainly on daily basis) you need to have a
good light source and then Co2. The other thing is - you
will need to find the perfect balance of the amounts of
each of the elements delivered (Light, Ferts, Co2). Once one of the
elements falls short or too much you will ran into problems..
sure it is not a problem if you know what to change when you see changes

Another thing is filtration -
for more heavy planted aquarium you need approx 10x and UP
filtration rate. So if you have a 100L tank for the best results
you should have a filter which can deliver 1000L/H and +.

As in your tank you have a filter which can deliver 780L/h as
per the specifications - take off about 30% of the rate (as
manufacturers provide these numbers of testing filter without
any media)and the dirt and bacteria will reduce the rate for
another 10% you should have about 450-500L/H the real filtration rate.

So I would suggest to go from few plants to average planted.
Start with easy growing plants such as X-mass moss, many types of Anubia,
Red tiger Lotus would be beautiful addition and suitable for harder waters,
"African Onion", would be a nice one too and easy to take care of..
(you may need add a bit of potassium sulphate but this is a thing you may need
for any plants in low tech setup).
You will need to get some ferts anyways to keep some levels of sulphate and
nitrates in your tank. JBL ferropol + easy carbo on daily basis will be something
to start with when you go planted

Ferts Dosing:
I would recommend to dose every day small amounts (as per manufact. recommendations)
Every day few hours before the lights comes on. If you leaving to work early in the morning
just dose the Ferts + Easy Carbo and that's it. Do a weekly water changes for about
30%-50% on Sunday. So Saturday you can leave out the dosing with ferts (but keep the easy carbo)
to let the plants feed staked up sulphates and nitrates.