daddyo72

Hello, I am daddyo72 and Im new to aquatic plants. Let me tell you what I have for a setup and maybe you can give me some advice. Ill tell you about my 55. Its filled with natives, as for plants i have moneywort, javamoss swords and glossostigma. My substrate is sand and im in the process of geting a power head. Native fish(US natives) are VERY hardy so i dont know my water parameters for this week. I do weekly water changes of atleast 50 percent. I also have one apple snail that in huge that I feed romaine lettuce and apples. Do you have any advice as to substrate, co2 plants etc? Thank you.

Sir_BlackhOle

There is so much good advice that can be found in this forum....try doing a search. I will give you the setup for my 75 though. I use 1-2mm gravel with laterite mixed into the lower layer. Total depth is about 3 or 4 inches. The tank is heavily planted and heavily stocked with fish, and I feed heavily. Lighting is 4 four foot 6700k flourescents. Comes out to about 2 watts per gallon. No co2, no additional ferts. This tank is fairly algae free except for spot algae on some anubias and crypts. Plants seem to do fairly well. The hygro will take over the entire tank in a couple weeks if I let it. I usually have to trim weekly or every other week, depending on how I feel. I mix ten gallons of r/o and 20 gallons tap for every water change. Water changes are 50% every week, or sometimes every two weeks. There are many different methods that work, this is just what works for me at this point. You should be able to find great info on many other methods here at APC. Good luck!