I'm going to be attempting to plant my 28 gallon aquarium soon. I say attempting because I've tried many times before without any success. Here's a little info on my tank to start out:
28 gallons; soft water; ph is around 8
Light is a Hagen GLO T5 HO, 2x24 watts.
Substrate is just natural gravel.
No CO2 in the past, but I know that's been one of my problems - too much light and not enough CO2. I'll be doing DIY when I start planting this time. I have dabbled around with ferts before, but I'm going to do a regular fert routine this time.
So here's my couple questions:
What are the best fertilizers to use? I was thinking Seachem Flourish and Flourish Excel.
Should I change my substrate to EcoComplete? Will it really benefit me any, or is it worth the $50? My tank is about a year old, so the substrate I have has a lot of bacteria already.
If I were to change the substrate to EcoComplete, would I need to recycle the tank, since I would lose all the bacterial growth in my old substrate?
Should I be testing for anything else in my water beside ammonia, trates, trites, and ph? Things like GH and KH?
Any other advice is very appreciated.
28 gallons; soft water; ph is around 8
Light is a Hagen GLO T5 HO, 2x24 watts.
Substrate is just natural gravel.
No CO2 in the past, but I know that's been one of my problems - too much light and not enough CO2. I'll be doing DIY when I start planting this time. I have dabbled around with ferts before, but I'm going to do a regular fert routine this time.
So here's my couple questions:
What are the best fertilizers to use? I was thinking Seachem Flourish and Flourish Excel.
Should I change my substrate to EcoComplete? Will it really benefit me any, or is it worth the $50? My tank is about a year old, so the substrate I have has a lot of bacteria already.
If I were to change the substrate to EcoComplete, would I need to recycle the tank, since I would lose all the bacterial growth in my old substrate?
Should I be testing for anything else in my water beside ammonia, trates, trites, and ph? Things like GH and KH?
Any other advice is very appreciated.