help on aqua scaping

[ryan90]

im pretty new to it. i read abt it online and watch some videos but i just wanna ask.

a good substrate, lightning and co2 is important right? when they say substrate, do they mean just the soil? or is there other things to add? can i just add the soil?
i heard abt fertilizers as well. what is it used for and is it necessary?

And is it important to use a pressurized bottle co2? is it a must? im intending to get a decent tank. like a large one. not too sure yet.

thanks

[wongce]

To answer your question, you need to decide what kind of setup you wanted, time and money you willing to spend.

Soil is good to have but not necessarily a must have for low tech setup.

Lighting is important

Co2 injection, not a must for low tech setup but good to have... cyclinder type is more economical in the long run

Fertilizer, good to have some

I recommend low tech setup to newbie as you need to learn the ropes before you indulge or sink further into this hobby..happy reading and researching...

I wrote a long winded blog...check out if you like reading lol

[ryan90]

what u mean by low tech? whats the different between soil and fertilizer? i thought soil is essential for plants to grow and fertilizer is the extra nutrients?

[Urban Aquaria]

Plants need 3 main things to photosynthesize and grow = Light, Co2 and Nutrients.

Lights enable plants to photosynthesize, the more light the more the plants can generate energy to grow. But this ability is also limited by the amount of Co2 and nutrients available (more on that below)

Substrate refers to all the soil and/or additional materials at the base of the tank. A good quality soil substrate will contain and hold nutrients for plant roots to absorb. Fish waste are processed and converted by beneficial bacteria (present in the substrate, tank surfaces and filter bio-media) via the nitrogen cycle into nutrients what plants can use.

If the nutrients from fish waste are not enough, then fertilizer would be needed to supplement the rest of the nutrients required by the plants. Plants need a complete range of macro and micro nutrients to grow (nutrients are absorbed at different rates), hence if any specific nutrients are lacking, the plants will start to show the deficiencies in the form of weak parts or stunted growth.

Co2 exists naturally in water, but at relatively low levels. This is fine for slower growing plants and in tanks with less light (as the demand for Co2 would also be lower)

But for people which want to grow plants faster, they will setup tanks which have more light. With more light, more Co2 is needed to keep up with the growth, hence the need for Co2 injection to artificially increase Co2 levels in the water. With more Co2 and light, more nutrients are also needed or else the plants will show deficiencies and stop growing, so even more additional fertilizers have to be added to supplement it.

Aquarists usually categorize the "tech" of tanks based on the level of equipment used and intensity of their usage (which also tends to correlate to the speed of plant growth too), for example:

Low Tech = Lower amounts of Lights + No Co2 injection + Little or no fertilizer dosing = Slower plant growth

High Tech = Higher amounts of Lights + Co2 injection + Higher amounts of fertilizer dosing = Faster plant growth

Thats just the basic summary of a planted tank environment, there are alot more guides online which go into much more detail on the process, so it'll be good to read up as much as possible before starting (especially on cycling your tank).

[wongce]

Plants need 3 main things to photosynthesize and grow = Light, Co2 and Nutrients.

Lights enable plants to photosynthesize, the more light the more the plants can generate energy to grow. But this ability is also limited by the amount of Co2 and nutrients available (more on that below)

Substrate refers to all the soil and/or additional materials at the base of the tank. A good quality soil substrate will contain and hold nutrients for plant roots to absorb. Fish waste are processed and converted by beneficial bacteria (present in the substrate, tank surfaces and filter bio-media) via the nitrogen cycle into nutrients what plants can use.

If the nutrients from fish waste are not enough, then fertilizer would be needed to supplement the rest of the nutrients required by the plants. Plants need a complete range of macro and micro nutrients to grow (nutrients are absorbed at different rates), hence if any specific nutrients are lacking, the plants will start to show the deficiencies in the form of weak parts or stunted growth.

Co2 exists naturally in water, but at relatively low levels. This is fine for slower growing plants and in tanks with less light (as the demand for Co2 would also be lower)

But for people which want to grow plants faster, they will setup tanks which have more light. With more light, more Co2 is needed to keep up with the growth, hence the need for Co2 injection to artificially increase Co2 levels in the water. With more Co2 and light, more nutrients are also needed or else the plants will show deficiencies and stop growing, so even more additional fertilizers have to be added to supplement it.

Aquarists usually categorize the "tech" of tanks based on the level of equipment used and intensity of their usage (which also tends to correlate to the speed of plant growth too), for example:

Low Tech = Lower amounts of Lights + No Co2 injection + Little or no fertilizer dosing = Slower plant growth

High Tech = Higher amounts of Lights + Co2 injection + Higher amounts of fertilizer dosing = Faster plant growth

Thats just the basic summary of a planted tank environment, there are alot more guides online which go into much more detail on the process, so it'll be good to read up as much as possible before starting (especially on cycling your tank).

Thumbs up for the write up.... salute UA...

[ryan90]

wow ok cool. really good info there.

@wongace, can i ask, ur signature photo, the grass, what plant is that? where can i get them? and i also intend to get java moss. i heard java moss is quite easy to maintain.

and what is the rough cost of a mid-tech tank?

[Urban Aquaria]

... what is the rough cost of a mid-tech tank?

There was an interesting discussion thread recently about how tanks are "tech" labelled:

http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...-MID-TECH-tank

... and from all the responses, the conclusion was everyone has their own definitions of it.

So i guess it'll be better to just specify what types of equipment you plan to use, then it'll be easier to estimate the costs.

[wongce]

The plant is HC. Mid to high requirement plant. All the info can be found in the link to my blog below my signature. You should read UA's blog too,he got green fingers...lol

[lzw814]

Plants need 3 main things to photosynthesize and grow = Light, Co2 and Nutrients.

Lights enable plants to photosynthesize, the more light the more the plants can generate energy to grow. But this ability is also limited by the amount of Co2 and nutrients available (more on that below)

Substrate refers to all the soil and/or additional materials at the base of the tank. A good quality soil substrate will contain and hold nutrients for plant roots to absorb. Fish waste are processed and converted by beneficial bacteria (present in the substrate, tank surfaces and filter bio-media) via the nitrogen cycle into nutrients what plants can use.

If the nutrients from fish waste are not enough, then fertilizer would be needed to supplement the rest of the nutrients required by the plants. Plants need a complete range of macro and micro nutrients to grow (nutrients are absorbed at different rates), hence if any specific nutrients are lacking, the plants will start to show the deficiencies in the form of weak parts or stunted growth.

Co2 exists naturally in water, but at relatively low levels. This is fine for slower growing plants and in tanks with less light (as the demand for Co2 would also be lower)

But for people which want to grow plants faster, they will setup tanks which have more light. With more light, more Co2 is needed to keep up with the growth, hence the need for Co2 injection to artificially increase Co2 levels in the water. With more Co2 and light, more nutrients are also needed or else the plants will show deficiencies and stop growing, so even more additional fertilizers have to be added to supplement it.

Aquarists usually categorize the "tech" of tanks based on the level of equipment used and intensity of their usage (which also tends to correlate to the speed of plant growth too), for example:

Low Tech = Lower amounts of Lights + No Co2 injection + Little or no fertilizer dosing = Slower plant growth

High Tech = Higher amounts of Lights + Co2 injection + Higher amounts of fertilizer dosing = Faster plant growth

Thats just the basic summary of a planted tank environment, there are alot more guides online which go into much more detail on the process, so it'll be good to read up as much as possible before starting (especially on cycling your tank).

AQ should have a "Like" button. Haha

[thebaldingaquarist]

Plants need 3 main things to photosynthesize and grow = Light, Co2 and Nutrients.

Lights enable plants to photosynthesize, the more light the more the plants can generate energy to grow. But this ability is also limited by the amount of Co2 and nutrients available (more on that below)

Substrate refers to all the soil and/or additional materials at the base of the tank. A good quality soil substrate will contain and hold nutrients for plant roots to absorb. Fish waste are processed and converted by beneficial bacteria (present in the substrate, tank surfaces and filter bio-media) via the nitrogen cycle into nutrients what plants can use.

If the nutrients from fish waste are not enough, then fertilizer would be needed to supplement the rest of the nutrients required by the plants. Plants need a complete range of macro and micro nutrients to grow (nutrients are absorbed at different rates), hence if any specific nutrients are lacking, the plants will start to show the deficiencies in the form of weak parts or stunted growth.

Co2 exists naturally in water, but at relatively low levels. This is fine for slower growing plants and in tanks with less light (as the demand for Co2 would also be lower)

But for people which want to grow plants faster, they will setup tanks which have more light. With more light, more Co2 is needed to keep up with the growth, hence the need for Co2 injection to artificially increase Co2 levels in the water. With more Co2 and light, more nutrients are also needed or else the plants will show deficiencies and stop growing, so even more additional fertilizers have to be added to supplement it.

Aquarists usually categorize the "tech" of tanks based on the level of equipment used and intensity of their usage (which also tends to correlate to the speed of plant growth too), for example:

Low Tech = Lower amounts of Lights + No Co2 injection + Little or no fertilizer dosing = Slower plant growth

High Tech = Higher amounts of Lights + Co2 injection + Higher amounts of fertilizer dosing = Faster plant growth

Thats just the basic summary of a planted tank environment, there are alot more guides online which go into much more detail on the process, so it'll be good to read up as much as possible before starting (especially on cycling your tank).

*LIKE*

[QUOTE ] AQ should have a "Like" button. Haha [/QUOTE]

Do it like me. LOL