Setting up a planted tank.

Along with fish keeping another hobby you can take up is aquascaping. It is quite similar to landscaping your garden. Like a garden we can use ornaments, rocks, wood and plants. Plants can be artificial or live in the aquarium depending on the types of fish we keep. So if you want an aquascape with live plants you need to know how the plants are planted in the aquarium. Like any garden plant, aquarium plants also need to be tended for proper growth and beautiful look of an aquascape.

Setting up a planted tank:

Basic Tank: This tank only uses a substrate and a 7W led bulb for the plants rest is just for aesthetics.

Basic requirements:
1. Substrate
2. Lights
Advanced requirements:
1. Source of CO₂

2. Fertilizers.
3. Ph, NO₃, PH₄, KH tests.

Substrate: Substrate gives the plants support and holds them in place and is also a source of nutrition.

As the plants grow roots into the substrate, it becomes a major source of nutrition for the plant. Just like any land plant. Hence it is important that the substrate we choose be able to provide that nutrition. There are many types of substrates:

Sand/ small gravel can work for stem plants. As they can derive their nutrition from the water column.

Aquarium power soil specialized soil for aquarium plants engineered to supply all the required nutrients to the plants in required amounts. Works with all the plants.

Dirt or garden soil: will provide the plants with the required nutrients but you will need to balance the nutrients as per the needs of the plants and the fish. because unlike the power soil we do not know the composition of the garden soil. it may be rich in phosphates or ammonia. In short it will take some work to get your tank balanced for the plants to grow without causing issues to your fish. I do frequent water changes to remove any excess nutrients leached into the water column to avoid any problems to the fish or other issues like algal bloom.

Driftwood: mainly used for plants that just need something to hold onto and get all their nutrition from the water.

This is how I arrange the substrate in my planted tank: 1 inch layer of garden soil or dirt (make sure it does not have any added chemicals) and a 1 inch top layer of sand or gravel

What I use mainly is a layer of garden soil about 1 inch deep, topped with a layer of sand or fine gravel. Sand and gravel also play important roll in the rooting process of the plant. Coarser gravel will have larger gaps making it difficult for the roots to take hold as a result the plant will be uprooted by a slight nudge by your fish. This constant uprooting will hinder the rooting process. Rooting is important for the plant because even though some plants can also take nutrients from the water roots are still the main source. Without proper rooting the plant will start wilting. So the gravel here plays an important role of holding the plant in place until its roots develop and support the plant themselves.

Lights: Another important thing for your planted tank is lights. Live plants are just like garden plants with respect to light. Most of them grow in shallow waters so they get plenty of sunlight. So our aim should be to emulate nature. Though you can get away with low lights but that will be at the cost of your plants' growth. A general recommendation on the internet is to have 0.5-5 watts per gallon of fluorescent white light. I generally maintain 2-4 watts per gallon in my tanks.

Avoid using incandescent bulbs not only will you need higher wattage they will also heat up your system. In smaller tanks or bowls incandescent bulbs can literally cook your fish.

Since we are emulating sunlight the lights need to be kept on for a equivalent period as the sunlight. However keeping the lights on for 12 hours can lead to algal blooms. Hence we need to find a balance here. I recommend to find your sweet spot with a minimum photo period of 6hrs to a maximum of 12 hrs depending on the severity of your algae issue.

My DIY Lighting. In my experience a 2W/gallon of white light, be it fluorescent tube or a CFL or LED. The intensity of light seems to be the only thing that matters,

Other requirements: The above are the basic requirements of a planted tank. A mature well cycled tank can be sustained with the above setup. However it takes time for your tank to reach that point. Besides if you want to keep some high maintenance plants you need to supplement these with fertilizers.

Carbon dioxide CO2:  CO₂ is important for photosynthesis hence for plants growth.  There will be some amount of CO₂ dissolved in the water and will be available for your plants. However this will be well below the prescribed limit. Hence extra CO₂ can be dissolved into the water so that more is available for plants to make food and hence grow faster. Additional CO₂ can be introduced using CO₂ tablets, liquid CO_2, or pressurized gas, you can also do-it-yourself using yeast to produce CO₂ gas and pump it into the tank. High maintenance aquascapes which need constant supply of CO₂ to sustain growth and control algae. For such tanks compressed CO₂ gas from pressurized cylinders with a control valve is recommended . The relation between algae and CO₂ will be discussed in a future post.

Fertilizers: Like garden plants aquarium plants depend on macro nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) and micro nutrients ( magnesium, calcium, iron, zinc etc) macro and micro indicate the amounts to dose. In a basic low tech setup macro nutrients will get added through fish waste and dead plant matter. The concentration again is way below the possible threshold. Hence we can add supplementary fertilizers up to the threshold hold to boost plant growth.

Water chemistry tests: If you are an experienced fish keeper you may be aware of certain tests to ensure certain thresholds of concentrations are met for the well being of your fish. Example test to measure ammonia concentration in the water or ph test as some fish may need acidic or alkaline water while some may need neutral water. In a planted tank if we are using fertilizers we are adding chemicals which also have safety concentrations for the fish. We can't let the fish die for a nice lush green aquatic garden. Some of the important tests will be nitrate test, phosphate test, KH test for CO₂. I will talk about the safety thresholds and dosage of various of fertilizers in detail in a future post until then beginners can rely on the instructions provided on the fertilizers for planted tanks. Caution: Do not use garden fertilizer directly they are very concentrated for the safety thresholds. Unless you know the concentration and can dilute it below the safety thresholds stay clear of garden fertilizer.

So in summary to begin a planted tank just get add the appropriate substrate and a fluorescent bulb with a wattage of about 2 W/gallon, add a decent amount of fish for initial fertilization and finally try to plant a good amount of plants. More plants means any excess nutrients will quickly be utilized by the plants. If you have less plants they won't utilize all the nutrients in your water column leaving it for algae which are a type of plant and you will have a algal bloom. 

Hope the simplicity and basic requirements have inspired your to start your own planted tanks. My set-ups are 5-6 year old now I have seen most of the issues in the planted tanks. I would be happy to help my readers avoid them. So please feel free to ask or share any new insight in the comments.