substrate and ground cover plants

im interested to know if there is anything special about the substrate to be used for a planted tanks, and what are the best grass type plant to use to cover the entire gravel bed..

i want a fully planted system

sorry if these questions have been covered somewhere before...

 

well you dont get any better than ada aquasoil in my eyes. a nice ground cover is UG.

 

Hi Leslie! Tagging along..

 

ADA as subs. HM, Glosso, Cuba(HC), UG, reapens and the list goes on.
I’ve been using florite in my main tank. ADA in the 40L. The difference like chalk and chees. Growth I get on HM in a month with fluorite I get in a week with ada.
But remember there is a lot of other factors that comes into plat. Lights, ferts and so on.

HTH

 

lol the abreviations are like french to me guys.. gonna have to speak slowly and explain..

so to break it down

Tank size 1.000 x .500 x .500

Intention of system: fully planted with neons, rummynose and glowlights.. perhaps a few other tets to create contrast.
Substrate: ?

Plants: foreground?
intermediate
background

lighting : either 3 x 54 or 39w unit? with what kind of bulb configuration

filtration: Prime 30 canister filter with inline heater.

fertilizers: ?

CO2 set? what diffuser is suggested @ what bubble rate?

driftwood: anything special i should be looking for?

help appreciated...

 

get an odyssea quad 39w unit 6500k and 8000k tubes. worked great for me. check out the net for some carpeting plants ect you like. its your tank and youre gona see it everyday so you must like it. ferts check the tropica ferts works great dont know if the lfs stocks it there

 

Swop the Neons for Cardinals rather. Neons like 22 degrees whereas Cardinals will do better in the 26 degrees we normally keep our tanks at and Cardinals are hardier than Neons.

54w tubes are 1147mm so too long for your tank. Rather get a unit as suggested by Ryno or diy one. The advantage of diy is that you can stagger your lights to eliminate dead spots.

 

thank you for the responses guys.. definatley some good info and making me have to think a little here...

 

@Ryno will these tube colours give me maximum effect with the cardinals.. what are your thoughts on LED? vertex illumilux for FW planted? any good?

@Hawk thanks for that info.. for the R5 more per fish i think its worth it....

 

i have seen the vertex works for a FW planted tank if you want to go LED check the kessil amazon sun units they work great also but i know vertex are great. dreaming of getting the illumina's for my reef tank

 

Definitely and much prettier