Low tech planted aquarium setup

Larger fish, active fish, and those that dig may restrict your choices to strong plants that cannot be uprooted, such as Anubias , Bolbitis , Java fern, well-tied mosses, or maybe potted swords. Smaller tanks will also be restricted—a little 5-gallon tank will look lush with various crypts, dwarf Sagittaria , pearl weed, and mosses, but you'll find that large swords and tall stem plants like ambulia, Vallisneria , and various hygros will soon overrun it and be bent out of shape in such shallow water.

Lighting: A lot has been written about lighting for planted tanks, a complex topic, but success can be achieved in a simple setup with a basic understanding of the important aspects. There are two key components to aquarium lighting. The first is the output, measured in lumens. This is the amount of light energy reaching an area, and while few light bulbs note the lumens, you can assume in the case of your standard fluorescent bulb that more watts mean more lumens.

Do note, though, that more efficient bulbs like compact fluorescent lights and T5s produce more lumens per watt than the older T12s and T8s, and LEDs are even more efficient. The second is the color spectrum it emits and what intensity of photosynthetically active radiation PAR is contained therein.

Essentially, PAR means the type of radiation or energy with the correct wavelength that plants can use. Happily, most aquarists need not be too concerned with these details, as most hardy plants requiring low to medium lighting will perform well under the light fixture setup provided with your tank when used with bulbs rated for plants.

Light Intensity and Output: Regarding light intensity and output, more light output is required with larger and deeper tanks, as lumens decrease with distance and some light wavelengths plants require do not penetrate water as well as others. If you have a larger aquarium, chances are your accompanying light fixture contains long bulbs and probably a couple of them. Together, this will keep the length of the tank well lit with intensity high enough for your plants.

If your tank came without lights, buy a fixture suited for your tank, and if you have an option, get the fixture with room for more bulbs better to have more than less.

For smaller tanks, a single fluorescent tube will likely work well for a normal 2-foot tank or less, as they are more shallow.

If you need to boost your lighting intensity, purchase bulbs with a higher wattage, but if you want or need more bulbs and your fixture will not accommodate them, another tip is to purchase a strip of high-intensity and proper spectrum LED lights. The benefit of LEDs is that they produce more lumens for a lower wattage and will save on power consumption. For standard fluorescent bulbs, the common rule of thumb is to aim for 2 to 4 watts per gallon, and this is generally not a bad rule to follow if you are working with standard fluorescent bulbs and low- to medium-light plants.

However, I find this often misleading, as a lower output will still serve well in smaller tanks that are considerably more shallow, and even a high output will fail your plants if the spectrum is not correct. Spectrum: Visible light contains energy in many wavelengths, many producing different colors. These range from light in the red end of the spectrum through to violet, white light being a combination of them all. Plants absorb light for photosynthesis primarily in the red and blue areas of the spectrum and reflect wavelengths they do not use, chiefly greens.

Bulbs with a low intensity in these wavelengths will fail to grow good plants despite how bright they may seem. Luckily, most aquarium bulbs now have a chart on the side of the packaging showing the amount of light of each wavelength that the bulb produces. Photoperiod: The final all-important factor in lighting is the photoperiod, or the length of time per day the lights are left on.

To encourage healthy plants and prevent algae growth, a total period of eight to ten hours with an uninterrupted dark period of 12 hours is recommended. It is also best to have this period kept regular, and some plants like crypts will melt with large rapid variations in photoperiod, so a timer is strongly advised to keep things constant. For those of us working during the day, it is certainly also an option to split the photoperiod into two lighting blocks even or uneven so you can enjoy your tanks in the morning and at night when you are home.

A block should be at least three to four hours in length to allow plants to gear up for photosynthesis and have some time going flat out. In a closed system such as an aquarium, plants will grow only as well as their limiting factor. Nutrients and light may be abundant, but some will still always have struggling plants. In most cases, it is because a lack of carbon dioxide CO 2 is limiting any further growth.

When plants are growing poorly and light and nutrients abound, algae can become an issue. Certainly, a CO 2 injection system will resolve this problem, and modern units are now available that are simple to install and regulate. But for those not wishing to purchase these sometimes very expensive units or who do not have room under their tanks, there are options. The first is adding liquid carbon. Several manufacturers now produce this and I have found it excellent, though it can adversely affect some plants like Vallisneria.

The second is increasing turbulence. There are arguments for and against this, but for tanks without CO 2 , turbulence should increase both oxygen O 2 and CO 2 for your plants.

Turbulence works by allowing better gas exchange between the air and the water and, as concentrations of CO 2 are generally higher in the air than in the water, creating turbulence or adding an airstone will increase the dissolved concentration of CO 2.

This will also increase dissolved O 2 , which livestock, bacteria, and plants also require to thrive. It will also prevent CO 2 and O 2 levels from undergoing excessive fluctuations within the tank due to daily plant cycles of photosynthesis. The only time turbulence will work against you is when you are already using CO 2 injection. In that case, increasing turbulence will only work to off-gas this additional CO 2. Rinse the aquarium and accessories.

First, wash the tank, substrate, and hardscape with water no soap to reduce cloudy water. Next, install the aquarium background if desired. Some people choose to quarantine their live plants at this point to remove duckweed, pest snails, and other hitchhikers.

Place the tank on the stand and add the substrate. Planted tanks usually require at least inches Also, insert root tab fertilizers into the ground if you are using inert substrate and have cryptocoryne plants, sword plants, or other species that feed heavily from their roots.

Read this article on how to use root tabs and which plants require them. Place the equipment and hardscape in the aquarium. The heater and filter are not turned on at this step but are merely positioned in the tank so that you can use the plants and decorations to hide them. Fill the tank partially with dechlorinated water. By adding approximately 6 inches 15 cm of water, the lowered water level helps to support the plant leaves while you are planting them so that they do not bend too much and break.

When filling the aquarium, pour the water through a colander or onto a plastic bag or bowl to avoid disturbing your aquascape design. Plant the plants. We have a whole blog article that breaks down the different techniques used for each type of plant. Also, consider where the aquarium lighting will be so that you put the low light plants in the shadows or the edges of the tank and the higher light plants right underneath the light.

Fill the rest of the tank, and add the lid and light. Turn on the equipment and make sure everything is working properly. If you are using a heater, you may need to wait 30 minutes for it to acclimate to the water temperature before turning it on.

Start with low amounts of fertilizer and lighting at first to avoid algae growth. Therefore, program the timer for only hours per day at first. Slowly increase the amount of lighting and Easy Green fertilizer each week as you start to see plant growth. Learn More. Subscribe Get weekly aquarium blog articles right in your inbox. Email address Subscribe. Fluval Nano Aquarium Heater 25watt.

To learn more about substrate, click here. Planting densely at the start prevents algae from getting a foot hold. Plants have a stabilising effect on the eco-system of the tank and help up-take waste products such as ammonia; and absorb heavy metals. Having a sparsely planted tank is an invitation for algae to spawn and occupy the space. A fully planted tank is the best defence against algae.

This is a mini 3 gallon low tech tank using raw soil as planted aquarium substrate base. Tank is virtually algae free as healthy plants out-compete algae. Shallow tanks are much easier to manage. They have inherently better gaseous exchange and you will have easier lighting options - its much easier to light a shallow tank than a deep one.

This makes a bigger impact than most people realise. Low tech tanks benefit tremendously in this aspect.

A wide shallow tank such as this one by Tom barr makes it easy for aquatic plants to grow above the water surface. To learn more about tanks for aquascaping, click here. Low tech tanks also do far better with regular fertilisation.

Small weekly doses of fertiliser is sufficient. Livestock waste is rarely adequate for optimal plant health. No fish I know of poops out chelated iron for example. Unless you are sure your tap is rich in all the required elements, having regular doses of fertiliser impacts plant health greatly. Dosing large amount of nutrients EI style heavy dosing is an invitation for trouble. A tank with low demand plants such as the one below only needs to be fertilised once or twice a week at much leaner levels.

This would make a terrific display tank for fish with relatively low maintenance required. April 02, 2 min read.