Driftwood, Ornaments and rocks.

So, now you have your tank, substrate and a general Idea of what you tank is going to look like. It's time to choose a some sunken driftwood.

What kind should I use?
If you are planning to have bottom dwelling fish such as Pleco's, they need wood in their diet to help digestion
You can purchase wood from you Local Pet Store which can get pricey if you want a large piece, or you can  find it in a river or beach. Preferably the beach, there you will find sunken wood such as large twisted roots which can create some cool looking effects in your tank, make sure that you use a hardwood where possible it will last longer in your tank, and have a much nicer colour. Typically sunken wood from the beach will have a high salt content and is recommended that you soak it for up to a week, the benefits of salted wood is you know that there wont be any freshwater nasties unlike wood from rivers, It can be a little risky, as freshwater diseases can be carried on the wood, make sure that you clean it thoroughly, river wood is generally younger and can leach out tannins making the water go brown, but don't fret.. the fish will love you for it. To avoid this brown water, you could soak the wood for a few days/weeks to your liking.

What about Ornaments?
Perhaps you are going for a themed tank, like the one below. Its up to you really, there are no benefits or drawbacks with having plastic ornaments, they are purely cosmetic. Although they may need a clean one every once and a while.

Rocks are great, just be careful not to get rocks that have any metal deposits in them such as copper etc.

Also rocks can be used to create some fascinating styles.

Step 2 - Substrate

Substrate or gravel is very important in a planted tank, you need enough depth so your plants can grow roots about 2 inches, you don't want large gravel, as roots may not grow properly, not too smaller substrate, it can be too heavy and crush the roots if the plants are in too deep, and you don't want sharp substrate or gravel if you want bottom dwelling fish.

So how do you choose a good substrate?
Well first you need to figure out what sort of plants, driftwood and fish colours you want, think about what colour substrate would amplify a fishes colour and make the plants stand out.

Generally a planted tank will use a fine grade silica sand. I chose a fine grade 0.8-1.4mm gravel substrate
You will need about 2 inches deep of substrate, use this calculator to determine how much you need.

Black substrate is affective at showing off brightly coloured fish. As you can see It does makes the tank look dark, but with some bright lights and bright green plants this can look quite stunning. - Personally I have used black midnight substrate.

White substrate really brightens up the tank, it is also use in Malawi themed tanks without plants(bottom)

Like in the Malawi tank a dark background can also help your fish stand out.

What about substrate Fertilization?
Aquatic plants need Micro and Macro Nutrients to grow. Many plants however will only require sufficient light, and CO2, but when starting out a fresh planted tank to get this going quickly, it is recommended that you use some sort of fertilizer.
- Rule out liquid fertilizer as it will encourage algae, as algae doesn't have roots.
- Fertilizer tablets are a good option, they can be placed under the substrate next to each of your larger stem plants, clay can also be used as a DIY option.
- Alternately you could start with your first layer of substrate organic top soil(ammonia free) approximately 1 inch deep then add your substrate another 1 inch on top of that. Check your LFS(Local Fish Store) some stores will sell fertile substrates.

The Beginnings

Hi All,

First I thought I'd be wise to get as much information as I can, starting with subscribing to a forum where I can ask questions and read what other people have done, so I subscribed to fnzas. Make sure that when you subscribe to a forum it is local, for easier trades and many plants and fish are simply not available in every country.

I set my budget to $100NZD for a 60l Tank including light and filter. I searched on trademe, for weeks and found a few, but most where pick-up only and were located 8 hours drive from me. But some friends of mine who were also looking for a new large fishtank to upgrade, they were on trademe bidding on a tank I was there, the price went over their limit so I offered them $100 for their old tank. Its a great tank, 90 litres with built in Light and filter, they also threw in some driftwood.

Here is what it looks like so far.

My First Planted Fishtank

Hi everyone,

I have helped keep tropical freshwater fish before several years ago, but this time I want to dive in deeper(excuse the pun) .

I'll like to tell you a little about myself, I'm from a little town called Masterton, New Zealand. My main occupation is IT I have a few hobbies including Music, Kayaking and now, fish keeping.

My passion for fish, has been restarted, rather strangely...

I was on youtube searching for alternative fuels, as I just bought a new car and petrol prices are currently $1.84 per Litre in NZ, when I came across algae being one of those 'alternative fuels' a few more videos later I found, they were using CO2 to help the algae to grow, so I did some more youtube research on CO2 an found tropical fish tanks that use CO2 to help the plants grow, and these tank are amazing, take a look..

So now you know how it all started for me.

I will continue to post to this blog with details of what I have done to get my tank setup, hopefully in the end I will have an amazing looking tank. Subscribe to this blog and follow the progress of my first planted tank.