New 12 gallon Planted tank

[donJ]

Hi all,

My son wanted an aquarium for his birthday, so I dusted off the old Eclipse 12 I had stored away and he picked out 3 Danio Leapards at Big Al's.  I've always wanted a planted tank, so I'm looking at introducing some plants.  I was a cichlid guy so this is all new to me.  The Eclipse 12 is an all in one system.  Because of that, I am pretty limited in the light I can use...one T8 flourescent bulb.  I have a Zoo Med Tropical Sun in there right now.  I don't want to use CO2 and don't want to use fertilizer unless necessary.  My questions are:

1. Is there a better light I can use?  I am still in the window of exchange at Big Al's and can exchange the Zoo Med for something else.
2. What substrate should I use?  I have crushed coral in there now as this tank used to be a salwater tank.  I was looking at either Seachem Flourite or Langa aquarium soil because they seem to be the most economical.  I can't find too much info on the Langa aquarium soil but the guy at Critter Jungle told me it's exactly the same as Fluval Plant and Shrimp Stratum.
3.  What plants do people recommend for my set up? 

Thanks in advanced.

[charlie]

Welcome to OVAS.
I`ll try to provide some info that should help to get you going.
The light is the most important piece of equipment  as it relates to growing plants in the aquarium, the intensity/brightness will influence the type of plants you can keep as well as nutrients if required, the spectrum is less important and is commonly believed that any spectrum between 5000 - 10000 K will do the job.. In your case the stock Eclipse T8 Fluorescent may be 13 - 15 watts  this is considerable low and as such limits you to easy slow growing plants , such as Java ferns, Anubias , some moss, maybe some Crypts and some valls among others.
I can`t speak to the specific soil substrate you mention as i have no working  knowledge of it, but i doubt it`s exactly like Fluval, similar yes, as with most other soil based substrates each brand will have different ratios of ingredients that will influence different reactions.
One such reaction is releasing ammonia into the water column when first set up , this needs to be cycled to allow the safe introduction of fish etc. the plus ide , it provides ammonia for a fish less cycle
The crushed coral offers nothing for plants and works against everything that plants prefer - soft acidic water.
Regards

[donJ]

Hi Charlie.  Thank you for the weclome and for responding. 

You are correct, the Zoo Med Tropic Sun I have now is 15w.  Is there a better option with the set up I have?  I see that there is a Zoo Med Flora Sun T8 bulb that is dedicate to plants.  Would that make a huge difference?  I don't see much difference with my untrained eyes.

Regarding the substrate, perhaps I should go with Seachem since I have fish in there now and don't want to add ammonia.  Just curious though.  Is it worth it for me to get something more expensive like Caribsea eco complete?  Would it add anything?  I would think that I am pretty limited because of my lights and it wouldn't be worth it.

Thanks.

[charlie]

As mentioned the color or spectrum of the bulb is not of great importance more so with your tank, in my opinion anything between 5000 and 8000 would be fine.

Since it's just a 12 gallon tank, I would say any specialized planted substrate would be worth it since you don't require a lot of it.
Regards

[donJ]

Thanks again Charlie.  I have a plan now. Keep the light I have now and use the money to buy a bag of Seachem Flourite.  Can't wait to get some plants.

[bergenm]

I'm a bit confused by this post - looking for some insight...

With a low light tank, with no CO2, why would one want to use a nutrient rich base for plants? Wouldn't the extra nutrients just support black brush algae or some other algae that would out-compete the plants?

All my experience with plants (as limited as it is) says low light, low CO2 should be balanced with low nutrients.

Thoughts?

[charlie]

I'm a bit confused by this post - looking for some insight...

With a low light tank, with no CO2, why would one want to use a nutrient rich base for plants? Wouldn't the extra nutrients just support black brush algae or some other algae that would out-compete the plants?

All my experience with plants (as limited as it is) says low light, low CO2 should be balanced with low nutrients.

Thoughts?

A nutrient base substrate keeps the nutrient in the substrate and not in the water column where excess water column nutrients can cause algae issues.this will greatly aid in growing heavy root feeders such as crypts and swords etc., even stem plants that mostly grab their nutrients from the water column will benefit from it.
Substrates such as eco complete and Seachem Flourite  only offers mostly mineral content fresh from the bag, over time it will absorb the nitrogen and make it available through the sediment.
At least that`s my understanding of it.
http://spec-tanks.com/seachem-flourite-aquarium-substrate-review/

[bergenm]

Interesting, I've used inert clay and alluvial soil in the pond before to avoid algae blooms but I didn't realize they had similar products on the aquarium side.

Might have to give it a try.

Thanks for the explanation.