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I all
Im thinking of setting up a tank purely for plants and need starting help. 4ftx1x1
Is it any different to a tank with fish?
this is why.. the whole story.
I have two small tanks, one at work one at home, I keep wantign to branch out into a decent one for home, but the expense is holding me back as well as a niche in my for the tank. Word got around and a friend has offered me a 4ftx1x1 tank that he used as a terrarium. its badly scratched and not much chop for displaying fish. But I thought when I do get a real tank and id like to put some more plants in the home and work and my brother is thinking about a tank too, it would be nice to have a bunch of ready made plants to put in them. they aint cheap here, so growing my own etc maybe worth setting up.
then I looked at the cost of all the filters and gear and its that that has been holding me back a bit re the big fish tank for home.

So do I need all that gear?
i need the lights
i need the heater..
all i can piece together from bitsnbobs.
I figure i need water flow
the filter etc.
I can make a CO2 easy
is it best to grow them fully submerged?
or some water with a high mist environment.
thoughts please?
fast growing, buy some plants feed em steroids them grow em and split em and growem some more

thoughts?

My 5footer
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Well to start I guess I should say this is IMHO...

You will definately need lights, a heater, a good substrate, and some sort of filtration so that the water doesn't become stagnant.

Different plants require different amounts of light.
All of the lights IMO should be within 5500K - 6700K range.
1.5watts-2watts per gallon and you will be able to grow things like Anubias and java moss...no need for CO2 at that light level though as your plants won't be able to utilize it. I would consider 2watts-3watts medium light and your plants will definately start benefiting from CO2 at that intensity...Wisteria, Tiger Lotus, Anacharis, Hornwort are some of the common ones in my area. 3watts + I would consider high intensity...and at this level is where ferts become really important.

Some of the plants like anubias grow very slow, others like Hornwort and Anacharis can grow an full inch or more per day! I guess you need to figure out how much care you want to put into trimming...and what are you going to do with all the trimmings once your tank gets full.

I'd be glad to help some more if you are interested. And I'm sure some of the guys that have been on here a few years have many other ideas as well.

Good luck!

Many thanks for your reply, you have summarised in 2 paragraphs what has taken me 2-3 days of endless reading to sift out. I’m still on the seesaw of whether to jump and grab this tank or not, I don’t have the space to just store it on the off chance I might use it.
I also realised early on that although I may be able to create perfect growing conditions for any plant in this tank, once it had grown and then moved into the fish tanks it wouldn’t get the right light, as most of those tanks would be in the 1-2w/gal. So my main objective, which was to quickly grow lots of plants maybe unstable.
I have read that I can make a trickle filter rather than the more compact but expensive canister type and I have some heaters. Im a little bit of an experimenter .
I guess it falls down to one question.
Low light to medium plants only because of where they are going to end up.
If I pump in CO2, ferts and 3 watts will it grow Anubias and java moss quicker?
I could with some smarts shade off the faster growing plants but again im falling into that same “false?” theory.
Does light intensity, CO2 n ferts “control” the speed of growth.
Ie
Buy some initial plants, grow em and split em like billyo then when its all tanked up back it all off till the “real fish tank” is ready for it all. But it seems my control freakish nature does not match nature?

The other thought in my head is that my kids tank just gave birth to Guppies so I now have my cycling fish and an overflow of fish to use in the plant tank to keep algae down (guppies are not bad at this job).
So its coming more around to being a trial of sorts for the pending real tank. Without the pressure of the get it right first time. I can swap with substrates for eg, fiddle with filters, play with pumps.

Not exactly orthodox


My 5footer
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