Hello, I would like to try a planted tank, but i have no clue how to start. I've been doing some research but i keep coming across terms like root tabs, water collum and substrate that I dont know. I have a 10 gallon tank that will have a betta after everything is planted and good. Any tips or help you can offer?
Hey @justanothersortasmartfangirl! :p Hopefully these explanations of the terms ‘root tabs’, ‘water column’, and ‘substrate’ help you out! :) If you need/want further explanation or need/want me to explain them to you in a different way, please let me know! :)
Root Tabs: small tablets or capsules of plant fertililzer that can be put into the substrate, under plants, that slowly release nutrients. Usually they’re used in tanks with sand substrate, but you can add them to any substrate! You can buy them commercially, from hobbyists, or diy them yourself!Water column: the water in your tank, basically….usually we refer to the tank’s water as the ‘water column’ because there are different levels of the ‘water column’: top, mid, and bottom. Some fish occupy the top level of the water column (like hatchets), some occupy the mid level of the water column (most school fish, like neon tetras), and others occupy the bottom of the water column (like corydoras). fun fact: you can usually tell what part of the water column a fish generally inhabits by looking at their mouth! Usually a fish’s mouth position determines where their food source is, and therefore where they spend a good amount of their time :) superior = top, terminal = middle, inferior = bottom. Another place that you might hear the term ‘water column’ is when people talk about cycling. A common myth is that beneficial (nitrifying) bacteria live in the ‘water column’ (aka the water in your tank), when they actually live on the surfaces in your tank!
Substrate: the ground cover at the bottom of your tank. Sand and gravel are ‘substrates’! There are also plant-specific ‘substrates’ like Fluorite or Eco-Complete or ADA Amazonia. If a tank has no ‘substrate’ then it is called a ‘bare-bottom’ tank :)
Planted tanks are awesome! I keep at least a few live plants in all my tanks! They help to take excess nutrients out of the water and look fantastic imo :)
Tidbits for Planted Tanks:
If there’s a specific substrate that you want / prefer / need: pick plants that work with that substrate! (ex: don’t get dwarf hair grass if you want gravel)
If there are specific plants you want: pick a substrate that will work with them. (ex: if you want amazon swords, pick a nutrient-rich plant substrate)
Some plant substrates leach ammonia for a few weeks. I believe that this is supposed to help your tank cycle and to give your plants some extra nutrients. If you use a substrate that leaches, a fishless cycle is recommended.
If you’re on a budget: sand is going to be your cheapest option, root tabs optional (depending on the plants you want to put in your tank).
Not all plants need to be planted: Marimos and banana plants don’t need to be planted, and sit on top of the substrate. Mosses can be left floating or tied/glued to things. Frogbit and duckweed float on the surface of the water. These kinds of plants do well in any tank, whether the substrate is gravel, sand, plant substrate, glass stones, barebottom, etc.
Some plants are ‘ root feeders’, meaning that they take most of their nutrients from the substrate. You can grow root feeders (like amazon swords) in sand (though they seem to prefer / grow larger leaves in plant substrate) they’ll just grow…really long roots lol when i put swords in my sand-only tank, they used more energy to grow roots than leaves! i had 12″ roots on a 3″ sword after a month or so! Adding root tabs to sand is a good idea if you want plants that are heavy ‘root feeders’.
Some plants are ‘water column’ feeders, meaning that they take most of their nutrients from the water in your tank. These plants can grow floating (like duckweed and frogbit) or be left floating or planted (like anacharis: you can stick it in the substrate or you can let it float).
Most root-feeders do best with a plant substrate, such as Fluorite
Most water-column-feeders aren’t picky and will do well with any substrate
Some plants have ‘rhizomes’, which is like a big fat horizontal ‘root’ that the smaller roots grow down from and the stems/leaves grow up from. Anubias and java ferns are popular rhizome plants! These plants can be superglued to stuff, tied to stuff, or planted. If you choose to plant your rhizome-plants be sure to bury only bury the roots, burying the rhizome may kill the plant.
Mosses can be left floating, superglued to stuff, or tied around stuff. Moss-covered driftwood is pretty popular!
Not all plants require fertilizer, but it usually doesn’t hurt to have some! Seachem Flourish is what I use, but there are probably quite a few more liquid fertilizers that are popular in the hobby. If you add inverts like shrimp to a tank, make sure that your fertilizer is safe for them!
Not all plants require CO2 (a tank that has CO2 (and usually high-lighting and lots of fertilizers) is referred to as a ‘high-tech planted tank’, a tank that has no CO2 (usually low to medium lighting, ferts optional) is referred to as a ‘low-tech planted tank’), but some plants (like dwarf baby tears) require CO2. Plants that require high light and CO2 aren’t usually recommended for beginners, but if you find that you really really really want a tank with a nice ‘carpet’ (some plants stay small and spread until they cover the whole layer of substrate; these plants are referred to as ‘carpeting plants’. popular carpeting plants include s. repens, dwarf baby tears, and dwarf hair grass.) and some other high-needs plants then do a ton of research and go for it! :)
Some plants require lots of one specific nutrient, like iron! Red plants and swords usually need more iron :) You can buy nutrient-specific supplemental fertilizers like Seachem Flourish Iron or Flourish Potassium.
Plants are usually labelled as ‘high-light’, ‘medium-light’, or ‘low-light’. Plants that grow under nearly any standard bulb or low-output LED light are usually ‘low-light’ plants (anubias, marimos, most mosses, anacharis). Some plants prefer a brighter light (like amazon swords), like a plant-specific light (like a finnex stingray or something like that). Others require very high light to survive and thrive.
The rating of a light (low, medium, or high) is usually measured in PAR (photosynthetically active radiation).
You may also hear about a certain light fixture’s “temperature”, which refers to the color spectrum of a light (some lights put off more blue or red light), which is measured in ‘Kelvin’.
You may sometimes hear lighting in terms of “watts per gallon”, which was a popular standard of measuring lighting output when most people used T5/T8 lighting (those long tube bulbs). As we’ve moved more and more into LED lighting, PAR has become a much more accurate way to measure light rating!
Sand vs Gravel, pros + cons
Getting the most out of aquarium plants
Plants melt and that’s okay
Big list of aquarium plants
List of low-light aquarium plants
Planted Tanks for Beginners and So Can You
Comprehensive Planted Tank Guide
An ask that lists some easy aquarium plants
How to superglue plants to stuff
How to set up a low-tech planted aquarium
Making your first foray into planted tanks
Plants 101 - How to set up a planted tank
Aquarium LED Lights (priced low to high):
Aquarium LED lighting reviews
Seachem Flourish Line (Flourish, Flourish Excel, Flourish Iron, Flourish Potassium, etc.)
Aquarium Co-op’s Easy Green (i’ve been wanting to try this out for a while…it’s on my aquarium wishlist! i’ve heard great things and another youtuber who grows and sells plants and was developing his own fertilizer formula said that the Easy Green Formula was quite close to his. If anyone has tried it, please leave a mini review!)
API Leafzone (I’ve seen some people on here who use it, but I haven’t personally used it. If you use this, please leave a mini review!)
Brighwell Aquatics’s FlorinMulti (I have some, but I haven’t used it yet. If you’ve used this product, please leave a mini review!)
Hopefully this info helps you out! :D Let me know if there’s anything you’d like me to clarify further! :) Feel free to share how your planted tank turns out!! :D
If anyone else has anything to add (posts, corrections, helpful tidbits), please do!
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