New starter

[Yacka76]

Hi all, I have a 3ft tank and planning to have a few plants in it to go with bogwood,
red moor wood I.e roots, plus a sand bottom,I have never kept plants before so I am a beginner.Has anyone got any recommendations on what type of plants I could purchase and what type of lighting would I need, the fish I keep are South American, eg..cichlids,plecs and other numerous South American fish.....

Thanks in advance.

 

[Andy D]

I would suggest starting with some pretty robust plants like Java Fern and Anubias. There are a few varieties of each to choose from. Both of these types of plant can be tied to wood/stone to prevent the Plec from uprooting them.

They are not too fussy on lighting so it does not need to be too powerful. Also keep the lighting period to about 5/6 hours to begin with and invest in some ferts.

 

[steveno]

Second everything Andy has suggested... as you have a sand substrate, any ferns and anubias plants ties to your wood will give a instance hit, as would moss. Also if your wood is new suggest attached to some rocks and weights which can be hidden under your substrate. Also consider staying low tech until you get the hang of things, going high tech (adding C02) and bright light can bring with it a host of problems which will make or break it for you.

Filtration is very important, a good rule of thumb is 10x water changes per hour, but good placement intake and out is important to ensure you get flow everywhere around your tank. this will also push any ferts you add around tank. In terms of ferts you buy premixed which is convenient but can get expensive. it quite cheap to mix your own refer to one of the site

 

[hazeljane]

Second everything Andy has suggested... as you have a sand substrate, any ferns and anubias plants ties to your wood will give a instance hit, as would moss. Also if your wood is new suggest attached to some rocks and weights which can be hidden under your substrate. Also consider staying low tech until you get the hang of things, going high tech (adding C02) and bright light can bring with it a host of problems which will make or break it for you.

Filtration is very important, a good rule of thumb is 10x water changes per hour, but good placement intake and out is important to ensure you get flow everywhere around your tank. this will also push any ferts you add around tank. In terms of ferts you buy premixed which is convenient but can get expensive. it quite cheap to mix your own refer to one of the site

Filtration is very important but 10xwater changes per hour

Andy i would agree with what has already been said.

Stu.

 

[steveno]

Apologies my PC died on me last night as I was typing. Should had said check some of the site sponsors regarding mix your owns ferts/salts.

Regarding filteration, perharps I should have added, while 10x water changes per hour seem high, once you have a filter that can provide this, adding filter media will reduce it some what. In my 120l tank I have a 1200ex filter which should provide 1200l change per hour, but I found it is much less. So have actually added a power head to improve. Also consider that hardscape can also restrict flow.

Hope this helps