Craig wrote:
Hi all, im new to plants in the aquarium (the uk has a tradition of
UG
filters, so plants are a no no)

But, ive just set up a new (bloody snail free) tank, 30 gallons,
fitted
a big clip on filter and am looking to get some plants.

Excellent! I was standing in the same spot a few months ago. I'd just
set up my 55g again, and like before, used the uplift tubes and had
UGF. Through reading, I've now gone to a pre-filtered (inlet filter
made from filter floss and rubber bands) RUGF on one half and a
standard hang on back AquaClear in the other corner.


I have had a look around the news groups and it seems that everyone
is
using co2 (ive been away from fish keeping or a few years, it was in
its
infancy when i last saw it) and i just wondered is it essential to
have
this set up in a tank. (i mostly keep cichlids and would like to keep
the outlay to plants and lights for this tank if its possible)

Yup, yup, me too. I read up on it, but really wondered about the
people who would go to such great lengths. Kinda obsessed they were,
it seemed.


I currently have a gravel bed, a plant growing lighting tube (it was
reccomended by the lfs,) cant remember the name, a filter and so on.

Ditto. I got two new coralife tubes for my birthday in October. 30
watts total! (Wanted to have some really great light for those plants
I would soon buy)


will this do to grow a few plants in a community tank or am i going
to
have to fork out top dollar to get a healthy looking tank?

Yes and yes, I say with a Chesshire grin.


Cheers for any help you can give Craig


Help? There is no help. You've just taken the first steps down a road
with no return. Your next paragraph is your prophecy I'm afraid.

(also, i know from fish keeping that im sure this will balloon into a
mass spending spree where i end up with an aquatic rain forest in the
end, but id like to keep it small to start, lol... my god, thats how
i
ended up with a bloody oscar in a 4' tank by itself )


Snicker, giggle.
Chuckle, snorph.

(Guy started with a guppy in a 10 litre tank and it soon turned into an
Oscar, that he named Ferguson, in a 200 litre tank!)

Craig, Like I said earlier, I got started up again after being
tankless for a couple of years. I set up the 55g with a couple of neon
tetras, cory cats and a couple of Angel fish. Then, I read about some
low light plants I could keep; Java moss and Java fern. Those looked
okay. I read about C02, but really wondered if it would be worth it.
I had a conversation with my son one day, as I was updating him on the
fish tanks in the back room. I told him about C02, and I'd avowed not
to go to that extreme. I further explained to him, that didn't want to
fuss with yeast, and surely wasn't going to fork out $250 for a full
pressurized set up! Good lord! Such insanity! For a plant!

Now, just two months later, I've got a 5lb tank supplying 80 bubbles
per minute to a Hagen diffuser ladder for a C02 level of 20 ppm. I add
Potassium Nitrate in small amounts as well as Potassium Phosphate and
other trace elements. Of course, I HAD to do this because my tank was
full of every exotic specie of plant I could find in Washington. A
veritable Tarzanian jungle of Crypts, Swords, grasses, Ludwiga, Rotala
and others. http://www.geocities.com/erviservy/dwarfgrass.jpg
Why did I have so many plants? Well of course, to make the java moss
grow faster I first bought a JBJ 36 watt, 6,700 lumen fixture for one
end of the hood, directely over the fern and moss. Well, the fixtures
went on sale a while later so I bought another. Then the tank lighting
was out of balance so I bought a retro fit kit and put together a 65w,
10,000 "Light of a Super Nova" fixture on the other hood. With all
that light, I had algae growing in epic proportions! I HAD to add C02
so the plants could utilize the nutrients, and therefore starve out the
algae.

Sorry my friend, either stop now with your guppy tank and some java
moss, or prepare for the long haul. There is no middle ground for
those like us.

Sincerely,
steve "20 gallon tank with Apistogramma Borellii fry, 20 gallon tank
with the angels and some neons, 55 gallon tank with some neons, the
breeding pairs of Borellii, cory cats, ottos, and now SHRIMP!)