Aquarium question adding live plants

[griff7373]

So I bought my daughters a 55 gallon tank yesterday and my wife decided last night she wants to put plants in it for greenery. I have never done live plants in one as I used to only have Oscars and other aggressive fish in my tanks. I bought these last night from Amazon and am unsure how to care for them.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00U304LG6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I understand I need to weight them down with the rocks, I will be putting them in the tank before the fish so how do I care for them until the fish arrive do I need some type of fertilizer or what? I read that you can buy some substrate for them but I already bought rocks for the tank and dont want to have to return them since I live an hour away from the pet shop.
Any help would be appreciated.

 

[slowngreen]

Yeah you need fertilizer. You can buy little fertilizer pellets that would likely work ok but not as good as a substrate. What lighting are you planning to use? You "should" be ok without running co2 in your tank with those plants as they seem to be mainly beginner type plants. I'm not an expert on planted tanks as I was way more into reef, but mainly they need nutrients and good light.

This is the substrate I used in my 5g planted tank. Its small black clay pepples. Maybe you could keep the rocks but add small pockets of substrate just where the plants will go.
https://www.chewy.com/fluval-plant-shrimp-stratum-plant/dp/125136

I use that substrate in a 5g cactus tank too.

 

[WVNed]

All I ever managed to grow was algae.

 

[griff7373]

The lighting that came with the kit I read that they will work with the low light plants so I will put them on the corners and the main plants in the middle. Can I mix the substrate in with the rocks I purchased? I figured the poop from the fish would sustain the plants for fertilizer, but I guess not. Any recommendations on the substrate?

 

[slowngreen]

Yeah you should be good mixing fertilized substrate with yours. Id use the stuff I linked or just go to your local pet store and find some. The fish debri would likely be good though too if you add them soon. Might just get the pellets and put them in your gravel under the plants. They are like square tablets, like some orbit gum.

 

[griff7373]

Think I may try the pellets since the fish will go in soon.

https://www.amazon.com/ask/questions/asin/B000255QLG/2/ref=ask_dp_iaw_ql_hza?isAnswered=true#

These are what I am looking at looks like one per plant.

 

[slowngreen]

Should work. Good luck!

 

[olds97_lss]

My fish kept eating my plants, so I quit trying. They would start to grow, then the next day, the growth would be gone. Little algea eaters loved them. lol

 

[2GMitsubishi]

Oscars are Awesome fish to keep..
What kind of fish are you thinking of putting in the aquarium?

 

[griff7373]

what ever my girls want LOL, probably some tetras and rainbow fish along with some black mollys. This is going to be the family tank for now, since the Beta is on it's last leg.

 

[2GMitsubishi]

Makes sense. My kids were the same way when we had our 55gal.. Unfortunately my daughter chose a wolf cichlid and it killed my 12" Oscar lol

 

[griff7373]

never seen a Wolf Cichlid until now they are cool looking may be the fish for later once they grow tired of the tank and tell me I can do what I want with it. I am trying to keep them away from agressives for now so I can put as many in the tank as possible.

 

[2GMitsubishi]

Yeah they are the fish that hunt red belly piranhas lol
I've had good luck with goldfish and those dragon eel things.
Wish I had the money for saltwater.
Really nice fish in saltwater setups but its dam expensive too.

 

[Rolex]

All I ever managed to grow was algae.

Likewise, WVNed. I was also able to grow weary. I added a little algae eater and he's been really amazing at his job.

what ever my girls want LOL, probably some tetras and rainbow fish along with some black mollys. This is going to be the family tank for now, since the Beta is on it's last leg.

I recently gave away my Beta since I couldn't have anything but him in the tank. Gill Finley is now living with a neighbor and I have visitation rights. I now have some Cardinals, a couple of albino cats, a couple of white Mollys and a hard working algae eater. My Rainbow Shark hasn't been seen in a few weeks.

 

[olds97_lss]

I liked rainbow sharks. They tend to like to be in pairs. They like to chase each other. Like loaches

 

[grgbulldog]

What kind of lighting kit did you get for the tank? That makes a huge difference in everything else you will do substrate wise. I'm about to plant a 55 and I will be using miracle gro organic potting mix, red clay for iron, and i will be capping it with pool filter sand. That's less than 20 bucks for substrate. I've never been able to keep plants with root tabs or osmocote fertz.

I may be experimenting cheaply with cfls but will probably end up with a finnex fixture as the 55 is so deep.

 

[griff7373]

Not sure whatever lighting came with the tank, the reviews of the set up said people have had good luck with plants using the lights that came with it. I am aminly doing the plants to appease the wife if she can put a plant in something she is going to try. We bought some beginner low light plants see how they do, the room gets plenty of sun light in the mornings.

 

[griff7373]

Don't joke on the pink castles please, they where my daughters choice one for each of them. So now it's set up temp is holding around 76 degrees, when can I add my fish? Used to be I would set up the tank and drop my oscars about 24 hours later, this one has been in operation for 24 hours now.

 

[grgbulldog]

24 hours is good. Just don't add very many fish at first. Do you have dechlorinator for water changes?

Tank looks good. I have a similar kit. Looking forward to getting it going soon.

 

[griff7373]

Thank you may buy 10 of the little neon tetra fish tomorrow to get it started. I do not have any chemicals for the tank I have a deep well over 400 feet so no chemicals are added from the city, good thing living in the country.