hi all, total noob here. i'm planning to buy those small ocean-free aquarium starter kit which is selling at ikano. i'm interested in this aquascaping. i'm planning to put guppies only.

is co2 system necessary for a small tank? will the plants live without the co2. i'm planning to put some small quantities of plants + ada soil.

thanks in advance.

Hi ! welcome to the club. there are only some plants can live without co2 supply. example Anubias Nana and Java Fert. in your case, u plan to buy ada soil is just for lower down the pH value. if u intend to plan carpet plant like Japanese Hairgrass, glosso or even HC. forget about it, they are require co2 supply. however you can DIY co2 supply actually. all you need is just about rm10 for the material. 2 packs of sugar, pack of yeast ,few softdrinks bottles and some tubing.

ic, ic. noted. thanks. i'll google more on these anubias nana & java fern.

or you can do something more interesting..



low tech aquarium.. very cheap very beautiful setup for those who likes el-natural approach.i have one aquarium like this that i setup at my balcony.. the system receive nutrient from natural sunlight. The plants will provide some oxygen and cleans the water efficiently. the fishes looks healthy and i only use one small pump to add aeration and circulation. I use water lilies, umbrella plant and other marsh plants.
i dont have the picture right now but here is where i take my inspiration from.. http://www.tuncalik.com/2009/09/biotope-in-my-study/

for smaller setup u can search for walstad method.. it uses the same philosophy.

This post has been edited by myvi5949: Mar 22 2011, 03:00 PM

wow. ok. walstad method. thanks for the tip.

is ADA soil suitable for walstad method or plants like pegaga or kiambang? if suitable, maybe i'll put pegaga plant or kiambang plant.

This post has been edited by gwendoLYN: Mar 23 2011, 12:12 PM

bro, pegaga or kiambang no need ada soil to grow... waste money investing of ada soil only for these plants...

Is it possible to setup one inside bedroom?
Where sunlights are not possible to comes in....

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Added on March 23, 2011, 6:10 pmWanna build this as beginner
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/myTanks/...-simplesue.html

This post has been edited by l3iTi: Mar 23 2011, 06:10 PM

Walstad mehod use top soil u can buy from gardening store.. some people use clayballs too. Layer the medium with pebbles and sand.. It can get a bit messy if ur not familiar using top soil as medium.

guys as i was saying last time.i got the cabinet n set up a 100 gallon tank ready.nw planing to get a xxl size driftwood n attach arond 10 pcs of hardy plants.lights will be T5.no gravel.no ferts.no CO2.so plants nw i got plans for java fern,anubias nana and another nice plant(wic i dono the name).so anymore hardy plant that can survive this cond?

basically its bare tank with a huge driftwood wich has plants on it.

PS:i finally decided how to keep both monster fishes n plants together.im keeping rays and other stuff.they dun dig the plant tho.

I think it'll work, the monster fish should leave the plants on the driftwood alone.
But I'm not so sure about the plan with no ferts. Last time I didn't put ferts, my plants only lasted 2 weeks. But those weren't slow growing plants la.
My advice is that if you really don't want to put fertilizers, then do more water changes. The small amount of minerals and iron added in each water change should be enough to keep them green, I hope...

This post has been edited by radver: Mar 24 2011, 09:17 AM

With proper soil the plant will continue growing? I'm very interested to make a plat tank to put my bettas, but i don't know where to start. How frequent do we need to change the water?

This post has been edited by kuekwee: Mar 24 2011, 09:30 AM

Welcome to planted tank !
I am keeping around 15 bettas in my planted tank, with some fire red shrimps.
I change water once a week, each time 20%.
betta does not requires frequent water change but if ammonia level in water is too high then shrimps or betta might die.
By the way, ammonia is produce by ...... please read the front page of this forum
Gather more information before starting to buy stuff.
It might can save you tons of money

anyone looking for co2 tank?
i am selling few units of new co2 tank 4kg for rm200 each.
kindly Pm me know if you want.
Thank you

Female bettas???

i think got 10 males with 2 females.
i dont put so many female because they are not colorful enough.
Male got 2 yellow, 2 red, 2 dark blue, 2 elders .... not sure d.
Gonna go shop for more variety of guppies this saturday

hi guys im just new to aquascaping. I have this 3 ft tank...kinda huge i think to fully invest in aquascaping. Was wondering could i use half of the materials needed to only deco half of my tank.,...cheaper abit ler. Anw do u guys know where i could got bargain for ADA soils?
and if i only do mosses, java ferns and nana's,can i just do it witout co2?

hopefully someone could give advice pls.

ADA amazonia still out of stock because of their product issue
After earthquake and tsunami, I dont think it will be available so soon
Maybe u can use ADA africana? Which color is not nice. Some ppl hate it very much
ADA soil price is almost same (not sure about ikano and Midvalley)

So many male bettas in the tank, no fighting among each others meh?

Nopes. I think as long as not too crowded then should be ok

Are you sure they are bettas??? Any pictures???

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Added on March 24, 2011, 8:53 pmA lot complained about Africana, better don't buy it. ADA Amazonia is the only way to go IMO.

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Added on March 24, 2011, 9:00 pmIf you want cheap and from the list of plants you gave, you can do without ADA soil. Just use some cheap gravel and depend on water column fertilization to keep the plants healthy.

Tie the plants that you listed out on a piece of driftwood and finish. Just put some Yamato Shrimp in after a week or so to control the algae. And buy some liquid fertilizers and start dosing after 1 week to 3 weeks.

This post has been edited by radver: Mar 24 2011, 09:00 PM

radver : at last i found jlb ferropol 100ml at ikano.very hard to get this.already searching 88pet and other aquariumshop unfortunately feropol 24 still not available. this ferropol need to be dosage weekly or daily?


weije: co2 tank?u got my pm