I've just set up one of my 24" hospital tanks to learn and test what I need to know and do as I'm going to switch from my well-known 'pots' set-up for my goldies to full planted aquascapes. So it's for me to find out exactly what works and doesn't and what's required, eg substrate, fertilisers, lights, cleaning, algae-control etc etc.

I've put some little Danios and Silver Tip Tetras in it as guinea pigs as I didn't want to use any of my babies as test goldies! Don't worry, the Tetras actually really like it and have already bred and laid eggs!

Well, here it is on the first day of set-up last Thursday:



And here it is yesterday after 5 days:



It's growing a bit *too* well for just 5 days methinks! I'd have to be pruning heavily once a week at this rate! So maybe I can tone it down a bit, reduce the lights and stuff...

Anyway, it's sitting on my desk, so it can be viewed from either side. Here's the other side which is what I look at while I'm in my chair:



Once I'm sure I've got everything worked out and I know what I'm doing, I'll be doing up my goldie tank/s and hopefully be able to post a step by step thread as I go to help anyone here who'd like to know how to set up their own planted goldie tanks.

That is a beautiful tank!

Arent you worried about the goldies rooting around and eating the fertillizers? Or uprooting the plants?

Either way, its amazing, and I know they will love it when you landscape their tanks.

Tha tank looks beautiful. I have my 55 gallon heavily planted, and the goldies love it so much. When i first planted the tank, they ate a bunch of the plants, but after a week, they seemed to not care for them much. Just wanted to warn you about that one. If you have good lights and good nutrition for the plants, they should grow fast enough to were the plants wont die off by the time the goldies are done munching at them. Now when I add new plants, they dont seem to care very much. They do love to play in them though.

The tank looks awsome. Are you using a Co2 injector? I have my plants currently in a rubber maid due to salt treatment in my tank, and im experimenting with my plants. I have really good lights and the plants grow like crazy, but i wanted to know how a Co2 injector would work on the plants. So far, so good. Im gonna see how the PH fluctuats and everything.

Cant wait to hear your step by step on how to plant the goldie tank. It sounds soo exciting. I think heavily planted tanks are beautiful.

Really nice, your plants grow really fast. Would you mind telling what kind of fertilzer you use and what kind of plants those are?

Thanks.

Ack! I knew someone was going to ask me a difficult question! Actually, it a simple question, but the answer is complicated because the ferts are part of what I'm experimenting with and still working out.

But here's the current list:

After water change:
Potassium Sulphate (K2SO4 crystal powder - available from plant nurseries)
Iron Chelate (also available from plant nurseries, or you could use Seachem Flourish Iron or similar)
AZOO Plant Hormones x 3 - Auxin, Zeatin & Gibberellin
And soon to add Seachem Flourish Nitrogen (or you could use Potassium Nitrate - KNO3)

Daily:
Seachem Flourish Excel
AquaMaster Plant Food (soon to change to Seachem Flourish plant food)

At the moment for a Nitrogen supply, I'm just transferring water from my goldie tank which has high nitrates. Yes! I need to ADD nitrates! But that's proving just too much hard work, so I've ordered Seachem Nitrogen liquid instead. Obviously adding nitrate won't be necessary on the goldie's tanks as they generate more than enough for any plant's needs.

Also, on the goldie tanks I'll have to dose the Iron Chelate daily instead of weekly because the UV steriliser oxidises it quickly and renders it useless.

Quite an expensive shopping list! Throw in all the CO2 equipment and this planted aquascaping hobby's not a cheap adventure.

Anyway, to answer your question about what types of plants, here's a picture summary I did on the first day of set up. On the left side:



And on the right:

And now after all that fertiliser talk, it's time to say thanks very much Chisower, Jessica and Yin. I really appreciate your positive feedback!

Chisower, it should be okay, but what I am worried about right now is accidently overdosing while I'm still learning, which is why I'm using this separate tank. But I think if the plants are growing big and strong enough, they should be okay with even big goldies. I've already had some success with planted pots doing well in with the goldfish. See here for a pic.

Jessica, same here! With my current goldie set-ups (with all the plants in pots) all except two fish totally ignore the plants and leave them alone and they do well. I think maybe the biggest problem people have is the plants being uprooted as the fish tug on them or dig around in the gravel. Plants don't do well if you have to keep replanting them as fast as the goldies knock them loose!

I do use CO2 gas (cylinder) on my tanks, both this test one and the main goldie tank. It's just guesswork adjusting the amount on this test tank to get the right pH, but with high KH (I've raised mine to 10) you can get the pH pretty stable.

For peace of mind, I wouldn't risk doing that on my goldfish tank because of the chance of overdosing CO2 and crashing the pH, so their tank has a pH controller and solenoid to switch it on and off to keep the pH exact. I also wouldn't risk using DIY yeast CO2 either as those seem to fluctuate so much depending on if it's fresh or just about to expire and your pH would be flying all over the place and you've got to be adjusting the bubble rate constantly. Okay if it's just plants in there, but not your pet fish!

Thanks again everyone!

Your test tank looks great, and I am looking forward to seeing your goldie tank all planted.

In my heavily planted goldfish tank (66 gallon), I dose nitrogen every day since even the goldies don't produce enough of it!

Another beautiful tank, Awrieger! You really have a talent for aquascaping. I'll be waiting for your "step by step" thread!

This is a really interesting thread! Your plants are flourishing - makes me wanna rush out and buy some fertilizers....

Thanks Soup and Touchofsky (wow, you need to get more goldfish to up those nitrates! Never thought I'd hear myself say something like that! lol)

Benno, speaking of flourishing.. this pic is Day 9. Yep, just a bit over a week since that first pic:



Which is honestly not that much of an achievement. Basically, with over 7 watts of light per gallon, and high CO2 (30 ppm), any plant will grow rampant up to two inches a day. The real achievement and difficulty is ensuring they have sufficient nutrients to keep the plants healthy, which I was struggling with at that speed of growth. Lots of deficiencies being shown in new leaf growths there.

So this next pic is about 15 minutes later after I trimmed the stem plants on both sides and reduced the light by half (basically removed one of the 55w tubes) so it's now a more acceptable but still high 3.5 watts per gallon:



The growth from now on should still be quite good, but not near as fast as before now. Hopefully making it more easy to manage the nutrients and keep them balanced. Since I did this a few days ago, the plants are now getting adequate nutrients and the leaves are going a deeper green.

It look beautiful Angie, maybe I'll plant a tank one day but I'll wait until I go tropical, I think.

what kind of substrate are you using? gosh your tank looks to nice.. I hope my 40 looks that good when Im done

Thanks Annette, that may be a good decision. This is the first time I've had small tropicals for years and when it comes to the plants, it's like they're not even there! Soooo different to goldies!!

Magick, thanks! I'm using Caribsea Eco-Complete. From what I've read, the best choice is between that and Seachem's Fluorite. But I prefer Eco-Complete because it's deep black while Fluorite's a sort of reddish brownish mud colour. Eco looks like real dirt (but it isn't)!

I look forward to seeing your own tank when it's done!

WowEee! Gorgeous! you have the magic touch! I'm about to start a planted tank for the first time... if mine looks 30% as good as yours, I will be thrilled!

I ordered that Eco-Complete to get started - partly because of the blackness of it and partly because I am adding killifish which need some blackwater...

But, really, another superb tank!