So, I'm buying my father a 55 gallon tank for his birthday. He has always kept fish and still does to this day however they are Koi and are cold water. Im buying him a tropical set up. Im planning on Stocking the tank for him with fish and plants as it will be a planted tank as well. He does not know im doing this but i know he has been wanting to start one of these tanks for a while so atleast im going to get something he wants! lol. Anyway I know he has said in the past he wants an Undergravel filter.. So thats a No on sand.. So im going to use Flourlite or flormax what ever the name is now LOL. Anyway what im thinking is a UG filter will draw all the junk down to the bottom and by proxy should feed the plants easier... however will the roots grow down through is this a bad idea? Also He is an older fella... so he does not believe in the high lighting everyone else in the world believes in... However Co2 is fine.....(we wont even talk about the catch 22 there...) So what other way can i get plants to grow? i know some are low light but will the light that comes with the tank support life? No idea of the K rating as its just a 4ft bulb thats not in my hands at the moment.

So i guess my questions in a nut shell are
What can i do to make plants grow without light And as long as i can convince him No Co2.

the undergravel filter is it a no go?
thanks so much for reading and any help i get !


(ps please excuse my typing and grammar as im awful at both LMAO with no excuse for myself!)

Happy birthday to your father! :D

Now, I'm not 100% sure on this, but I think that with most plants, UGFs are a bad idea. A lot of plants don't like the flow near their roots, so I don't know of many people who have UGFs and plants in the same tank... There are some plants that don't spread their roots in the gravel--plants like java fern and anubias will anchor to decorations--but they don't usually get very big.

There are many plants that grow well in low-light setups. You might have to buy a bulb that says it's for plants, but they are easy to find and some of them don't put out much light. It really has more to do with the spectrum rather than intensity of the light. UV bulbs put out the spectrum that is appropriate for plants, but they offer varying degrees of brightness.

Some plants that would grow very well in low lighting and without CO2 would be wisteria (I sing its praises! I have a LOT of it in my tanks, and it's growing very well), crypt plants, anubias, java fern (and crested java fern), and compacta. Stay away from amazon swords... They're often touted as good beginner plants, but mine died because of the low lighting. Come to find out, they really do prefer intense light, so just avoid them if you don't want to crank up the illumination.

I've heard a lot of people say that dwarf hair grass is good, but it's a tad hard to find and it might require CO2. Not sure on that.

If you want to give your plants a healthy boost, get a liquid aquarium plant fertilizer or aquarium plant root tabs (available at most pet stores). Adding that should supply all the nutrition they would need (other than waste products from the fish, of course).

Odds are someone with way more experience will come along and answer your questions about the UGF, but that's just what I know about it. Good luck!

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You can make your own ug filter with pvc pipe and still grow plants. I made one for my 90. Then put the plants where the pipe doesn't run.

How I did mine was to take the pipe and connected them with elbows and 2 connectors shaped as a Y. On the Y connector you will have pieces going up the back so far and use power heads on each riser. I used small powerheads for this. On the pieces that go around the bottom I used a drill to put holes all over then covered with small gravel then topped with other substrate. Works great that way.

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It sounds to me like you are wanting to buy the tank, set it up and stock it all at once. You will need to cycle it first which can take 6 to 8 weeks. I suggest you read up on the nitrogen cycle. Personally I prefer to use a fish-less cycle as using fish is cruel. This will mean adding some form of ammonia regularly until it is cycled, you can use fish food. Don't add fish until it is fully cycled, you will need to check the chemistry regularly.

As an oldie I would have preferred an underground filter once but I don't rate them any more, my preference is for a good quality canister filter, quiet and easy to clean.

There are plenty of low light plants but you might want to look at an African cichlid tank, then you can use just rocks, plants get ripped up by cichlids so don't use them unless artificial.

Please do lots of research and talk to lots of experienced people and good luck

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Chris
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It's nice what you are doing for your dad. I have been keeping fish since age 5 and now am retired and at last have time to mess with them.
As others have stated, avoid the undergravel filter! They cause more problems than they solve. Today you can buy terrific canister filters and even hang behinds that do an efficient job without driving the chemistry over the wall.
No matter what filter you use 50-75% weekly water changes will keep them all happy.

You can grow plants with low light, just make sure they are low light plants. This might help:
PG: Setting up your first planted tank - PlantGeek.net

I personally am not a fan of the under gravel filters,just because I feel that a canister does way better.I have one on two of my tanks and will soon be looking to place another in one soon.


As for low light plants there are many options.Non CO2, Non Excel, Low-tech planted tanks - UltimateBettas
That link is a great write up on doing a low tech setup which I think would be perfect for your dad considering the lack of wanting a high light setup.

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majerah1, nice link.

UGF's are fine in planted tanks, but your plants won't grow as fast. I've set up 2 planted tanks with UGF's and have had no problems, but my plants didn't grow half as fast as without.

Consider Craigslist - great deals on already set up, already established tanks. All you would have to do is move it (not much harder than buying everything new, and MUCH cheaper!).

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Officially fishless until after the move....tune in later for details!

so I scored a tank 55gallon with stand light and filter with some deco for 50 bucks. and was only about 5 miles from my house. Tank is filled with water in my garage awaiting a water holding test. the filter i will use on a different tank the deco will most likely get put into a box as im building the deco for this tank.. was a fantastic Find!!! so happy for craigslist LOL. the Light i might not use either as im scoping out a 4x t5ho for this tank. found one for a great price.. already started building the Co2 for it.. ive decided since im buying the crap im buying the good light so he can grow more plants. lol thinking the watts are 150 area.. more then enough. thanks guys for all the help!!!!!!!

Most don't talk watts when talking about T5HO. I would scope down on it though. I have a 2X54W T5HO setup on my 75g. It is enough to grow anything I want to. If you put a 4X setup on your tank, even with CO2, you will experience some issues. Just a recommendation.

Although I don't use UG anymore I do like them. Still have about 10 left I just seem to always have other ideas. What I use to do for plants is cut out little rounds from a plastic lid to put under where I wanted the plant. Worked like a charm and never stunted the growth. You just can't put to many down or you nullify the UG totally.