Plants in a new tank

[bonfiliof]

My new 10 gallon tank is almost 2 weeks along. Things are going pretty good, the nitrite is a small bit over, but coming down.

I want to add some live plants, when would be a good time to do this?

[1fish2fish]

Any time :)

[bonfiliof]

Great thanks...the "not so smart" person at Petsmart told me 8 weeks before adding a plant


Any suggestions for a good plant type to start with?

[dramaqueen]

Plants will help your cycle.

[ScuitoAmi150]

I like the Aqua Fern that Petco sells.

[1fish2fish]

I don't buy any plants from the big box stores because they're known to mislabel the plants.

What is your WPG? (watts per gallon).. divide the wattage of your bulb by the # of gallons in your tank. This will give us a rough estimate of what type of plants your looking at.

[dr2b]

I agree with what 1fish2fish said. Many people make the mistake of not doing this, and then their plants die due to lack of wattage. When you figure out the wattage, it will open you up to a good idea of what you can get.
You also need to be sure you get the correct light bulb for your tank. Some tanks come with incandescent light bulbs. You ned to get daylight spectrum CFL bulbs for live plants. Also, like Dramaqueen said, it does make your cycling process easier.