Argh... What Plants To Choose...

[Canis-Equus]

My head hurts!

Ok... 15g tank (well, nearly, if you dont count the sand as taking up water space...).

Currently we have sand substrate (argos play sand), theres a couple of cryptocorynes in there rescued from the last pants attempt at this, and some lily thing the name of which escapes me...(although that may not have survived last i looked).

The sand is cleverly arranged into a steep hill at one end, low at the other (with sneaky use of hidden plastic barriers to keep it where it should be).

Im in need of something that will carpet, to keep the hill where it ought to be, and was thinking hairgrass.

I have a rock arrangement at the bottom of the hill sloping in the opposite direction and would like moss up that, and something leafy and 'bushy' behind/around.

Lighting is currently two 11w arcpods...

Can possibly squeeze another light into the hood (i think it will survive one more diy/butchery session).

Have got a CO2 doodad, one of the cheapy ones.... intend on getting a diffuser from aqua essentials.

Currently no one lives in there, its filtered with a really titchy internal however i have a small HOB that i can use on it as well./instead of (just need to scrape out all the foul dried up dead duckweed that killed the last version of this tank dead).

So...... help? Pretty please with flowers on?

Em

 

[DevUK]

hmn, well... Carpeting plant you might try something like Marsilea hirsuta. It comes with a sort of clover leaf, but that dies off and it produces small round leaves. Spreads quite quickly though.

Theres always Gloso or HC but both are a bit notorious for being difficult to grow. Make a great carpet though

As for moss, I'm thinking of getting some flame moss soon, which looks great. Maybe consider some weeping moss, or fissendens looks fantastic too (a little pricey).

 

[Ilya]

I bought a Java Fern. They are so hardy! When I first bought it, I thought it was ugly. But now, it's my favorite plant of all!

Oh, and I recommend you add big piece of bogwood. It won't be complete without a bogwood!

 

[Canis-Equus]

Im seriously contemplating swapping the rocks for bogwood.... im just happier with bogwood.... maybe Ill steal the bit the evil eel has upstairs..... its nice and was previously in that tank.... hmm..

Cant do both, would definately look wrong and really ith the 'hill' and the rocks there isnt room. Ah well, something to ponder this morning whilst im getting my hair done, heehee.

 

[Ilya]

There are plenty of plants that grow on bogwood. You can even grow a moss lawn on bogwood. And if you were planning on making a cave with rock. You can do that with bogwood. It's all naturally perfect.

 

[DevUK]

You could use the bogwood as a retaining wall too. I've seen this done several times and will probably do it in my 18x12x12" tank I'll be setting up soon

 

[Canis-Equus]

Nonono... i think you misunderstand..... bogwood i like, in fact i like it more than rocks but the rocks i HAVE, i like a lot..... so im torn between one or t'other... and it really wont work with both (ill have to find the camera and photo what i have got).

Do i need to add another light in there? Im totally flummoxed by lighting rules and working out wpg etc (i hate to pull this card, but i do 'pretty' and i dont do 'maths'... longhand for that is, im extremely dyslexic with numbers, ive read the useful stickied posts on such subjects but it means as much to me as i dunno what!).


Em

 

[DevUK]

ok, you have 2 arcpods at 11w each, so thats 22watts over 15 gallons. WPG is calculated by taking your watts and dividing it by gallons. So 22/15 = 1.46wpg.

Now, add into this that smaller tanks usually need higher light, you might benefit from a 3rd arcpod, or even ditch the arcpods and get an Interpet Compact T5 light. I'm not sure how long your tank is, but for instance the 36w interpet light is 18" long (I'm about to get one of these myself). 36w light would give you 2.4wpg.

Ok, this is all depending on what sort of plants you want to grow, and your fertilisation. One piece of advice I'd give is overload your tank with fast growing stem plants (which are cheap to buy thankfully). This will curtail any algae outbreaks (hopefully). After a month you'll be able to reduce the amount of fast growers and start planting the plants you actually want

 

[Underwurlde]

I second that advice from Mr.DevUK:

If it's a new planted tank set up, start off with 'starter plants' - algae busters and lots of them. Then once your tank is established and things are STABLE (esp CO2), then GRADUALLY remove those starter plants for the ones you want. (It is still a good idea to keep some algae busters in there all the time).

Andy

 

[DevUK]

I second that advice from Mr.DevUK:

I speak from painful experience I started off with mostly slow growers in my ignorance. I had masses of hair algae, BBA, and even some BGA. I now have a 180 litre tank half full of Hygrophila polysperma I think its about stable now though! tiny bit of hair algae left (literally a few strands).

 

[chr15_8]

ok, you have 2 arcpods at 11w each, so thats 22watts over 15 gallons. WPG is calculated by taking your watts and dividing it by gallons. So 22/15 = 1.46wpg.

Now, add into this that smaller tanks usually need higher light, you might benefit from a 3rd arcpod, or even ditch the arcpods and get an Interpet Compact T5 light. I'm not sure how long your tank is, but for instance the 36w interpet light is 18" long (I'm about to get one of these myself). 36w light would give you 2.4wpg.

Ok, this is all depending on what sort of plants you want to grow, and your fertilisation. One piece of advice I'd give is overload your tank with fast growing stem plants (which are cheap to buy thankfully). This will curtail any algae outbreaks (hopefully). After a month you'll be able to reduce the amount of fast growers and start planting the plants you actually want

when doing wpg dont you use american gallons?

im sure h/she is from england as he has 'argos playsand'
if he/she is from over here wouldnt it be

1.2wpg?

but yes another arc pod would help or as dev surgested a compact t5

chris (hope i dont confuse you)

 

[DevUK]

when doing wpg dont you use american gallons?

im sure h/she is from england as he has 'argos playsand'
if he/she is from over here wouldnt it be

1.2wpg?

but yes another arc pod would help or as dev surgested a compact t5

chris (hope i dont confuse you)

Quite possible, but when people quote tank sizes they're often quoting what it says on the box (usually in US gals). But yes, if we could have the tank dimensions that would help

 

[Canis-Equus]

Ooops yes, that would be helpful....

Im in the UK... tank is a rena 56l, its 2ft by 1ft by 1ft, i think....i can double check that tomorrow with an actual measuring tape.

Thankyou for advice so far, ive joined UKAPS (username Emmabeth) and snaffled some giveaway plants and ill get some other stuff to avoid algae issues as well.

Time i slept...... eyes like hot hot sand... ugh. Cheers peeps, any more help will be greatfully recieved and i will track down the camera tomorrow and take some pics of it as it is now.

Em