Brackish Plants: What Species Are Doing Good In Your Tank?

penguinpimp1990 · Dec 3, 2005

Anyone with a brackish planted tank can be of help, Please list your plants that seem to be doing very good in your brackish tank. List species of plants, sg levels, subtrate, fertilizers, c02 (if any), filtration, lighting, and fish. Thanks

Little Fish · Dec 4, 2005

Red Mangrove, Cockscrew Vail, and Jave Fern. Java Fern grew extremely well (many babies) but removed at SG 1.003. Cockscrew Vail continue to send out runners and new babies popped up every week. Growth slowed down at about SG 1.004. Red mangroves never stop growing, weekly trimming required. Current SG about 1.005. Open top tank, sand substrate, no fertilizers, and no CO2 system. Filstar XP1 canister, Coralife Lunar Aqualight 65W 10,000K on about 4 hours daily, Actinic & Lunar always off. 3 F8s, each about 2 inches.

penguinpimp1990 · Dec 4, 2005

really? Those plants grew well with no c02, fertilizers, or aquarium plant subtrate? Must of been some hardy little buggers. Id imagine those plants wouldnt last long under those conditions, (not saying their bad but plants do better with fertilizers and stuff) but you obviously doing something right if their doing good. What tank size is it, and is there any algae present? id think not with the mangroves though

Little Fish · Dec 6, 2005

Yes, those plants are pretty hardy and easy to obtain locally, except may be for the red mangroves. However, there is no shortage of decently priced mangrove pods on eBay. As far as doing something right, I don't know what I've done to make the plants grow well. It's just a coincident. When I moved the Java Fern to my tropical tank, the babies stopped growing. My F8s are rather rough on the Cockscrew Vail. There are bite marks on 30% of the plants and they occasionally bit off a couple of inches from the top. They left the Red Mangroves alone though because the leaves are all above the water line.

I have a 29 Gal tank and algae were a big problem before the SG of the tank reached 1.005. At this salinity, hair/beard/fuzzy algae start to disappear. I still have the slimy green algae covering a potion of the bottom though, but they are easy to handle and don't grow back as fast as before. I guess I must be overfeeding my fishes because all the plants and algae in the tank grow so well