Can Somebody Reccomend

[LongS]

Basically i have no idea about plants. When people start using the scientific names i can barely even pronounce them forget remembering them.

Basically could somebody let me know of literally a handful of plants i could use in my tank? I have no Co2 diffuser but do dose with fertiliser after every water change.

Possibly even post me a picture so i know what to look for when i go down to the shops?

I have tried some plants some with more success than others. However none of them seem to do much growing. I'm not even after huge growth, just a plant that will survive longer than a few weeks.

Thanks in advance

Jason

 

[Ryefish]

the scientific names are generally the only name plants have lol. take a piece of paper and write down some of the suggestions and just take them with you when you go shopping, or google the names and become familiar with leaf shapes and plant sizes before you go shopping. a lot of pet shops won't know what type of plants theyve got in unless they have a tag on them.
i think you will do alright with some anubias, java fern, mosses and possibly cryptocoryne's (there are various types). Im not overly brilliant with plants though and still learning so somebody else could probably suggest some good stuff

 

[PDSimon]

totally agree with Ryefish, you can't rely on other people as half the time they're useless do some research, right the names down. I found the tropica site useful as it lists most of the plants you can buy and whether or not they can grow in low light, low/no c02 etc.

Theres two lists of beginner plants on this forum in the help section somewhere. Thats how I started...

 

[Ryefish]

ooo tropica.. if you can find somewhere that sells their plants then thats even better. Peter Barratts garden centre near me sell tropica plants, not sure if thats the same for all of them

 

[PDSimon]

you can buy them online too... the green machine and various other websites. Tropica plants cost more, but you get more and the plants are always great and healthy. I've spent far too much on them!!

What is your lighting LongS?

 

[LongS]

Right thats a great start. My lighting says, Sunglow, 20watt and its T8. I can't remember what is high or low though haha.

 

[sampster5000]

From what I've been reading the 20watt's are made for 20 gallon tanks so they just give 1wpg. That would be considered low lighting. I am a noob too and am trying to understand aquarium lighting for plants in small tanks. I do not want low lighting but I cant seem to find high lighting lights ANYWHERE!

 

[RadaR]

Right thats a great start. My lighting says, Sunglow, 20watt and its T8. I can't remember what is high or low though haha.

And the size of the tank?

 

[LongS]

Its 95 litres. just over 20 gallons i think. Only one tube too.

 

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

ooo tropica.. if you can find somewhere that sells their plants then thats even better. Peter Barratts garden centre near me sell tropica plants, not sure if thats the same for all of them

Peter barrats sell the tropica plants next to mine too (although we may live next to the same one :0).

Most of the LFS sell the tropica plants; except for pets at home I think.

Plats would be anubias, java fern and java moss...I have them in low light tanks, no ferts and no CO2 and they are doing ok. I also have elodea or ancharis (not sure which - I dont remember); but it's growing really well. It doubled in height in about 2 weeks; so I chopped it and made it bushier. Roots direct into gravel too

 

[PDSimon]

Yup, just look for low light plants such as the one mentioned

 

[RadaR]

Plants to choose from.

Hygrophila
Ludwigia (none of the "inclinata var. verticillata" variants though. They need more care).
Amazon Swords
Crpyts
Mosses
Ferns
Anubias
Aponogeton
Bacopa

What I would do:

Plant heavily.
Ensure flow is good. A total of 900litres pumped per hour.
Dose trace elements (micro nutrients) twice a week.
Moderatly stock the tank with fish (up the maximum amount)
Water change every three weeks using de-carbonated water. In other words, fill up some buckets with tapwater. Run an airstone in the buckets to drive off CO2 for a few hours. Dechlorinate the water in the buckets. Emtpy 25% from the tank. Replace with the water from the buckets.
The reason for that is, tapwater contains a lot of dissolved CO2. If you were to do a normal water change then the CO2 concentration would differ greatly than what it had been for 3weeks (the concetration will have reached an equilibrium in the tank). The plants wont like this change whereas the algae will. So, to stop this sudden change in CO2 and avoid algae like BBA etc, then this method is used.
We dont have this problem with tanks that inject CO2 or liquid carbon because the concentration is kept stable.

 

[LongS]

I dose tank with ferts for the few plants i have now. I do this every water change. Liquid carbon sounds interesting. I just didnt want to mess about with a diffuser. Is this expensive or is it a cheap way of adding Co2 to the tank? I would not mind doing this if it didn't xost too much.

Is my lighting classed as low lighting then? would i benefit from increasing it in any way? or changing it?

 

[RadaR]

I dose tank with ferts for the few plants i have now. I do this every water change. Liquid carbon sounds interesting. I just didnt want to mess about with a diffuser. Is this expensive or is it a cheap way of adding Co2 to the tank? I would not mind doing this if it didn't xost too much.

Is my lighting classed as low lighting then? would i benefit from increasing it in any way? or changing it?

easycarbo is good on tanks that need carbon addition (and those that dont). The only problem is that on large tanks it gets expensive. It will be ok for you though. Increasing the lighting increases the growth speed but only if you also up the co2 and nutrients. Otherwise you'll just get algae. You would also need to increase water changes. Keep the low light for now. Keep it simple

 

[LongS]

Ok will do, i'll start with putting some of the above plants in and see how they do.

Also a question about Java moss. How do i plant/place this in my tank? Its isn't supposed to float is it?