Choosing A Plant Collection

[yabadaba]

Hi guys, I'll admit straight off that I have done very little research on aquarium plants, other than to read through the aaronnorth guide on 'where to buy' and I'm also well aware that not all plants sold for the aquarium actually are truly aquatic. So, please can anyone recommend a plant collection that may be suitable for the 'beginner'.

By that I mean one that contains mainly easy to grow varieties, that will do okay with standard T8 lighting and no CO2. My new tank (where these will be going) is 5x2x2ft and will have B.D. Aquarium Sand as the substrate. It is in a room that gets lots of natural light and the artificial lighting will be 2 x 58W (60') Arcadia Freshwater lamps.

I've been looking at the collections on Aqua Essentials, but there are just so many to choose from and looking at the individual varieties on The Green Machine is even more daunting for me. If someone can just recommend a sensible 'starter pack' I can then develop things from there as my knowledge increases. I'm not looking to fully plant my whole tank now, but just add a few that will be easy to manage and will provide some interest and cover for my fish when they are introduced.

Also, before the sand goes in to the tank would you recommend I add a base level of one of those special plant substrates?

 

[fiskkeeperpro]

I would suggest you have a base layer of a substrate, the most economical would probably be the ones made by JBL, I think aquabasis has been given good reviews.

Its difficult to reccommend a plant package, as all different plants have slower or faster growth, so if you dont want to take as much time doing the 'gardening' then you would want plants which are slow growers, such as anubias or crypts.

 

[OohFeeshy]

The 'collections' you get aren't always that great and tend to have a bog standard mix of plants that won't always be suited to what you want.

What I would suggest to start off with are some bushy, fairly fast growing plants like hygro. There are lots of varieties, but all of them should grow perfectly in your tank so it's really a case of picking what you think looks nice. It provides lots of cover for fish and fills the tank fairly quickly. The only maintenance needed is a quick trim when it gets very long.

After that, you can start looking at slower growing plants such as crypts, or more specialised plants.