Gnatfish's Low-tech Tank

[Gnatfish]

Hello

I am planning on re-doing my 15 gallon (advertised as 19 USG though) tank with Sand and a bottom layer of this: It's TetraPlant Complete Substrate, craynerd used it in his Rekord 70 (linky)

The tank will have DIY CO2, but i'm not sure about ferts yet.

This is inspired by Jimbooo's 50g Cube - Lazy Mans Tank Linky

The Plants i am looking to put in it are:

Vallisneria spiralis
Ludwigia repens or Hydrocotyle leucocephala
Sagittaria Natans
Cryptocoryne wendtii
Vesicularia dubyana

The lighting is 2 x 15 watts = 1.5 wpg. Would these plants be alright?

I know Jimbooo had success with Vallis and Sags in his 50g and Crypts are good in low light. Also i know that Mr G has had success with Ludwigia repens and Hydrocotyle leucocephala in low light.

But i was wondering. They had bigger tanks and more lighting, but it came out with lower WPG. Would this be a reason why these plants would grow in their tanks and not mine, becasue its a greater light intensity?

Any help is much appreciated.

Gnatfish

 

[Themuleous]

Glad to see another lazy mans planted tank! Jimboo's cube inspired me to convert my main tank over.

The plant list seems fine and should be OK in that amount of light. The trouble with the WPG thing is that it was invented for 20-30USg tanks and doesn't work for small or very large tanks. 1.5WPG over a 50g is very much more light than 1.5PWG over a 15g. However, I think what you have should be fine and certainly the plant substrate should mean you have the best change of success. It should also be easy to maintain decent CO2 levels with a yeast kit.

Id be interested to know if the Tetraplant substrate works well for you, would be a cheap way of doing it. As you say Craynerd had good plant growth with it

Sam

 

[Gnatfish]

Thanks for clearing that up for me Sam!

Just so i know my options, what other stem plant could i use?

BTW, how is your low-tech tank going? Still green? lol

Thanks

 

[Themuleous]

To be honest mate, Im not really sure on other stems. Plant choice is something Ive not really learnt much yet, hopefully someone else can advice. That or just check the tropica website? Then just find something you like and see if its ok in low light?

Low-tech is ok thanks, growing very slowly which is why Ive not updated my journal yet. The sags are coming along nicely, bit of staghorn which is a complete arse but hopefully I'll be able to sort that soon. I also got some weeping moss from greenline and it wasn't in the best of states, so saved what I could a attached it to the wood, but very little is happening, so going to get some from Aquaessentials when their first lot of plants is in, then redo it, hoping it'll create a really nice effect on the wood. Well that the plan anyway! Am waiting until its how I want it before I update again.

Sam

 

[lljdma06]

I've had mixed results with Cabomba and ludwigia repens. They have just not thrived in my tanks, but I also have problems with java fern and java moss, yet can grow very red plants in low-tech tanks so go figure! Some other easy stemplants, especially with your added CO2 and good substrate, that should do alright with your WPG.

Hygrophila difformis
Egeria densa (does better in lower temps, but is ok in tropical)
Egeria najas (a slender-leaved version of E. densa and more tolerant of warmer temps)
Bacopa monnieri (sp)
Limnophila indica and sessilifolia (will have possibly either very compact growth or very leggy because of your light. I have grown this under lower light levels)
Alternantera reineckii (give this a try, trust me, once established it won't disappoint, lovely red leaves)
Hydrocotyle leucocephala (Brazilian pennywort, could get too big, but what the hey!)

Some other plants that aren't stemplants but should do well anyways.
Marsilea quadrifolia (Four leaf clover, great foreground plant for low-tech tanks.)
Most anubias
Most cryptocorynes
Most mosses

Good luck with your low-tech and keep us posted!

llj
Nymphaea lotus species

 

[BBrain]

Hello

I am planning on re-doing my 15 gallon (advertised as 19 USG though) ....

The lighting is 2 x 15 watts = 1.5 wpg.

If you have 15 gallons, you have 2 wpg:
2 x 15 watts = 30 watts
30 watts divided by 15 gallons = 2 wpg

By "15 gallon" do you mean Imperial gallons, or U.S. gallons? Did you measure the tank's dimensions (in inches) to get an accurate U.S. gallon figure (length x width x height divided by 231)?

If you just calculated a conversion from 19 U.S. gallons to Imperial gallons, that equals 15.8 Imperial gallons, giving you 1.9 wpg

Don't you wish the whole world was metric, to avoid all this confusion?

 

[Themuleous]

If you have 15 gallons, you have 2 wpg:
2 x 15 watts = 30 watts
30 watts divided by 15 gallons = 2 wpg

By "15 gallon" do you mean Imperial gallons, or U.S. gallons? Did you measure the tank's dimensions (in inches) to get an accurate U.S. gallon figure (length x width x height divided by 231)?

If you just calculated a conversion from 19 U.S. gallons to Imperial gallons, that equals 15.8 Imperial gallons, giving you 1.9 wpg

Don't you wish the whole world was metric, to avoid all this confusion?

Thats not quite right there my friend, the WPG 'rule' uses US gallons, NOT UK gallons, as it was invented in the US. In which case he was right originally, in having 1.5WPG or 1.5789473684210526315789473684211 to be precise!

And one other small point, no I dont think the world should be metric! I like inches and gallons!

Sam

 

[BBrain]

Inches and gallons were always fine with me, until my country's great leaders decided we should go metric, but backed away, half-heartedly, I suppose due to pressure from trading with our neighbour to the south. Now we have things labelled with Imperial, U.S., or metric, and that's confusing and time consuming to convert back and forth. One or the other, I say!

I wish I was a fish. Then I wouldn't be bothered with such things!

BTW, I live on the west coast ("Wet Coaster"), so I also have to deal with nautical measurements, like fathoms and nautical miles.

Anyway, back on topic....sorry for the hijack, Gnatfish!