Low maintenance planted tank?

[Feargal]

One of the things I have to decide upon with my new setup is whether or not to use live plants.

I did try to have live plants in my first tank but due to my inexperience at the time was not successful and soon replaced them with plastic plants.

I have since realised why I failed. However I have never tried live plants again since.

Now that I am starting a tank up again I was wondering if it would be wise of me to try and use live plants or if I would be better off sticking to plastic/silk plants.

I have had a look at some of the new plastic/silk plants and they are much improved over the one's I had four years ago!

I also know the benefit to the water quality, etc. of using live plants, the problem is that I work shifts (12 hour shifts, 2 days then 2 nights then 4 days off) and when I am on shift I would not have the time for any maintenance, etc.

My new tank is 36" x 12" x 18". I have not decided on filtration method yet (four years ago I used an external power filter with the outlet feeding a reverse UGF) so maybe someone can advise on that too?

 

[pete]

With regards the filter issue............try the Ehien Ecco 2235 i personally have 5 of these and rate them very highly and at £75 approx including media i think its a bargain , also the flow rate of 600 litres per hour is gentle enough for live plants too , the Fluval externals seem a little too violent in water flow for live plants IMO :what: .

As for low maintainance plants .................. Java Fern, Jav Moss and vallis seem good choices for me...oh yes and the infernal duck weed lol

Hope this is of some use to you mate

 

[Feargal]

Thx pete,

I have just had a look at the Eheim Ecco 2235 and it says for up to 80 Gallon tanks. Wouldn't this be too powerful for my setup?

Would I be better with one of the smaller one's (Eheim Ecco 2231?) or aren't they as strong as they make out?

 

[pete]

I run a Juwel Rekord 120 with one of these as a back-up filter and i wouldnt use anything smaller, the flow rate is nice and gentle and the filtration of solids etc is excellent!.

I think ths filter is ideal for the live planted aquarium as the flow rate is easy going , you could use a smaller one but remember what G.L and i always say......."You cant over filter a tank"

 

[Feargal]

Thx pete,

It was the flow being too strong that I was thinking about.

If it is not going to be too strong then I might give the 2235 a try. If I decide to get live plants.

What do you recommend if I have plastic plants?

 

[pete]

Same again really , the other advantage with these filters is that even with quite heavy stocking levels i only have to clean mine once every 6 mths

If you get a filter with more flow i think it will slosh the water over the sides of the tank :what: , plus as a rule of thumb Ehiem are the best your money can buy and with the 2235 being a budget version but still coming with a 2 year warranty i dont think you can honestly go wrong mate

 

[Feargal]

Thx pete,

Sounds like I'll be giving the 2235 a go then.

Cheers m8

 

[Tatya]

I've had no trouble at all keeping spiral vallis - no actually I have had a problem - the stuff keeps on taking over my tanks

 

[Feargal]

That is one of the things I was concerned about too Tatya.

If the plants grow rapidly then after four days of not being tended to the tank is going to be overgrown -

Do they really spread that quickly?

 

[Tatya]

No they aren't that bad - they need trimming after about 2-3 weeks if you want to keep them to the same area. I generally let the wee ones grow a bit and then remove the older ones and replace them with the smaller ones. I do that a lot less than 2 - 3 weeks though so end up with Vallis jungle for a while

 

[Feargal]

Nice to know that I would at least have time to keep the tank looking tidy if nothing else.

What I am still not sure about is what type and amount of lighting I would need for a moderately planted tank. I don't want it too heavily planted.

Similar amount of plants to this one of Rose's:

Also I would like to know what kind of filtration works best.

I am considering using the same filtration I used in my last tank

(four years ago I used an external power filter with the outlet feeding a reverse UGF)

(though that had plastic plants) but am not sure if it would be okay with the live plants or not.

The external filter would probably be the Eheim Ecco 2235 as recommended by pete .

 

[Rose]

I thought that tank looked familar. Feargal can you do me a favor and not just cut and paste my pics all over the place. They are copyrighted and you do need permission to use them. I don't mind that you have put them up here on this board. But please if you are going to use them in other places. I'm not mad you did. I'm honoured you used my pic actually. Just thought you should know.

Rose

 

[Feargal]

Ooops, me bad!

Next time I'll just link to your site if I need to. Sorry.

Must be the aliens frying my brain! Maybe you can help me out with a tinfoil hat?

 

[Rose]

As far as plants go I will give you a list later, gotta run out the door. I'll try and have it up later tonight if not then it may be a couple of days.

 

[Feargal]

Thx Rose.