Low-tech tank - Can I do it?

[TimNorwich]

Hi guys,

I've currently got a 125L Rainbowfish tank set up. The tank has been running for about a year and a half now. I've currently got a selection of "realistic" looking artificial plants. I know for a fact that 'bows do better in a planted tank so I'd really like to put some real plants in there.

I love the overgrown look of some tanks I've seen, and like the idea of the plants just doing their thing (up to a point of course). The tank has fine black gravel, a Fluval 307 filter, sits at around 25 degrees Celsius, it has the standard LED 1x day bulb and 1x nature bulb that comes with them as standard, I have no interest in upgrading the bulbs. It's probably worth mentioning that the tank is in the middle of my living/dining room so receives a lot of natural light too.

What sort of plants could I grow in here successfully? Ideally I wouldn't have to add co2 as I believe this can get expensive.

Thanks in advance!
Tim

 

[nic1]

Well, my tank is near enough the same, it's in the front room/dining area with natural light sitting at about 26 degrees, has black gravel, no co2, no special lights, and it is completely over grown.... I don't prune anything as I love the look of it being a big green mess. I have amazon swords, that produce runners all the time and I just snip them off and replant them, java moss, java fern, anubias plants and riccia that floats anywhere lol. I do have flourite black sand and gravel mix though which does help, and I use a liquid fert when I remember.... Hope this helps

 

[seangee]

There is also the humble vallisneria. Does well in all my tanks. Takes a while to get going but once it does it goes. It also produces runners, you will want to snip these off to stop it from filling the entire tank. Another nice easy option is planted water sprite. A lot of people use it as a floating plant but it can be attractive planted too.

 

[TimNorwich]

Thanks for your responses so far. Has anybody had experience buying plants online? My LFS don't normally have a great selection, wondered how price & quality compared online? Thanks

EDIT: Just been looking on Amazon for liquid CO2. This looks quite reasonable in that you only put a couple of mls in each day - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004GY9ZYI/?tag=

 

[seangee]

I only ever buy plants on-line. I tend to use reputable retailers rather than Amazon / eBay because the quality is so much better - even if it does cost more. The Tropica and Dennerle branded stuff is generally good. Buy plants that were grown in the EU as anything from outside the EU MUST be treated with pesticide that will kill all snails and shrimps no matter how thoroughly you rinse them.

Don't use liquid CO2. Its not liquid CO2 at all but gluteraldehyde, a steriliser / preservative that is harmful to fish, it will actually kill them f you overdose, but in small doses it still gets into their systems and has a long term affect on health. I only use Seachem Flourish comprehensive supplement (at half the recommended dosage). I also use Seachem root tabs for rooted plants. There are other brands but these work best for me so I stick with them.

 

[seangee]

This is completely low tech. I subsequently let the tank go completely jungle and later pruned everything right back. The plants on the left are water sprite and vallisneria

There are plenty of much better examples on the site ...

 

[Colin_T]

Some good plants to try include Ambulia, Hygrophila polysperma, H. ruba/ rubra, Elodia (during summer, but don't buy it in winter because it falls apart), Hydrilla, common Amazon sword plant, narrow Vallis, Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides/ cornuta).
The Water Sprite normally floats on the surface but can also be planted in the substrate. The other plants should be planted in the gravel.

If you add an iron based aquarium plant fertiliser, it will help most aquarium plants do well. The liquid iron based fertilisers tend to be better than the tablet forms, although you can push the tablets under the roots of plants and that works well.
I use Sera Florena liquid plant fertiliser but there are other brands too.

Do not bother adding carbon fertiliser to the tank because they are not necessary.

--------------------------
On a side note, you need some more Melanotaenia praecox and a couple of female Glossolepis incisus.

You need some Duckweed in the tank for the fish to eat.

The tank looks good tho

 

[TimNorwich]

Some good plants to try include Ambulia, Hygrophila polysperma, H. ruba/ rubra, Elodia (during summer, but don't buy it in winter because it falls apart), Hydrilla, common Amazon sword plant, narrow Vallis, Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides/ cornuta).
The Water Sprite normally floats on the surface but can also be planted in the substrate. The other plants should be planted in the gravel.

If you add an iron based aquarium plant fertiliser, it will help most aquarium plants do well. The liquid iron based fertilisers tend to be better than the tablet forms, although you can push the tablets under the roots of plants and that works well.
I use Sera Florena liquid plant fertiliser but there are other brands too.

Do not bother adding carbon fertiliser to the tank because they are not necessary.

--------------------------
On a side note, you need some more Melanotaenia praecox and a couple of female Glossolepis incisus.

You need some Duckweed in the tank for the fish to eat.

The tank looks good tho

I do actually have some male Praecox in there but they were hiding for that photo. I'm a bit worried about overstocking to be honest, I think I'm currently pushing it as it is

 

[Colin_T]

How many fish are in there?

I had around 10-12 adult rainbowfish in my 3 foot tanks. The fish were about 4 inches long. The tanks were 3 foot long x 14 inches wide x 18 inches high.

 

[Byron]

I concur with most of what has been suggested. All of my tanks are planted, all are natural (low-tech). Some plants thrive in this method, some will not. Natural or low-tech means we rely more on nature than "additives" but one thing is crucial--lighting. The first thing is to sort out your lighting, both the intensity and the spectrum.

Light drives photosynthesis, and each plant species has a specific intensity requirement though we can generally group these as low light, moderate light, and high light. In all three the spectrum is also crucial, as only red and blue light drives photosynthesis, and of these red is the more important; adding green light to this mix does improve plant growth, for reasons I won't get bogged down with at this juncture.

Once you know the lighting data, selecting plants suited is fairly easy. Photos below are of some of my tanks over the past decade; I've been following this method for 25+ years in total.

 

[TimNorwich]

I concur with most of what has been suggested. All of my tanks are planted, all are natural (low-tech). Some plants thrive in this method, some will not. Natural or low-tech means we rely more on nature than "additives" but one thing is crucial--lighting. The first thing is to sort out your lighting, both the intensity and the spectrum.

Light drives photosynthesis, and each plant species has a specific intensity requirement though we can generally group these as low light, moderate light, and high light. In all three the spectrum is also crucial, as only red and blue light drives photosynthesis, and of these red is the more important; adding green light to this mix does improve plant growth, for reasons I won't get bogged down with at this juncture.

Once you know the lighting data, selecting plants suited is fairly easy. Photos below are of some of my tanks over the past decade; I've been following this method for 25+ years in total.

Your tanks look great! I'm not sure how I'd work out/find the lighting data?

 

[Byron]

Your tanks look great! I'm not sure how I'd work out/find the lighting data?

Check the information sheets that came with the lighting unit if you still have them, or look up the site online and see if they provide data for this lighting unit. Sometimes there is data on the unit itself, underneath. With fluorescent tube lighting there is data printed at one end of the tube but with LED this is different.

 

[TimNorwich]

Check the information sheets that came with the lighting unit if you still have them, or look up the site online and see if they provide data for this lighting unit. Sometimes there is data on the unit itself, underneath. With fluorescent tube lighting there is data printed at one end of the tube but with LED this is different.

The "Nature" bulb is 6500 Kelvin/14watts, the "Day" bulb is 9000 Kelvin and is also 14watts. It looks like you can buy red bulbs seperately, the red one is 4425 Kelvin. Thanks

Edit: Looks like the "overall" lumen for both is 3220.

 

[Byron]

The "Nature" bulb is 6500 Kelvin/14watts, the "Day" bulb is 9000 Kelvin and is also 14watts. It looks like you can buy red bulbs seperately, the red one is 4425 Kelvin. Thanks

Edit: Looks like the "overall" lumen for both is 3220.

The 6500K is ideal, this is the best light for aquarium plants. The 9000K is too much blue, which in itself would not be so much of an issue were it not for the fact that it means the red is weak overall, and that is the prime light for photosynthesis. You have two options.

First option, I would get one of the 4425 tubes and replace the 9000K with this, keeping the 6500K. This will provide a much warmer light so it will be quite different in appearance, but it will bring out the reds more, and it will improve plant growth.

The second option is to get another 6500K and replace the 9000K with this, so you would have two 6500K. This might be the better way to go; I could only tell by seeing the two tubes myself. If you get a red and can return it, then I would definitely try that first; but if not, the two 6500K would perhaps be better in the end. Several times I have tried lighting and taken it back or tossed it in the recycling because it clearly was not going to work. LED is much more complicated than the old days when we all had the same T8 fluorescent tubes.

The photos of my tanks all have 6500K lighting, fluorescent T8 tubes. This is the closest to the mid-day sun spectrum, which probably explains why plants thrive under it. On my dual tube tanks, I use one 6500K and one 5000K for the increased red. But without as second tube, it is just 6500K. Before I was able to get the 5000K, I used two 6500K. And several years ago I had a 67500K and a 10,000K over my largest tank, and I found that it made algae more of an issue, and after changing out the 10,000K for another 6500K the plants did improve as well. This was undoubtedly due to the red.

 

[TimNorwich]

The 6500K is ideal, this is the best light for aquarium plants. The 9000K is too much blue, which in itself would not be so much of an issue were it not for the fact that it means the red is weak overall, and that is the prime light for photosynthesis. You have two options.

First option, I would get one of the 4425 tubes and replace the 9000K with this, keeping the 6500K. This will provide a much warmer light so it will be quite different in appearance, but it will bring out the reds more, and it will improve plant growth.

The second option is to get another 6500K and replace the 9000K with this, so you would have two 6500K. This might be the better way to go; I could only tell by seeing the two tubes myself. If you get a red and can return it, then I would definitely try that first; but if not, the two 6500K would perhaps be better in the end. Several times I have tried lighting and taken it back or tossed it in the recycling because it clearly was not going to work. LED is much more complicated than the old days when we all had the same T8 fluorescent tubes.

The photos of my tanks all have 6500K lighting, fluorescent T8 tubes. This is the closest to the mid-day sun spectrum, which probably explains why plants thrive under it. On my dual tube tanks, I use one 6500K and one 5000K for the increased red. But without as second tube, it is just 6500K. Before I was able to get the 5000K, I used two 6500K. And several years ago I had a 67500K and a 10,000K over my largest tank, and I found that it made algae more of an issue, and after changing out the 10,000K for another 6500K the plants did improve as well. This was undoubtedly due to the red.

Thank you, I will see how I get on with the lights as they are, and tailor them as such if the plants don't do well.