Newbie Plants

[charlton]

i'm after a few plants in my new tank, but they need to be easy and care free (to a certain extent). I've got a 96l tank with sand, standard 18 watt lighting and no co2 injection, after contacting someone of e bay he replied with these comments

Hi Mark. Sand substrates can be a problem due to the fact they compact and dont allow correct nutrient flow, this alongside other problems can make growing plants problematic. However, I have some clients with sand based tanks and have found some species that do very well.
Cryptocoryne species are a hardy and very long lived choice, I receive these as large potted motherplants and split them down and usually sell them as set price collections; a nice selection for a tank of your size for the fore and mid ground would be £10 this would normally consist of 3 or 4 species e.g C.wendtii/C.beckettii/C.walkeri/C.balansae. To give an idea of quantity this a £10 motherplant of one species is a packed 8cm square pot (basically it's a good amount and they're very hardy once established). For the background a couple of Crinum thaianum bulbs at £1.75 each and Vallisneria spiralis 'leopard' at £3 per 10 should be spot on (the Vallis usually multiply well in sand via runners). For a couple of midground specimen plants; a single Echinodorus Ozelot (£3) and Echinodorus Red Rubin (£2.50) are beautiful, rare and hardy. The set of plants outlined above is £22 + £4.50 P+P. TOTAL £26.00. The set listed is for a moderately planted tank (on top of your existing plants).
These amounts can be increased or decreased to suit your preferred planting density. I also would have listed the polysperma, but you already have that. I hope this is helpful. Let me know any thoughts you have on this reply. Thanks.

or i was looking at buying this from greenline

# PRE-SET 730 for 101 plants (WITH FREE FOOD CODE 76)

Contains
10 X MICRO SAGITTARIA
3 X DWARF SWORDS
2 X SAGITTARIA NATANS
BUNCH (7) BABY TEARS BACOPA
5 X CRYPTOCORYNE WENDTII
1 X NARROW SWORD
BUNCH (10) MYACCA FLUVIATILIS
BUNCH (5) CREEPING JENNY
BUNCH (5) HYGRO. POLYSPERMA
BUNCH (5) STRAIGHT VALLISNERIA
BUNCH (5) ELODEA DENSA
BUNCH (5) LUDWIGIA NATANS
BUNCH (5) GREEN CABOMBA
BUNCH (5) BRONZE BACOPA
BUNCH (5) TWISTED VALLISNERIA
2 X SAGITTARIA NATANS
3 X WATER WISTERIA
2 X BULB SPECIES
BUNCH (5) RED SPECIES
5 X SALVINIA FLOATING
2 X AMAZON SWORDS
BUNCH (4) THAILAND STRICTA

Number of plants in bunch in brackets


for about £15 i thought this sounded quite reasonable

Whats your opinions on my options? I did post this in the new to the hobby section but they said i'd probably get better response from here ! I quite like the sound of what the bloke from e bay is offering !!

cheers

charlton

 

[sjdriscoll]

With 18W over 96litres you'll need to go for low light plant species. Some in that list will be ok but most will need more light. Also the floaters will cut out even more of the little light that you have. I have 50W over my 20 gallon and still have trouble growing a carpeting plant!

I'm not great on low light plants but I'm sure you could find some pointers on here.

Java ferns, vallis and some crypts should be ok but anything red usually needs lots of light.

Good luck.

 

[charlton]

With 18W over 96litres you'll need to go for low light plant species. Some in that list will be ok but most will need more light. Also the floaters will cut out even more of the little light that you have. I have 50W over my 20 gallon and still have trouble growing a carpeting plant!

I'm not great on low light plants but I'm sure you could find some pointers on here.

Java ferns, vallis and some crypts should be ok but anything red usually needs lots of light.

Good luck.

thanks for the quick response, i am toying with the idea of upgrading my lighting but the tank i've got is a newbiw starter kit and comes with one light and there doesn't seem to be anyway of upgrading. Any ideas apart from building a new hood myself ? Its a jewel rekord 96 if tht helps !!

cheers

 

[aaronnorth]

With 18W over 96litres you'll need to go for low light plant species. Some in that list will be ok but most will need more light. Also the floaters will cut out even more of the little light that you have. I have 50W over my 20 gallon and still have trouble growing a carpeting plant!

I'm not great on low light plants but I'm sure you could find some pointers on here.

Java ferns, vallis and some crypts should be ok but anything red usually needs lots of light.

Good luck.

thanks for the quick response, i am toying with the idea of upgrading my lighting but the tank i've got is a newbiw starter kit and comes with one light and there doesn't seem to be anyway of upgrading. Any ideas apart from building a new hood myself ? Its a jewel rekord 96 if tht helps !!

cheers

You have to buy additional ballasts & tubes then screw them or attach them another way into the hodd, or there is the option of over head luminaires. The clips required to hold the lighting in place come with the ballasts