Newbie's Plant Questions

[dartos]

I am a complete n00b even to fish tanks. I am currently (fishless) cycling a 10G and I am only in the beginning stages. I have been doing a lot of research on what I want to put in the tank and I have since come up with a lot of questions. Please bear with me. My main reason for wanting the plants is for the Dwarf Gourami that I want to get. I am not really interested in heavily planting this tank; first of all because I am so new to this and second because I want this tank to help me learn how to do some planting for the larger tank that I will buy in the future. So here are my questions:

1. I have recently had to buy a new light and I purchased an Aqua-Glo 18" 15W light. Will this suffice for a floating plant in a 10G?

2. What floating plants would suit my needs? As I said it is for a Dwarf Gourami in a 10G with play sand substrate. In the sticky Most Common Aquarium Plants, the only floating plant that I found was the java fern and this only floats when it breaks off from the main plant. Is there anything else that would be better?

3. Will I need a CO2 generator or will the amount of CO2 that the fish provide suffice? I have an AquaClear 20 HOB and no airstore.

4. What fertilizers and or nutrients will I need to use for a floating plant? I have read about the fertilizer disks that you can put in the substrate for rooted plants or using a nutrient rich substrate, but is there something for floating plants?

5. I am currently cycling and I have a high concentration of ammonia currently in the water (5 ppm) so I do not think it would be a good idea to have the plant in there during this time. Is it best to cycle with plants or without? I know that the plants could serve as a surface for the bacteria to adhere to and also consume the nitrates once the cycle has finished, but how will the ammonia and nitrIte spikes affect the plants?

I am sorry for all of the questions, but I just have a lot to learn. Thank you in advace to anyone that can provide me any help, I greatly appreciate it.

 

[jimbooo]

hmm, java fern isn't really a floating plant. it will float but will do much better attached to wood/rock with cotton thread.

i would go for something like Riccia which is a proper floating plant. however needs more light than you have to do well.

if i were you i'd add one more 15W tube to give you 3WPG (you have 1.5WPG at present) you only need CO2 when you have over 2 WPG.

however if you do that you may as well plant the tank fully. so not sure if this is the route to go for you.

there are other floating plants available but my brain is dead after a hard day at work so i'll have to leave it to the other members for suggestions.

sorry to ramble on, hope this helps.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

You can grow many floating plants in that light. At the surface the light is way brighter than at the bottom of the tank. You can float water sprite, hygro poysperma and hornwort as well as other stem plants. Frogbit is a great floater but can quicly multuply and use up the nutrients and then die back- you need to remove some regularly to prevent this. It puts down nice trailing roots.

You don't need co2 and if you find you need ferts, there are many liquid ferts available. Try the Flourish line.

Plants eat ammonia. The more plants one has in a tank, the less bacteria there will be since much of its food is being eaten by the plants.

 

[BigC]

I used Salvinia Natans when I was breeding Pseudoepiplatys Annulatus. But I don't know if you are allowed it in the US as it is quite evaisive. If you do use it, it will cover your tank in no time at all and you will find that you are throwing away loads of it weekly.
Hope this helps..

 

[George Farmer]

Welcome to the forum!

You are definitely right to use floating plants. They provide a number of useful functions.

1. The shade and any dangling roots provide security for the fish.
2. Their fast growth will out-compete algae for nutrients (sucking up nitrates and phosphates).
3. The shade blocks light preventing algae from growing furthur down in the tank.
4. They will quickly become colonised by beneficial bacteria and act as biological filters.

Your lighting should be fine as they will be so close to it. A reflector will help growth.

You won't need CO2 as the plants will extract it from the air - this is why they grow so quickly - loads of light and CO2.

I would add them as soon as possible, they should help with the cycling. Hopefully they should help prevent algae outbreaks that are common in new set-ups.

Commonly available species -

Ceratophyllum species - Hornwort (can also be planted in the substrate)
Ceratopteris species - Indian fern (substrate too)
Hydroza aristata - Floating grass
Lemna minor - Duckweed
Eichhornia crassipes - Water hyacinth
Limnobium laevigatum - Amazon frogbit
Trapa natans - Water chestnut
Pistia stratiodes - Water lettuce
Riccia fluitans - Crystalwort (can be submerged but needs good light and CO2 to do well)
Salvinia auriculuta - Butterfly fern

That's the ones I know of.

Hope this helps and good luck.