Plant Selection

[modernhamlet]

First of all, thanks to everyone that has helped me thusfar with equipment decisions on my 40g. Things are progressing well and baring a major malfunction, I'll be able to add life very soon.

Which brings me to the scariest part of this process for me, the plants.

There are hundreds of different species available to purchase. It's overwhelming. I have a "big picture" image in my head of what I'm looking for, but turning that into specific species choices has my head spinning. Light requirements, growth rates, fert requirements, difficulty to keep. Leaf color, texture, size. Height, density... There are just too many things to consider.

I guess what I'm asking is "How do you build a plant palatte?"

Here are my thoughts. I'm just going to ramble. Feel free to respond to any or all of this with suggestions, ideas, comments or criticisms.

Here's a picture of the basic plan:

The general idea is a nature aquarium influenced triangular layout inspired by the seacoast of the Pacific Northwest US. Think Big Sur. Steep rocky and tree covered coastline with waves crashing against it.

Wood: The main piece will hopefully be mostly obscured in the end, paricularly toward the left. The smaller piece will be mostly exposed and has a great little cave right in the middle that I'm hoping will be used by the apistos.

A: Big wave crashing against a rocky outcrop. Red or red tinted/veined green, medium-sized grass-like plant.
B: Calm bay area. Low, dense, complex foreground plant
C: The untamed sea. Short green grass-like plant.
D: Classic short mid-ground plant to cover/soften the wood
E: "Pines". Medium-tall plant, must compliment F.
F: "The Summit". Attractive, bushy, dense stem plant, possibly red.
G: Sloping land around the bay. Medium-leafed, Mid-ground plant
H: Moss to soften wood, add accents.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts...

 

[RYO]

Nice idea.
ok some suggestions
A - rotala willichi
B - glossostigma elatinoides
C - hairgrass use different types so its not so uniformed
D - anubis or cryptocoryne
E - heteranthera zosterifolia
F - eusteralis stellata
G - hygrophila difformis
H - riccia or xmas moss

keep us posted on you set up, these journal type threads are good reading.

 

[modernhamlet]

It occurs to me I should have explained the tank setup a bit better.

Tank: 40g breeder (36Lx18Wx16H)
Lighting: 4x39W HO T5 fixture (aka: a lot of light)
Co2: Pressurized w/ pH controller and diy inline reactor
Substrate: 80lbs. Eco-complete
Filtration: XP2 canister

 

[modernhamlet]

I don't usually do this, but... bump.

Good soul RYO excepted, did all the plant experts go on vacation?

 

[Bloo]

I'm watching your topic with interest, because I'm thinking exactly the same thing

 

[modernhamlet]

I dunno, bloozoo. Maybe I smell funny?

Anyway, one last shot...

 

[AndyTaylor]

I'm lurking too, hoping to pick up some scraps of info! I'm trying to select plants for my 170L and am having the same problems. I ordered a 110 plant collection online in the hope that I get some that I like so when they arrive I may be of some help!

 

[jimbooo]

sounds like a good plan, the only problems i can forsee are B&C - the taller grass like plant at the rear will creep forward swamping the lower forground plants - hairgrasses etc... are very invasive and spring up in the most annoying of places. you could prevent this by using a solid border under the substrate - ie an inert plastic strip you could push into the gravel to seperate the areas. it would need to reach right down to the bottom glass though and up to the surface. this will stop most of the envasive action.

apart from that sounds great. riccia will look great on the bogwood but you will have to redo it every couple of months as (i'm sure you know already) it does not attach itself to the wood and will break free of the hairnet in about 8 weeks or so.

some java moss will look great in there as well, for the left, big bit of wood, i'd move the riccia to the far right (centre of tank) and have java moss at the rear. this will soften the colour ie from the right tip of the big bit of wood you'd have riccia (bright green), java moss (dark green) then the red behind it for section (F)

just my thoughts, your obviously putting a lot of thought into it, should turn out well.

Best of luck with it

(and sorry i missed this post up to now)

 

[George Farmer]

I don't usually do this, but... bump.

Good soul RYO excepted, did all the plant experts go on vacation?

I'm currently away from home for 6 weeks so I apologise for my lack of input. My net access is very limited so I'll keep it brief.

You have an excellent plan. Most people's (including myself) layouts evolve pretty much purely from trial and error so to have an end plan at all is admirable.

Go with what you have intended. You will soon see if it looks "right" or not and make the relevant as you see fit. You will undoubtably have researched many aquascapes through the AGA contests etc. so I won't suggest any furthur sources of inspiration.

My biggest tip is to start with plenty of easy, fast growing stems and then gradually replace with your final choices.

Good luck

 

[modernhamlet]

Hey gf225!

I knew you were out of town. Wasn't even expecting to even see you online!

Thanks for jumping online and for the encouragement. I know I tend to overplan just a wee bit.

I'm still taking in the advice though, so any suggestions from others are more than welcome...

 

[Jen]

Don't worry about the overplanning... I am very guilty of that too. Very. Like George (gf) said, start off with your plan. It will look different in the end. I can almost gaurantee it. Start by getting a few of your favourites, and planting them. Add things in that you want to have in there, but at some point you will have one thing that doesn't fit. Give it a bit more time, and then get rid of it if you truely arent happy. If one plant doesn't fit it, the rest of the tank will look bad (in your eyes)

 

[modernhamlet]

Thanks for the advice guys. I think I'm going to relax a bit about all of it and try out some different approaches over the next few weeks. I was initially in a bit of a hurry to get the tank planted, since there's a big fish auction coing up this weekend in my area. Well, now that I can't get my filter to work properly (Thanks Filtstar!), I've decided to give up on the idea of getting fish for now. Hopefully I can get the filter up and running so I can at least get some plants!

jimboo, good point regarding B and C mixing. To a certain extent, I'm ok with that happening. I can prune to keep one from taking over the other in the right part of the tank.

In the middle, I was actually thinking of leaving the area between the driftwoods as open substrate. Like this:

Anyway... I now have a list of potential plants to use. Some are definites. Others it really depends on what I can find at auction or online. We'll see how it goes.

I should start a planted tank journal fairly soon. Keep an eye out for it!

 

[zig]

Just have lots of fast growing stem plants in there in the beginning, i wouldnt worry to much about the final outlay just yet, just get over the initial algae outbreaks etc. until the tank gets a bit more balance to it which takes a little while, and then you can swop the fast growers out, but i would do this slowly over a period of several weeks.

Best of luck with it.......im sure it will look great

 

[modernhamlet]

Just have lots of fast growing stem plants in there in the beginning, i wouldnt worry to much about the final outlay just yet, just get over the initial algae outbreaks etc. until the tank gets a bit more balance to it which takes a little while, and then you can swop the fast growers out, but i would do this slowly over a period of several weeks.

Best of luck with it.......im sure it will look great

Oh definitely! I'll pick up some inexpensive polysperma or difformis this weekend...

I may plant some slower growers as well, but there will be plenty of fast growing stems, for sure! No massive algae breakouts for me! *crosses fingers*