Planting An Aquarium

[CruX]

So I have been in and out of the hobby for over 15 years and I have learned the most and had the most success over the past 2 years. In all this time I have never planted real plants I have always gone for plastic.

So I have decided I want to plant my aquarium, but to be honest the great big wild world of aquarium plants terrifies me. You seem to be bombarded by a plethera of choice. After reading up on it I was about to give it up when I found a site in practical fishkeeping that do a starter kit for a certain tank size that has plants specifically for the fore, middle and back ground of the aquarium. the company are called Java Plants. The prices seem very good and I am tempted to buy some volcanic rock from there too. Has anybody used this company before and which size would you reccomend for a Juwel Trigon 350? I have a large piece of bogwood that sits on the right hand side parallel to the right hand back wall and a Y shaped piece turned horizontal that sits on top the the filter end and stretches accross the tank towards the front left corner so the bottom Y branch is in the bottom left corner area and the top Y branch is in the top left area. I also had some trailing plastic plant thing that was suckered to the back left wall and draped over the bogwood to provide a nice shady area for those that like it. I am happy to lose the plastic plant whenever. I was thinking the 48" suggestion from java plants would do but I wonder if there might be too many plants there for my set up, taking into account the corner shape of the aquarium and the large bogwood in there.
I thought maybe I could plant the background plants in a M shape. Leading from midway on the left wall to the filter then around the filter perimiter and back to the mid way of the right wall. Then the Mid plants infront of that and the fore ground in front of that to break up the regularity of it. It seems so straight forward in my head when thinking about a regular oblong tank but when trying to apply that to the Trigon it seems daunting.


All your help, thoughts and assistance greatly and thankfully received.

 

[fishwatcher]

I don't know much about the kind of tank you have, but if it were me, I'd go ahead and buy the pack you're looking at. Chances are a plant here or there won't do so well and maybe you'll have replacements if there are more than you need.
Otherwise the place looks good to me.
Hope this helps!

 

[BigC]

In my opinion and for what it's worth search out Tropica brand plants, they are a little more expensive but are far far superior in quality to these mail order types such as Java. I know I'm going to get people replying otherwise but believe me there is no comparison in quality and health of Tropica.
Also you will need a good substrate type to have any sucess at all.
See pic (all Tropica brand plants)

Regards
BigC

 

[vinylman]

If you're just starting with a planted tank, I'd go for a collection from Greenline plants. That way, you can plant everything and then ditch whatever doesn't work in your particular water. But give it a couple of weeks after planting; some plants appear to die off soon after planting, but will re-grow. I always use Greenline. They're brilliantly packaged, but you need someone to be there to sign for them. Good luck.

 

[fishbone]

I have the trigon190 and have planted with the background plants in the far back corner(I've removed the built in filter) and about half way along the left wall, with a few mid ground in the centre and along the right wall. Foreground plants scattered along the front, amongst the bogwood and slate caves(covered in java moss) I've also tied some anubias to parts of the bogwood.

I should think the collection for 48" will give you plenty to work with. You will find some plants do brilliantly and others simply won't be happy. It's a lot of trial and error and all down to your substrate, lighting, co2, fertilisation, etc, etc. I suppose it depends what type of plants you want to grow and how high tech you want to go. I've been dabbling in real plants and have now decided if I want my tank to look a certain way, I'm going to have to up the anti and start thinking co2 and fertilser.

Don't know if that's of any help or not, but good luck.
K