Plants For A Soft Water Tank

[nmonks]

Hello all --

I have a soft water aquarium within which Cambomba, a red water lily, and Salvinia are thriving, but the Bacopa monnieri and Vallisneria spp. are kind of doing indifferently. The unknown Amazon swords aren't doing particularly well, either.

So, I'm thinking about swapping out the dud plants for some new ones.

My shopping list at the moment is:

Rotala rotundifolia
Hydrocotyle leucocephala
Eleocharis vivapara
Echinodorus cordifolius

Do these sound a reasonable selection for a soft water, pH 6.5, aquarium? Any altenatives?

Thanks!

Neale

PS. Lighting is 2 x 30 W Tritons (with reflectors behind them). Substrate is some pond soil, coarse gravel, and a thick layer of silica sand. No CO2 (at this stage, anyway).

PPS. The tank has a peculiar shape: a deep end and a shallow end. What I'm after is something that looks like the edge of a river or lake.

 

[George Farmer]

All sound good to me. I've grown the first three in soft (KH 3) water.

edit - Your lighting will more likely be the limiting growth factor over water chemistry.

Good luck.

 

[nmonks]

Thanks!

Well, I've gone and ordered the plants from Greenline. Let's see how things go.

While the tank looks nice at the moment, the problem is that Cabomba is a bit bushy, and its growing so wild that it makes the tank look cluttered. I'm hoping some more vertical plants will give more of an illusion of space. On the other hand, the bushy plants do a good job of hiding halfbeak babies until I get a chance to rescue them!

Cheers,

Neale

 

[riverman444]

I like the way you set up the tank. Shallow to deep.....nice touch

 

[Themuleous]

I like the way you set up the tank. Shallow to deep.....nice touch

I would agree, its different, adds a more natural affect to the whole layout

Sam

 

[nmonks]

Thanks!

An interesting fact is that the fish obviously prefer certain depths, something we don't normally see in 'flat' tanks. For example, the cardinals prefer the shallow end, and stay close to the bottom. The hatchets, on the other hand, basically stay at the deep end unless there's food in the tank, in which case they're all over the place.

I'd certainly recommend doing a variable-depth tank to anyone looking for something different. The only problem is that you need to use a lot of rock to stablise the sand. That's why I used coarse gravel around lava rock -- makes the "hill" at one end nicely -- and then put the sand on top.

Cheers,

Neale

I like the way you set up the tank. Shallow to deep.....nice touch

 

[Themuleous]

Will def be giving it a go in my next tank

 

[George Farmer]

My only reservation with such a deep substrate at one end is the possibility of too much anaerobic build-up and associated Hydrogen sulphide production etc.

I understand Neale has a healthy population of Malaysian trumpet snails that help keep the substrate turned over to hopefully prevent this.

 

[Themuleous]

Good point George

 

[nmonks]

Indeed, I should have mentioned that.

The "deep end" is about 12 cm or so deep, and a lot of that is rock and coarse gravel. Those choices were made because they are relatively solid, and the anaerobic pockets aren't going to be in solid rock!

I wrote a primer on sand for the beginner's section, here:

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=131373

But in a nutshell, you have 3 options for avoiding anaerobic conditions. The first is undertank heating. Convection currents will circulate water, albeit very slowly. The second is snails. They do what earthworms do in soil. The third is plants. Plant roots carry oyxgen down. As you probably know, most water plants are adapted to have their roots in anaerobic mud, so they actually prefer a lower oxygen level in the substrate. Something to do with the state of the mineral ions. Anyway, in being down there, the plants need oyxgen, so bring it down with them from the water through 'aerenchyma' tissues. Some of that oxygen leaks out, and keeps the soil from becoming nasty. Yet again, a good reason to have lots of fast-growing plants.

I've used deep-substrates many times and never yet had a hydrogen sulphide outbreak. I think using sand helps: catfish get the food on the sand more easily, and the food tends to sit on the sand rather than sinking into it, presumably because of the size of the particles.

Cheers,

Neale

My only reservation with such a deep substrate at one end is the possibility of too much anaerobic build-up and associated Hydrogen sulphide production etc.

I understand Neale has a healthy population of Malaysian trumpet snails that help keep the substrate turned over to hopefully prevent this.