Plants

[cowboy507]

I am adding some real plants to my tank and wanted to know how to do this? I have always used plastic plants and thats easy.

I was wondering if i needed to attach them to something (like a rock or log with fishing line), or just bury the roots in the substrate?
do i need to use fertilizer? if so what is a good one? How often do i use it?
and also how many plants are good for a 10 gal tank?
I was looking at some ferns and some grasses.

cowboy

 

[Geoff1991]

Some plants are planted in the substrate, some on wood/rocks.

What you want to do is, find a plant that you like and see if your tank meets its requirement (IE: light, pH etc...) If they are you first plants, i would recommend easy grow plants that dont require co2.

Dosing ferts is recommended as it will improve the growth of your plant. Otherwise it will start to show deficiencies

Find a plant that you like, and if you think you can keep alive, buy it. Plant it, buy some TPN+ and easycarbo and let it grow.

Ive found the TPN+ and easycarbo is a good combination without buying co2 equipment.

There is some good info and a list of easy grow plants here

[URL="http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=22604&st=0"]http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=22604&st=0[/URL]

 

[cowboy507]

Thank you Geoff!

I am headed off to look at some plants!

 

[Curiosity101]

[URL="http/www.tropica.com/default.asp"]http/www.tropica.com/default.asp[/URL] ----> The plant search engine on that site is a great way to find plants that would be suitable.

Go to the plants section and just put in what speed you'd like them to grow, what level of lighting they can survive with, difficulty to keep alive etc etc. It'll show you a picture and some other info about the plant, including average size.

It's a good place to start when you're trying to work out what plants you both want and would be suitable.

 

[waterdrop]

Some plants are planted in the substrate, some on wood/rocks.

What you want to do is, find a plant that you like and see if your tank meets its requirement (IE: light, pH etc...) If they are you first plants, i would recommend easy grow plants that dont require co2.

Dosing ferts is recommended as it will improve the growth of your plant. Otherwise it will start to show deficiencies

Find a plant that you like, and if you think you can keep alive, buy it. Plant it, buy some TPN+ and easycarbo and let it grow.

Ive found the TPN+ and easycarbo is a good combination without buying co2 equipment.

There is some good info and a list of easy grow plants here

<a href="http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=22604&st=0" target="_blank">http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=22604&st=0</a>

Brings up an interesting question: I keep forgetting whether I once saw a TFF post re where to find TPN+ for sale in the USA or whether its just not available over here. Easycarbo is pretty definately not available in USA as I've talked with the supplier about that, although I suppose there might be some importer I don't know about. But Seachem Excel is the same chemical and is widely available in the USA. Actually another strange thing is I think I seen TPN available but not TPN+.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Geoff1991]

Some plants are planted in the substrate, some on wood/rocks.

What you want to do is, find a plant that you like and see if your tank meets its requirement (IE: light, pH etc...) If they are you first plants, i would recommend easy grow plants that dont require co2.

Dosing ferts is recommended as it will improve the growth of your plant. Otherwise it will start to show deficiencies

Find a plant that you like, and if you think you can keep alive, buy it. Plant it, buy some TPN+ and easycarbo and let it grow.

Ive found the TPN+ and easycarbo is a good combination without buying co2 equipment.

There is some good info and a list of easy grow plants here

<a href="http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=22604&st=0" target="_blank">http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=22604&st=0</a>

Brings up an interesting question: I keep forgetting whether I once saw a TFF post re where to find TPN+ for sale in the USA or whether its just not available over here. Easycarbo is pretty definately not available in USA as I've talked with the supplier about that, although I suppose there might be some importer I don't know about. But Seachem Excel is the same chemical and is widely available in the USA. Actually another strange thing is I think I seen TPN available but not TPN+.

~~waterdrop~~

Oh right, i wasnt aware of this.

Maybe you could advise some equivalent products available in the USA then... As i have no idea what youve got over there

 

[waterdrop]

I'm pretty sure there are people that sell dry chems that can be mixed up in water - cheapest method usually by far. At the other end of the scale but very convenient are the bottles that Seachem sell. They have good documentation on their web site so you can match up the concentrations with your EI plan.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Geoff1991]

If you search around, theres ways to make TPN+ anyway

 

[three-fingers]

Dry chemicals are the cheapest way to do it, people are often put off them because they require a bit more reading and some calculations to make the mixtures, but after that they are very easy!

In the US, Seachem makes a whole range of great fertilisers.

They are basically just pre-mixed dry fertilisers with dosage instructions, just as TPN+ is except that comes in one bottle.

If you don't want to go down the dry powder route, then get Seachem Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium and Flourish or Trace (which seems to be a watered down Flourish). Excel helps a lot too, as mentioned.

But IMO/IME by far the best way to introduce yourself into plants is just to find easy species, then buy lots of cheap ones from the LFS.
As Curiosity101 said, the Tropica website is certainly one of the best websites to look at. Look for low light/easy plants.
In almost all cases, at least one species will do well in the tank without needing to make any changes, it's just finding that species that's the problem.

If you want faster plant growth, the ability to grow more demanding plants or are just interested and want to get everything right from the start, try reading these articles:
[URL="http/www.theplantedtank.co.uk/allinone.htm"]http/www.theplantedtank.co.uk/allinone.htm[/URL]
[URL="http/www.ukaps.org/EI.htm"]http/www.ukaps.org/EI.htm[/URL]
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showto...105266&st=0
[URL="http/www.ukaps.org/drop-checker.htm"]http/www.ukaps.org/drop-checker.htm[/URL]

But try not to be intimidated, keeping plants in aquariums doesn't have to be difficult, just getting more involved has a lot of rewards .

 

[CKutz]

i'm also interested in getting into plants, so thanks for the info (cause i live in the US also..so that's good to know) and the link.

one thing i hate about this planted stuff..is that sites either use their common name, or their scientific..never both!!! whhhyyyy!?!?!?! like i hear people say java fern java moss..then you go on a site, and it's all the scientific names so you're lost and confused all over again..

it should be like fish where they list the common names and the scientific.