Ok so i'm thinking about starting a planted tank. right now I have a 10 and 5 gallon tank. the 5 gallon one has LED lights but the 10 gallon one only has dem regular lights. could someone tell me what types of plant do well in gravel and soft water thanks.
Starting A Planted Tank
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snork6 said:
Not sure what you mean by this? A typo with the word 'dem' ?
But basically, it sounds as if you have low lights unless the LED's have specific readings or were expensive to buy then they may be higher quality LED.
Assuming its your basic LED set up, then its a low tech/light set up you have.
There are quite a few low tech plants readily available at LFS or online, such as Java Fern, Java Moss, Moss Balls, Elodea, Anubias Barteri or Nana, Cabomba do quite well in soft water, Cryptoryne Walkeri for example are all pretty good plants for the beginner or low tech set ups.
The Java plants are best tied or glued to wood, rocks or decor. Same with the Anubias.
Moss Balls do not need to be planted, just simply leave them on top of substrate.
Cryptorynes are planted into substrate, will be fine in gravel (I had them growing well in gravel) though they appreciate root tabs every once in a while, but even without that, all plants benefit from some ferts if you can provide it.
Elodea can be either planted or as floating plants.
Of course there are easy floating plants you can have, Water Lettuce and Duckweed are two such examples, just need ferts.
Hope that helps a little to get you started with your first planted tanks, very rewarding seeing nice lush growth and of course the fish, shrimps etc all like this
thank you! I have tried java moss but every time I get it it starts off green then dies and turns brown any idea why that happens?Ch4rlie said:
Not sure what you mean by this? A typo with the word 'dem' ?
But basically, it sounds as if you have low lights unless the LED's have specific readings or were expensive to buy then they may be higher quality LED.
Assuming its your basic LED set up, then its a low tech/light set up you have.
There are quite a few low tech plants readily available at LFS or online, such as Java Fern, Java Moss, Moss Balls, Elodea, Anubias Barteri or Nana, Cabomba do quite well in soft water, Cryptoryne Walkeri for example are all pretty good plants for the beginner or low tech set ups.
The Java plants are best tied or glued to wood, rocks or decor. Same with the Anubias.
Moss Balls do not need to be planted, just simply leave them on top of substrate.
Cryptorynes are planted into substrate, will be fine in gravel (I had them growing well in gravel) though they appreciate root tabs every once in a while, but even without that, all plants benefit from some ferts if you can provide it.
Elodea can be either planted or as floating plants.
Of course there are easy floating plants you can have, Water Lettuce and Duckweed are two such examples, just need ferts.
Hope that helps a little to get you started with your first planted tanks, very rewarding seeing nice lush growth and of course the fish, shrimps etc all like this
OK, we're going to need some more data. First on your water, "soft" is fine, but can you give us the GH (general hardness)? You can ascertain this from the water data likely posted on your municipal water authority's website, or if not just call and ask them. This shouldn't be a problem with java moss, but it will help us with other plant suggestions.
Second is your lighting. Let's concentrate on the 10g tank...what lighting do you have? By "regular lights" can we assume you mean incandescent screw-in light bulbs? Or is this tank LED as well?
Until we know the above, it is difficult to diagnose your moss turning brown, but I have had this occur with too much light (this plant does best in shade, as with floating plants) and next to strong flow from the filter return. But it can also occur if there are insufficient nutrients, and with soft water and no liquid fertilizer being added this could be the issue. Are you using any liquid fertilizers?
Byron.
Second is your lighting. Let's concentrate on the 10g tank...what lighting do you have? By "regular lights" can we assume you mean incandescent screw-in light bulbs? Or is this tank LED as well?
Until we know the above, it is difficult to diagnose your moss turning brown, but I have had this occur with too much light (this plant does best in shade, as with floating plants) and next to strong flow from the filter return. But it can also occur if there are insufficient nutrients, and with soft water and no liquid fertilizer being added this could be the issue. Are you using any liquid fertilizers?
Byron.
ok the 10 gallon is using the incandescent screw-in lights and I can't really give you GH right now but I haven't ever tried liquid fertiliser
I am thinking about turning the 5 gallon tank into a shrimp tank will the shrimp eat the plants?Byron said:
Oh, very unusual to have java moss turning brown, never happened with me but then again I have always dosed ferts into my tanks.
Did you tie the java moss onto wood, rock or decor? I think they do best growing this way rather than being planted.
Think most likely causes would be not enough light or not enough ferts, possibly both.
Would encourage you to try java moss again if you like the crazy growing plants, especially good for shrimps.
If no confidence in java moss, java fern or anubias are fairly easy growing plants really.
Did you tie the java moss onto wood, rock or decor? I think they do best growing this way rather than being planted.
Think most likely causes would be not enough light or not enough ferts, possibly both.
Would encourage you to try java moss again if you like the crazy growing plants, especially good for shrimps.
If no confidence in java moss, java fern or anubias are fairly easy growing plants really.
No, shrimp will not eat plants, and Java Moss is a good plant as Ch4rlie said. I suspect primarily the lack of nutrients is why it turns brown. I'll come back to this and explain, after suggesting some bulbs.
With the incandescent screw-in fixture, the ideal bulbs are CFL (compact fluorescent, the spiral-shaped bulbs) in a low wattage and good spectrum. I have two 10w GE Daylight 6500K CFL's over my 10g, and Java Moss and some other plants grow like weeds. Look for CFL, no more than 10 watts (you should find 9w or 10w in a good home improvement type store), with a Kelvin rating of 6500K. The 5000K will also work, these will be a bit warmer (more red). I prefer the 6500K over the smaller tanks. Two of these, and you're good for lighting.
Now to the nutrients. Plants need 17 nutrients to photosynthesize. All of these can occur in fish food, though not always sufficient. And some come from the water, the "hard" minerals like calcium and magnesium primarily. You can add all of these in a good complete liquid fertilizer, and this lack is probably the main reason for your problems. Without knowing the GH we are still guessing a bit...track this down from your water people, it pays to know. A good liquid fertilizer is Seachem's Flourish Comprehensive Supplement for the Planted Aquarium, or the very similar Brightwell Aquatics' FlorinMulti. A small bottle of either will last you months as you use very little, but either of these will supply the nutrients as a supplement to water changes and fish foods. Neither will hurt fish, shrimp or plants, or bacteria. Make sure you get exactly the named products, as both companies make a number of different products under similar names.
Now for some other nice plants for the 10g, when you have the CFL bulbs and fertilizer. I'll stay with very easy plants so you can see success. The pygmy chain sword is ideal. The Java Moss attached to wood as Ch4rlie mentioned. The smaller corkscrew Vallisneria might be OK, but I would want to know the GH of your water as this plant is better with a bit more calcium; the liquid fertilizer has some and it might be enough, depending upon the GH. For floating plants, Brazilian Pennywort (a stem plant) would do well here, as it does not grow too large and it is easy to keep in check.
Byron.
With the incandescent screw-in fixture, the ideal bulbs are CFL (compact fluorescent, the spiral-shaped bulbs) in a low wattage and good spectrum. I have two 10w GE Daylight 6500K CFL's over my 10g, and Java Moss and some other plants grow like weeds. Look for CFL, no more than 10 watts (you should find 9w or 10w in a good home improvement type store), with a Kelvin rating of 6500K. The 5000K will also work, these will be a bit warmer (more red). I prefer the 6500K over the smaller tanks. Two of these, and you're good for lighting.
Now to the nutrients. Plants need 17 nutrients to photosynthesize. All of these can occur in fish food, though not always sufficient. And some come from the water, the "hard" minerals like calcium and magnesium primarily. You can add all of these in a good complete liquid fertilizer, and this lack is probably the main reason for your problems. Without knowing the GH we are still guessing a bit...track this down from your water people, it pays to know. A good liquid fertilizer is Seachem's Flourish Comprehensive Supplement for the Planted Aquarium, or the very similar Brightwell Aquatics' FlorinMulti. A small bottle of either will last you months as you use very little, but either of these will supply the nutrients as a supplement to water changes and fish foods. Neither will hurt fish, shrimp or plants, or bacteria. Make sure you get exactly the named products, as both companies make a number of different products under similar names.
Now for some other nice plants for the 10g, when you have the CFL bulbs and fertilizer. I'll stay with very easy plants so you can see success. The pygmy chain sword is ideal. The Java Moss attached to wood as Ch4rlie mentioned. The smaller corkscrew Vallisneria might be OK, but I would want to know the GH of your water as this plant is better with a bit more calcium; the liquid fertilizer has some and it might be enough, depending upon the GH. For floating plants, Brazilian Pennywort (a stem plant) would do well here, as it does not grow too large and it is easy to keep in check.
Byron.
This is what I found online for my state I don't know if this is what you need but i hope it works.
pH 7.5
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est, ppm 91
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 0.15
Cations / Anions, me/L 1.3 / 1.2
ppm
Sodium, Na 11
Potassium, K 3
Calcium, Ca 10
Magnesium, Mg 2
Total Hardness, CaCO3 33
Nitrate, NO3-N 0.7 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S 6
Chloride, Cl 12
Carbonate, CO3 < 1
Bicarbonate, HCO3 26
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 22
pH 7.5
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est, ppm 91
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 0.15
Cations / Anions, me/L 1.3 / 1.2
ppm
Sodium, Na 11
Potassium, K 3
Calcium, Ca 10
Magnesium, Mg 2
Total Hardness, CaCO3 33
Nitrate, NO3-N 0.7 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S 6
Chloride, Cl 12
Carbonate, CO3 < 1
Bicarbonate, HCO3 26
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 22
Byron said:
Yes, that is instructive. You have very soft water at 33 ppm GH (total hardness in the chart), which equates to 2 dGH. My tap water is even less, at 7-8 ppm. A blessing for soft water fish, but your shrimp may have some issues, though I'll leave this for shrimp experts to comment on.
Back to your plants, what I suggested previously should work. Vallisneria may struggle, or may not. The "hard" minerals in liquid fertilizers are minimal, because the manufacturers assume most people have moderately hard tap water. I supplement the hard minerals in my three largest tanks because of the larger plant mass, but in my smaller tanks the liquid mentioned previously works fine for swords, moss, etc. I did have fairly decent luck with Vallisneria previously, so if you come across the corkscrew Vallisneria, you could try it; it is a nice plant with its spiral leaves, and it would be a nice background in a 10g as it would nearly reach the surface. The pygmy chain sword is shorter and without the spirally leaves, and a lighter green. Both spread via runners, and once established should thrive.
Edit. A few minutes after posting this, I though of a couple other things that may help. First is that with your water, and the relatively small confines of a 10g, you have a number of ideal "dwarf" fish that would make a beautiful aquarium. Any of the species in the dwarf rasbora genus Boraras, which are all bright red, or the Ember Tetra, the pygmy cory, a few of the very small gourami...lots to choose from if you go with fish. You should change the gravel to play sand if you intend the corys, but this is not too much of a deal in a 10g. I can explain further if asked. There is also a good clump of Java Moss on the wood in both photos.
Second thing is a couple photos of my 10g over the years. I have basically similar water. and this tank has the lighting I recommended previously. I use this tank for different things so it has changed a lot, but the photos will give you some idea of what you can do in your circumstances. The second has dry oak leaves in it, to provide initial infusoria food for the Farlowella fry. It is presently being used for my pygmy cory that have spawned repeatedly and the fry are being raised in this tank.
Don't hesitate to ask further about any of this.
Byron.
Back to your plants, what I suggested previously should work. Vallisneria may struggle, or may not. The "hard" minerals in liquid fertilizers are minimal, because the manufacturers assume most people have moderately hard tap water. I supplement the hard minerals in my three largest tanks because of the larger plant mass, but in my smaller tanks the liquid mentioned previously works fine for swords, moss, etc. I did have fairly decent luck with Vallisneria previously, so if you come across the corkscrew Vallisneria, you could try it; it is a nice plant with its spiral leaves, and it would be a nice background in a 10g as it would nearly reach the surface. The pygmy chain sword is shorter and without the spirally leaves, and a lighter green. Both spread via runners, and once established should thrive.
Edit. A few minutes after posting this, I though of a couple other things that may help. First is that with your water, and the relatively small confines of a 10g, you have a number of ideal "dwarf" fish that would make a beautiful aquarium. Any of the species in the dwarf rasbora genus Boraras, which are all bright red, or the Ember Tetra, the pygmy cory, a few of the very small gourami...lots to choose from if you go with fish. You should change the gravel to play sand if you intend the corys, but this is not too much of a deal in a 10g. I can explain further if asked. There is also a good clump of Java Moss on the wood in both photos.
Second thing is a couple photos of my 10g over the years. I have basically similar water. and this tank has the lighting I recommended previously. I use this tank for different things so it has changed a lot, but the photos will give you some idea of what you can do in your circumstances. The second has dry oak leaves in it, to provide initial infusoria food for the Farlowella fry. It is presently being used for my pygmy cory that have spawned repeatedly and the fry are being raised in this tank.
Don't hesitate to ask further about any of this.
Byron.
Attachments
snork6 said:
I know next to nothing about LED as I have never used it, except once and that was a disaster. Now, this does not mean to imply it won't work...quite the opposite; I have seen some incredibly beautiful planted tanks with LED. But you have to know what you've got, and for this I suggest you post all the data you have on the light fixture and hopefully other members will be able to offer advice. But having said that, the small confines of a 5g is to your advantage as the light will likely be "better" than over larger tanks.
And you are most welcome.
Byron.
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