Substrate & Wood Questions

[Tomathee]

Hello,

To cut a long story short I started a thread in the new tank section but have some questions specific to the planting and scaping section so I thought it would be better to put them in the correct section.

I decided live plants would be the best route to take and that I would be better off doing it from the beginning but I don't really know anything about this side of it. I have found 'Tetra Plant Complete Substrate' in a few places is that a good enough place to start? I am going to use Unipac black sand or limpopo on top.

The general recommendation is no more than 1" of sand to avoid bad bacteria building up. If I have a layer of plant substrate will 1" of sand on top of that still be ok or will I have to keep to 1" total to avoid the bacteria.

I'm not too fussy about which plants I have, certainly to start with, and I don't particularly mind buying them slowly so that I don't end up with more plants in the tank than I can manage. Will I run into any problems picking a few out by looks or leaf size etc or are there certain conditions for certain plants found in the LFS? The places I've looked at plants don't really have much info or labels around to give you any names of what I'd been considering so I'm hoping trial and error and perhaps uprooting and moving is a suitable way to go about it.

In terms of wood, the local shops have selections of mostly bogwood and some mopani. They both look nice but nearly all were quite small and 'flat' shape i.e. no possibility of being part of a cave or 'tree trunk' look. Are there any other places that sell this kind of suitable wood? With rocks I have the opposite problem in that the shops have quite big lumps, I would prefer several smaller rocks that could maybe be glued to build a cave as another option, so same question on anywhere else I can look?

Few specifics if needed - 125L tank, 80x35cm, haven't made final decision on fish, at the moment I'm hovering on tetras, gourami and some kind of bottom feeder (hence the sand/limpopo). If there's any other info that I haven't put that is relevant please let me know.

Thanks if you can offer any advice.

 

[paulc]

In terms of wood, the local shops have selections of mostly bogwood and some mopani. They both look nice but nearly all were quite small and 'flat' shape i.e. no possibility of being part of a cave or 'tree trunk' look. Are there any other places that sell this kind of suitable wood? With rocks I have the opposite problem in that the shops have quite big lumps, I would prefer several smaller rocks that could maybe be glued to build a cave as another option, so same question on anywhere else I can look?

Hi Tomathee,

I'm no plant expert but regarding the wood, If you are having problems sourcing it locally then I found eBay had a very good selection of suitable wood. Just search for aquarium wood.

Enjoy setting up your tank and perhaps start a journal so we can see the progress - everyone loves to look at photos

I'm sure one of the plant experts will be a long soon

 

[FishFanatic04]

I don't worry so much about sand depth. In some places I have 3 inches in the back of my tank and 1.5 inches in the front. I figure the plants roots move the sand enough to prevent the nasties building up too much. As will regular maintenance.

As for buying plants, As long as they are fully aquatic, and you like a trial and error method just fine, then go for it! It worked for me. Most people have a plant nemesis or two that won't thrive in their tanks. My was Limnophila Aromatica So if something doesn't work out, then just try another.

A few nice plants for starting out are Anubias {attached to rocks or driftwood} Various Cryptocoryne's.

Stem plants are really great for learning how to grow and care for plants. Cabomba, Bacopa, Moneywort, Egeria Densa.

 

[Tomathee]

Thanks for the replies you two. I will definitely do a journal, the tank arrived today and I've taken a couple of pics of progress so I'll put them together at the weekend. Being held up at the moment with a faulty light unit so I have some extra time to find a nice lump of wood for it anyway.