Tiny Tank, Would Like Plants

[Bufo Bill]

Hi, I'm new to this aquarium stuff and would like some advice on planting a 28 Litre tank ( L35cm by W35cm by H40cm). I realise this is a small tank for a beginner but their really is no other way of fitting an aquarium in amongst my other pets. Basically I want to keep plants in my tank, but there is not enough room for the heat cable, sand, laterite and gravel set ups I've heard about. I want to keep small Crypt's, an Anubais barteri var nana and some Glossostigma elatanoides. Any space saving substrate ideas any one?

 

[Jen]

You will need a good layer of substrate in there... crypts get very long roots,and I find they do better with thicker gravel/sand. If you can get some flourite, and use say, 1.5 - 2 inches of it, I would think you would be ok. I say Flourite because it has the consistansy of a pea gravel, but is highly enriched in nurtients. You won't have to worry about a million layers of stuff. I haven't used this, so I can't tell you much else, but it will save you on depth.

 

[Bufo Bill]

You will need a good layer of substrate in there... crypts get very long roots,and I find they do better with thicker gravel/sand. If you can get some flourite, and use say, 1.5 - 2 inches of it, I would think you would be ok. I say Flourite because it has the consistansy of a pea gravel, but is highly enriched in nurtients. You won't have to worry about a million layers of stuff. I haven't used this, so I can't tell you much else, but it will save you on depth.

Thanks for the info, Jen. Would love to see any photo's of your danios and ottos. Will post photo's when the set up has fish in, so everyone can see if I took all their helpful suggestions on board (er, thats you at the moment Jen)!
FromB.B.

 

[Themuleous]

The plant list would be fine, apart from the glosso. Unless you're going to have lots of lighting you wont get the carpet effect lots of people on here have in their tanks.

Apart from the substrate what else you going to have, lights, fish, ferts, etc?

 

[mantis147]

I just used 2" layer of gravel in my 29ltr seems to be doing fine, i put root tabs in the gravel & add liquid ferts once a week.

Here's a pic!

 

[Bufo Bill]

Apart from the substrate what else you going to have, lights, fish, ferts, etc?
[/quote]


Hi everyone thanks for all your help!
As far as lighting goes I've got a compact PL lamp. That doesn't sound like much I know, but the tank has a nice level of light. It's quite close to the bed, so I can read my book before I switch off for the night (the lighting and me). Fish wise, I'd really like a Pygmy Puffer (Carinotetradon Travancoricus). The shop said "A few" would be ok, but the guys on the oddball forum thought a single fish would be better so there were no territory fights. I've got some apple snails ready to go and some malayan livebearer snails too. I know these won't do the plants much good, but I like the little chaps. The livebearers are supposed to be good for the substrate anyway. I know there are loads of plastic aquarium plants on the market, but they don't really look convincing to me.
I put the substrate in today, and I've started planting up, I used a mix of diferent sand and gravel sizes. It looks quite realistic, I think.
B.B.

 

[Bufo Bill]

Hi again, Taking on board that glossostigma is not going to work in my tank, does anyone have any suggestions for a low to medium-light-loving carpeting plant?

Also what is my best bet as far as ferts go? Liquid or tablet type? Remember my substrate is different grades of silica sand and small grade gravel.
Hope to hear from you all soon, from B.B.

 

[tigerbarb420]

I think it would be pretty hard to get a really nice carpet going without high lighting(3 wpg +), co2 fertilization, and regular nutrient dosing.

Instead what you can do is attatch some java moss to a peice of driftwood, and form a nice carpet looking bed on it. It takes a while for the java moss to fully attach to the driftwood and spread like a carpet, but once attached and regularly trimmed it can look just beautiful. It is also one of the lowest maintenance, easiest beginner plants out there.

 

[Bufo Bill]

Thanks, Tigerbarb420. I suppose it's obvious when you think about it that the compact plants we have don't need to be tall because the light is so bright in tropical places; they dont have to grow towards it so much.

Does anyone know of any easy small Crypt's? I have a C.wendtii, and would like some real "Mini's". I suppose they come under the same rule as carpeting plants, but I just thought I'd ask in case.
B.B.