Want to have a planted tank

[Cheese Specialist]

Hello guys!

Well, I am getting a new tank (well second hand) on Monday!! Yay!! I want to make it a pretty planted tank, if I can.

The tank size is: 30" x 12" x 18" (LxWxH), I am not sure about lighting but it will get some natural light but the bulbs in the tank will probably need replacing but I am not sure what it will come with (it is a Marina tank, if anyone knows).

The fish going in are albino kribs, female mollies, cardinal tetra (at a later date) and possible my black bellied limia. The ph of my tanks is usually in the 7-7.5 area and there are very little nitrAtes in the tap water. The substrate will be sand and the tempature 77F.

My previous experience with plants is very limited, I have had some plants that have done well. Like, I have a massive red tiger lilly in my biggest tank, that is now 2 very large plants and a smaller one is growing in another tank. I have been fine with java moss and fern too, but who isn't! I also have some other plants that I don't know the name of that are doing ok but bigger leaves don't fair so good and usually end up brown and decrepit (but there are plenty of small ones coming through).

I really like looking at pictures of planted tanks and I always wonder how they decide where things should go. I want a bit of wood in it, most likely mopani so the plants could go around that.

I have been looking here - http/www.java-plants.com/ to buy them

I like the idea of Vallis Torta for the back, but perhaps not all the way along and E Tenellus for near the front perhaps.

Does anyone have any advice on how to lay the tank out (I don't want it to be symetrical) and of what plants should be ok for a relative novice.

I would be very grateful for any help.

 

[Lateral Line]

The thing you need to do is work out how much light you can get over the tank. Without knowing that it is next to impossible to suggest things other than Java Moss/Fern, Anubias or a few Crypts all of which will almost grow in the dark.

To get to "Medium" light, you need 2 Watts per gallon of full spectrum, (5500K - 6500K), fluorescent light on for 10-12 hours a day. Your tank is a little deeper, so probably a little more. Water absorbs light, the deeper, the more so of course.

If you can get "Medium" light, browse the plant list at Tropica to find plants which match your water chemistry, need Medium light, and are flagged as "easy" or "very easy", that way you won't need to worry about CO2 injection etc. and it is difficult to have a total disaster.

Be aware, many plants are as difficult to keep as sensitive fish. If you stick a whole load of expensive difficult plants in a tank not suited to them, you are likely to have a disaster.

 

[Cheese Specialist]

Thanks LL

I will have a look into the lighting issue, I am happy to buy whatever bulb I can for the tank, I imagine it's going to need a new one anyway. I just don't know how many bulbs it takes or anything at the moment.

The plants I am looking at are a collection for a 30" tank and they are reasonably priced. If it all started to go wrong I am able to shuffle them between my other 2 tanks with plants.

The plants are:

5 Red Ivy
5 Bacopa Monnieri
5 Red water rose
5 Ech Tenellus
5 Hygro Polysperma
5 Vallis Torta
5 Elodea Densa
5 Hair Grass
5 Red Ludwigia
5 Red Ambulia
5 Pygmy Chain Sword
5 Corkscrew (sml)
5 Cobomba Aquatica

 

[scott1000]

Remember, plants with red leaves or plants with small leaves will need more light.

Also, you might want to look into DIY CO2 injection.

 

[Cheese Specialist]

Remember, plants with red leaves or plants with small leaves will need more light.

Also, you might want to look into DIY CO2 injection.

Can't be doing too bad in my big tank then. My red tiger lilly is enourmous.

CO2 injection, eh?!

 

[Lateral Line]

Red plants are, for the most, green under lower light conditions. Under strong light, they require less chlorophyll and the other pigments, brown and red, are visible by virtue of not being overwhelmed with green chlorophyll.

It is difficult to be sure, since "common names" are useless, but, many of the plants on your list are high light demanding species. They will not work well in low light. Cabomba sp. for example, will not work with less then 3.5Watts per gallon, they will bolt to the surface, all the lower leaves will fall off. High light/fast growing plants really need CO2 injection.

Some are clearly duplicates as well...

Ech Tenellus = Pygmy Chain Sword
Vallis Torta, (not valid by the way) = Corkscrew (sml)

 

[Cheese Specialist]

On their website, they have:

Ech Tenellus

and Vallis Torta

A DIY CO2 injection is an option btw.

 

[scott1000]

CO2 injection is really a lot easier than most people think. A DIY system can cost well under $10. The only important thing is to watch your ph level, the addition of CO2 will drop the ph. Also, be sure to check it at night, because the plants expel CO2 at night creating the possiblity of dropping the PH even more then.

Do you want some links for a DIY CO2 system?

 

[Cheese Specialist]

Hi Scott,

I have been given one that I will pm you as this site censors just about everything.

Let me know what you think

 

[Lateral Line]

>>> On their website, they have:

Well, what pretty, errr, drawings? Your point being?

My point was that following the simple advice I offered and using a reputable plant info site like Tropica, you are less likely to have a total disaster with plant keeping. Yes, a simple home made CO2 system works wonders, if you understand what you are doing, but simple fact, if you have the wrong kind of plant, in the wrong kind of water under the wrong kind of light, it will make no difference at all how much CO2 you pump into the tank.

 

[scott1000]

I agree, it is more important to get your light levels up first (2wpg or more of 6700k light) then start worrying about CO2.

That is a great website, it was actually one of them I would have sent you and if you follow their instructions it'll work well.

 

[ChriX]

Could someone PM me the links for the DIY CO2 injection too? I've read the article on the main site, looks pretty easy to setup to begin with, but i'd like to read about how much to put in etc.

Also, I got the 30" collection from Java plants in my tank, am very pleased with it, they have all made some growth after only a week. I am running a 24" sun-glo and 24" power-glo, each 20W over my 34G U.S. tank, which is 21" deep. However something I wish I had got when I ordered from them is some Java moss, I really want some of that!

 

[Lateral Line]

There is a simple DIY CO2 system described here. My own is a little more sophisticated, but works in basically the same way.

 

[Cheese Specialist]

Oh, thanks for that LL.

The other one I have seen had the bottle in a bucket of some kind, do you know anything about that? I'd like to have as little stuff as possible because I am not using a cabinet and I don't want it to all look untidy.

What do you suggest about the duplicate plants? I understand what I showed above were only drawings, I was just demonstrating I didn't know.

 

[ChriX]

I had the same collection and I never had a lot of plants the same. I had a bag labelled Ech Tenellus and its contents were a lot different to the bag labelled pygmy chain sword. The pygmy chain swords were just like small sword plants, but the ech tenellus was like a grassy plant. I also had some straight vallis, I don't remember what type, and then the corkscrew vallis.

I don't know a lot about plants, just stating what I experienced.