What Plants Are Suitable?

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Gr44

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Bedfordshire, England
Hi,

I have a new (cycled) tank, the water statistics are below;

Size = 600mm x 300mm x 300mm (LxHxD)
Volume = 54L
pH = 8-8.2
KH = 232ppm
GH = 392ppm

The tank is cycled so Ammonia and Nitrite are both 0ppm.

The tank currently houses 14x Glowlight Tetra (only got them yesterday) and I'm looking for some suitable plants for my tank, what can you recomend?

Any tips on how to keep them etc would be great too!

Many Thanks,

Sean
 
Easiest ones are Java Fern, Java moss and Anubias species. All the care they need is to be tied down to wood or rocks.

Slightly more picky ones you could try would be Vallis species, Amazon swords (too big for you), Crypts, Hygrophyla species and cabomba/elodea etc.. these are not difficult either, but there is a chance that they might just not take to your tanks.

What lighting have you got?

edit 1: IMO, your pH is too high for the tetras, but if you add bogwood/plants, that will lower it :)

edit 2: 14 fish on one go!?! That normally causes a tank crash. Build up the feeding slowly (starting with none at all, then enough for 1 fish, then 2 fish, etc) over the next 3-4 weeks. No, they won't starve, and get some plants ASAP.
 
Not sure what lighting there is... it's 1 tube light, I'll check wattage when I get home!

Yeah, part of the reason to get plants was to try and lower the pH a little, I know it's quite high but most people seemed to be of the view the Tetras would be fine in there so I went with them... hopefully they're all there when I get back!!

I've been through the fishless cycle for 3 months so I should be okay as all the bacteria has build up in my filters to support that many fish.

How do I tie plants to wood/rocks? Don't I just put them under the sand??

Thanks!

Sean
 
Ok, sounds like you got it sorted..

With nylon (stays there till you cut it off) or cotton (rots away) thread normally. Some people use rubberbands, superglue (not sure I would be happy doing that!) or nylon mesh in combination with thread.

Well, moss you can't exactly bury for obvious reasons. The others are both rhizome plants, and if the rhizomes become buried, they will rot. Anything out the second list can be planted directly into the sand.
 
I really like the look of those Java Fern's you suggested!

I might stop by the LFS on the way home if the traffic isn't bad and pick a few up! :D

Do I need to wash them or anything? I've heard of a lot of people buying plants and getting snails with them and things!
 
1) Snails are good in small quantities: they will eat rotting leaves etc. If you get too many, you are probably overfeeding.

2) I don't wash them as I get mine from good sources, but do check for parasites. Some people dip the plants in a weak (pure) bleach solution or soak them in meths blue.

3) When you buy the plants, they will probably have pots, wool and/or lead weights on them. Take all of this off before putting them in the tank.
 
Great, thanks Kitty Kat!

One stupid question (to go with the others!!) how does one check for parsites... ?

Would you recomend dipping them in something (if so any suggestions on where I can get something suitable?) or just check for parasites and throw them in the tank?

Thanks!
 
Hey,

Didn't get time to go to the LFS yesterday... I didn't leave work until gone 9pm!! A nice 13 hour day! On the plus side I told my manager I wasn't doing anything today!! Hurrah! :D

Anyway,

I've just checked the light bulb, I'm unsure what details you wanted so - heres a raft of them!

On the side of the fitting it says:

G5 - 600V - 120w

AND

G13 - 600V - 660w

On the bulb it says;

NARVA
LT 15W/760-110
www.narva-bel.de
daylight
11 FF

No idea what most of that means!!

It's a very white light it produces though, I think it's a bit too bright for the fish and would be good to get something a little more low-key... don't know what the plants like though!!

I'm going to the LFS in a couple of hours to get some plants so I could pick up another bulb if you've any recomendations?

Thanks,

Sean
 
That's a 15w bulb, standard fitting for that size tank. Shouldn't be too bright for the fish, especially once the bulb settles in (and looses some of the brightness :p ) and about right for average plants
 
Thats what i have in both my fish tanks, Elodea Densa, Java Fern, camboba, vallis, dwarf hairgrass are all good candidates :good:
 
Thanks for the advice all, got some plants today;

tank.jpg


Just worried because my Tetra's don't seem to like the light (see them all covering under the filter?

I'll make another thread in 'General Discussion' though.

Tank looks much nicer now anyway, I think I might have a move around again in a couple of days, I might buy some more slate and play around with a few differant things... make a couple of caves or something :D
 
looking good mate! :good:

do you have the spray bar on?
 
edit, ignore this as i've posted in other thread.
 
xD thanks!

Looks much, much nicer with plants in, though I think I will have a move around in a few days!

Yeah the filter is on the spray bar mode... it's a pretty hefty filter for the tank size though (Fluval U3 in a 54L tank!) - plus the smaller filter!
 

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