What Plants For My 4Ft Planted?

[Ben M]

hi, i have a 4ft by 45cm by 40cm tank, it holds 216l. it has 1.25 wpg of light from 2 30w t8's. i dose 3ml of tpn+ daily, and intend to use easylife easycarbo. it is quite heavily stocked, but no plant eaters, well a few oto's that might have a nibble. i would like to plant it quite heavily, to make it look more natural, but am stuck on plants.
At the minute i have some needle and narrow java fern, a bit of anubias, and a few crypts.

pics of tank

http/img192.imageshack.us/img192/2958/046hl.jpg
http/img705.imageshack.us/img705/4496/035mh.jpg

thanks

 

[theshadowinc]

I would maybe suggest a few swords, something like Amazon Sword or the Brazilian Swords they grow to a pretty big size and take up a large area and also look awsome when big

 

[Ben M]

thanks, i'll have a look at those

any other small plants, such as carpet plants, or won't they grow with my tank conditions? also, would cabomba, or any other fast growing stem plants grow in my tank?

thanks

 

[Truck]

I would be inclined to grow Cryptocoryne willisii as a carpet plant, it grows really compact when happy.

You could grow:

crypts, Anubias, Microsorum species, mosses and echindorus species.

 

[Ben M]

thanks, are they the only species i could grow, i was thinking of cabomba for behind the bogwood, to hide the filter inlet/ heater. would that grow well with tpn+ and easy life easy carbo?

cheers

 

[Truck]

yeah they all would, 8ml's of easy carbo daily and 4ml's of TPN+ per day will get things going fine.

 

[Ben M]

thanks, i'll have a look at the price of easy carbo, and see if my parents will allow it, or possibly for christmas.
cheers

EDIT: just checked, it would cost about £20 for 4 months, at aqua essentials, are there any cheaper places i could get it from?

thanks

 

[aaronnorth]

there is
easycarbo
seachem excel
aquacarbon (AE's own mix)
planted box liquid carbon (PB own mix)

http/www.plantedbox.com/shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=66

also try online aquatics, ebay, fluidsensor online

 

[Ben M]

thanks, are they all as good as each other?

cheers

 

[aaronnorth]

yeah, they all use the same main chemical, just at varying concentrations, but this is why they all have different dose reccomendations.
In the end you will still end up with the correct ppm.
The only one I haven't seen tested is planted box but that is because it only opened a few weeks back. I can't see what would be wrong with it though. Anyone can mix up their own batch.

 

[Ben M]

thanks, i'll compare prices and find the cheapest.

EDIT:the AE aqua carbon appears cheapest. would 5ml daily be sufficient for 216 litres?

thanks

 

[Truck]

5ml's should be fine

 

[Ben M]

thanks, that halves the price from the easy carbo.

so does the liquid carbon mean i can keep any plants? even though i only have 1.25 wpg of lighting, or should i improve the lighting?

thanks

 

[Truck]

no, just those that do well with medium light and fertilisation.

 

[Ben M]

such as?