New tank, questions on plants

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Allido

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Oct 16, 2013
Messages
10
Location
Little Rock, Arkansas
Hey everyone, first post but I have been lurking for a good 2 months now and I love the site. I kinda screwed up on my ordering. I ordered 2 Malaysian driftwood pieces a week ago and it looks like it'll come in after the plants arrive (1-4 days). Tracking is unavailable so they just gave me a huge window. :banghead: The plants that are coming in are:
Java Fern 5
Moss Ball 1
Micro Sword (2)
Anubias Nana (2)
Undulata Cryptocoryne (2)
Water Sprite (2)
Anacharis (3)
Cabomba (2)

I was planning to have most of the moss and java ferns attached to the driftwood but since its coming in I may or may not have a problem. So with that all said that leads me to my question

What do I do if the driftwood arrives 1-4 days after the plants are here? I am very new and this is my first attempt at a planted tank. I've read that java fern and moss don't attach well to sand so I was going to use the driftwood and maybe some small rocks, but again I don't know.

Current tank:
60 gal tank (48"x13"x24")
substrate : sand
light : 108watt T5 HO
filter : AquaClear 110
heat : Aqueon 200watt

There is no CO2 system at the moment. I was researching maybe the liquid stuff but again I haven't done enough research to know whether or not Ill need it. I was going for a lot of low light plants so that I wouldn't really need to CO2 or fertilize, but I'm open to suggestions.

I haven't started cycling the tank either at the current moment, but I don't think that is a factor. I was going to start once the tank was fully planted.
 
I wouldn't worry about it to much. Just float the plants in the tank until the driftwood is ready because it may still be a few weeks until it has soaked long enough to add to the tank, because of the tannins leaching.
I also wouldn't dose glut because it will melt the anacharis Mine is almost completely dead now because of it.
 
The crypts and micro swords need to have root tabs as they are heavy root feeders. You have some fast growing plants like water sprite, anacharis, and cabomba so you really should consider using some type of fertilizer.
 
The cabomba is the difficult one here. It's a fast growing plant that needs fairly high light. The problem with no ferts or carbon is that it can cause your tank to become an algae farm. Is there a reason you don't want ferts or glut?
 
The Sword and Crypt on your list need root tabs as they are heavy root feeders. The water sprite, cabomba, and anacharis will appreciate some type of ferts in the water. You "may" be able to get away with using Flourish Comprehensive weekly but that gets expensive in a large tank. Plus as Mebbid already stated the Cabomba is probably going to be a problem so don't be surprised if you have poor growth and a lot of leaf loss. It can be a messy plant if it's needs aren't met.
 
The cabomba is the difficult one here. It's a fast growing plant that needs fairly high light. The problem with no ferts or carbon is that it can cause your tank to become an algae farm. Is there a reason you don't want ferts or glut?

Really not against using ferts at all and I ordered some Seachem flourish root tabs. Its mainly the CO2 setup that seems difficult since this is my first time with a live plant tank.

Will the root tabs be enough or do I need more like the pps you recommended earlier?
 
Instead of co2 you can use a mix of metricide 14 day sterilizing solution. Just mix it 50/50 with distilled water and it will be approximately the same thing as excel is. Its prime component is gluteraldehyde which is a complex carbon molecule that plants can absorb in leiu of co2. In short it let's you add carbon to the tank without an expensive pressurized co2 setup. You just have to dose it daily.

As for the ferts, you might be able to get away without using them but I would suggest getting a pack of dry ferts and doing either a pps pro or ei dosing. Both the glut and ferts are nowhere near as difficult to use as a lot of people think.
 
The only thing is that liquid carbon (Excel, API CO2 Booster, and Glut) will melt your anacharis.
 
The only thing I suggest if you do PPS-Pro is to use 3 dosing bottles. Mix the nitrates in one bottle, the potassium and phosphate in one bottle, and the micro's in another bottle. By splitting the nitrates from the potassium and phosphate you can better custom dose your aquarium.

What I do is test my water for nitrates and phosphates right before my weekly WC then depending on what the levels are after a week of dosing I can then decide if I need to use more, less, or the same amount of each solution for the next week.

Another thing you need to watch is since your not going to use liquid carbon or CO2 you might not need as much ferts because your photosynthesis will be slower without the CO2 or liquid carbon to boost it. Just watch your nitrate and phosphate levels so they don't get too high.
 
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