Trying to narrow down my plants

[captotterboy]

Hello everyone
I am going to be putting together a 10g planted tank soon. I have a lot of experience with house plants and gardening, but not as much with water plants.
I have narrowed some plants down based mostly on appearance. However, I know less about their difficulty. Below is a list of the plants that I like and I was hoping someone could help steer me away from any that are known as being difficult, so prolific that they will take over the tank, too tall for a 10g, or not compatible with each other

I would love to tell you exactly which light I have on the tank, but i have not gotten it in yet and I don't remember what I ordered from the pet store. I do know it is on par with a 20" Finnex Stingray

-10g
-LED lighting system (sorry)
-Aquaclear 20
-Aquatop GH50
-Black sand substrate

Foreground
-Banana plant
-Java moss
-Moss ball

Midground
-Water Sprite
-Java fern
-Dwarf sagittaria

Background
-Anacharis
-Cabomba
-Hortwort
-Myrio

Thank you
Jeff

 

[Nils]

All the plants you picked are low tech, except for cabomba and myrio. If you are new to planted tanks than that's a good thing because they will be easier to grow and take care of. The light sounds fine, generally anything Finnex can support plants. Be warned though, the higher the light, the more likely it is you'll need Co2 if you don't want algae. But if the light is low you wouldn't have to worry about algae. It's like a triangle where everything is kept in check, light, Co2 and nutrients. Are you planning on injecting Co2 in this tank?

 

[captotterboy]

I was not planning on injecting CO2.
Does that help narrow the plants down more?

 

[mrfishybetta]

You don't have to use CO2 - I don't and have similar plants to your list. I do use Seachem Excel however. It is a carbon source substitute. Using it will help keep up your carbon in balance in regards to light and other nutrients (thus keeping algae down). I would suggest getting an anubias plant as well - super low maintenance and has nice leaves

 

[libertybelle]

Seconded that excel is a great supplement for a smaller tank if you have up to medium lights but don't want to go the c02 route. It can get very cost inefficient for larger tanks but for yours I bet it would work really well. My tank is on the low end of medium light and I use excel and root tabs and occasional water column ferts. Really to what extent you will need products like excel and water column ferts will depend on how much light you are getting from that LED unit.

I also didn't use any kind of special plant substrate just a small river rock style gravel. I eventually added a layer of flourite to provide more micros for my root feeders but frankly most of my plants are all really hardy and they did just fine with just the inert gravel.

For some reason I had issues with banana plants. I read on this forum somewhere that it's natural for them to lose their bananas and then send a leaf to the top.... I think where I failed was realizing that if you don't cut it and create a new plant from it at that point you will lose the adult plant as part of its natural life cycle. Just something to be aware of and look into if you go with them.

Anacharis also melted in my tank and upon further reading I found that while it can be easy to grow there are a lot of reports of it having difficulty in a warmer tank. (And when it does melt all those leaves are super nasty to clean up!)

I've never kept water sprite, but I have kept a very similar plant water wisteria. They look very similar except the wisteria is a stem plant that you can propagate really easily by cutting off the top of the stem and planting it elsewhere. It exploded under my low to medium lights. Great nitrate sink. I swear, under good conditions you can practically watch them grow by the hour!

I second the anubius, If you are on the higher end of medium light they need some shade though. So if you have any floating plants or hardscape with hollow places underneath basically anywhere where the light is getting partially blocked, that's where they do really well! The indirect light is perfect for them.

Crypts also grow like crazy in my tank but you do have to be careful not to overdose with excel if you have them or they will melt (Or so I've read repeatedly... I have not had a problem with this in my tank ever but i don't overdose excel.)

 

[captotterboy]

What would you say is melting-Anacaris warm?

I will look into the seachem. I suppose knowing my lighting output would help. I should know on Friday.

Are the Anubius and Cyrpts foreground, middle, or background plants?

Given that this will be a Dwarf Puffer tank, does that change the recommendations?

Anyone ever have any luck growing aquatic Utricularia or Genlisea in their tanks?

 

[captotterboy]

Also,
I am thinking one part of the tank would look good if it has a low, carpeting, foreground plant. I would keep it somewhat in check so as not to cover the entire substrate.


Any suggestions there?

 

[libertybelle]

I don't know of any carpeting plants that will work without high light and high light requires C02. You can however make a mat of moss to achieve a similar effect.

I don't know for sure what made the anacharis die back (melt)... like I said I only found out after the fact that they didn't tend to do well in warmer tanks. So that is a possibility.

I've never heard of dwarf puffers eating/digging up plants, but I've never had one.

The anubius does best in partial shade, so wherever in your tank allows that would likely be best unless you have quite low light. There are different varieties of both anubius and crypts some of which get taller than others. I keep mine in fore to mid ground because they're not that tall.

 

[captotterboy]

Hey everyone
I got in my lighting fixture today. Current Freshwater LED+ Satellite

It is 13W. So for a 10g tank what level of light is that considered (low, medium, or high) at max output?

What plants does this rule out?

Thanks

 

[Brookster123]

On a 10 gal you'll be low/medium light

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[captotterboy]

Gotcha. That helps

So my shortlist now looks something like the following;

Fore
-Banana plant
-Anubias Nana Petite
-Bacopa Australia

Mid
-Java Fern
-Echinodorus Angustifolia (maybe not enough light)
-Najas Roraima

Back
-Moneywort

Floating (maybe)
-Water hyacinth

This is assuming I can find these plants. I also may not have enough room for everything.

Everything look Kosher?

Anyone have suggestions of where to find all these? Some are easier to find than others

Thanks
Jeff

 

[libertybelle]

you can find a lot of plants at local fish stores. Even places like petco and petsmart... just be careful to research what you want before buying because, as I'm sure you've heard, they like to sell bog plants as aquarium plants there.

The sky is the limit if you choose to have things shipped to you instead of buying locally. The classified forum on this site always has trimmings from people's plants and I'm sure you could get a good low/med light starter pack from someone on here if you head in there and look around/ask!

 

[Laeris]

You should be able to get banana locally, along with moneywort, Java fern and anubias. The rest, particularly hyacinth, you might check pond shops or online. I always check classifieds here first. I've nearly filled my 40b and a few other tanks for less than retail that way.


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[LeahRay]

Don't know if this helps, but from what I have been finding you can get some sweet plants from either the classified section here, and and also aquabid.com looks like there are some sweet plant bundles on bid right now, just have to be careful to look up the seller first.

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[captotterboy]

Cool. Thanks everyone

 

[libertybelle]

Cool. Thanks everyone

have fun!

 

[captotterboy]

Before posting I asked my local aquarium supply store (who has also been very helpful) about what plants on my list they could get for me. Building a good report with them, even though it costs a bit more, is a good idea

If they can't get something for me, or if it is ridiculously expensive, I will try the classifieds here.