What would be a good ground cover

[Purrbox]

If there are no unplanted areas, then you don't gravel vac at all just do the wave the vac above the plants thing.

[Mopedman]

Gotcha thanks. So the plants essentially absorb the nutrients from the mulm and it doesn't raise any of your water levels as in nitrates?

[Purrbox]

It all depends on how heavily planted the aquarium is, how fast growing the plants are, and how heavily stocked it is with fish. Plants may consume Nitrates faster than the fish produce them, in which case dosing becomes necessary. Plants may consume nutrients at roughly the same speed that fish produce them, in which case the Nitrate levels would remain roughly steady. Or it could be that the fish produce waste more quickly than the plants can consume the nutrients, in which case water changes must be sufficiently frequent and large enough to keep Nitrate levels in check.

[fearlessfisch]

That's an absolutely beautiful tank, happygirl. I'm not a plant person, so please forgive the beginner questions. You say this was a low-light tank? What did you use for substrate? Did you do any extra things like fertilizing or CO2, or is it possible to do something like this without the bells and whistles?

Could you list the names of some of the plants you have in your tank...say from left to right, for people who have no clue what works in low light? I'm just amazed at how gorgeous this is.

Thanks in advance.

[happygirl65]

Originally Posted by fearlessfisch

That's an absolutely beautiful tank, happygirl. I'm not a plant person, so please forgive the beginner questions. You say this was a low-light tank? What did you use for substrate? Did you do any extra things like fertilizing or CO2, or is it possible to do something like this without the bells and whistles?

Could you list the names of some of the plants you have in your tank...say from left to right, for people who have no clue what works in low light? I'm just amazed at how gorgeous this is.

Thanks in advance.

Absolutely it is possible. This tank did not have many bells and whistles.
I am truly flattered as this was my first planted tank.

I will do my best to fill in the blanks. This was a 55 gallon tank, with 2x65wPC light with 50/50 bulbs (which reduced the usable light...came out around 1.7 wpg)
Substrate was sandy gravel from my local river bed,(free for me...then washed really well...) no special soil, just flourish root tabs under the crypt and sword plants.

The plants from left to right were
far left back and ground cover hygro and sunset hygro
Mid ground left Red Crypt Wendtii
Middle back asian ambulia
Middle front, Christmas moss tied on driftwood
Just next to that and back a little is wisteria and then some more asian ambulia behind that
Right side front and middle ground are very small amazon swords. They stayed small in this set up
Right side back more hygro

Ultimately I didn't like the gravel as it was quite large and didn't hold the stem plants down well. If I did the same tank again I would choose standard gravel or PFS.
I did use ferts once in a while but not regularly. The fish waste and my water changes seemed to provide everything it needed. It looked this way for almost a year. No co2, I even used and airstone because I liked the looks of it.
It is certainly possible to have a lovely tank and keep it low tech, low maintenance.

[fearlessfisch]

Thank you! I just keep coming back to look at this tank--you really did a beautiful job. I think I am going to have to do something about mine. I did not realize a look like this was possible at low light. I like the way you used the slate, too, to create the leveled look.

I appreciate the detailed response. I think I have a new summer project coming on.

[happygirl65]

I glued the peices of rock together in the back with silicone before I filled the tank. It was kind of a pain to plant behind it but it turned out nice.

[Mopedman]

Originally Posted by happygirl65

This tank had only 1.7 wpg too, no ferts...I think I may be missing some of the simplicity.

Any CO2?

[happygirl65]

Nope, not even DIY. I mean technically the fish do give off CO2 through respiration, I started to add flourish excell in the beginning but had even more algae so I stopped doing even that.
I had to limit my lights to about 8 hrs per day to limit algae but yes it was very low tech and easy to maintain.

[pitt420dude]

She just uses the magic green thumb to stir the PWC water and voila! Beautiful plants!