5.5 gal planted tank ideas

[herp_mommy]

So I'm thinking about re-scaping my 5.5gal tank. Right now all I have in there is mopani wood, java fern and some Brazilian pennywort. (which grows so fast I want to get rid of it) I've got an 18w bulb over the tank, so I'm guessing medium light plants would do best? I was thinking about some crypts, java moss, and some sort of foreground plant. As for decor, I've got some purple feller stone and a Japanese lamp decoration that I plan to cover with the moss. Any plant ideas/ foreground/ background suggestions?

 

[rocktrns]

Dwarf Baby tears are a great foreground plant.

 

[herp_mommy]

I've seen dwarf baby tears before, but I've heard that they need high light and CO2 to grow well. Would 18w over 5.5gal be enough? That's about 3.3 w/g. I'd love to have some but I don't want to buy them if they won't survive.

 

[JustOneMore20]

You could try it. I'm not certain it would do well..especially without co2. Another carpeting type option would be Marsilea minuta. It is a fairly slow growing foreground carpet that looks similar to Glosso but doesn't require high light and co2. With your light it would grow pretty fast.

If you pick Crypts remember that most of them grow very tall and they aren't like stem plants that you can trim the height of. Cryptocoryne parva are the smallest that I know of. They would make good midground plants. Some moss on your driftwood would be nice. For background plants, I would use some smaller leaved stem plants. It will just be a chore to trim them often, since a 5.5g isn't very tall. Something like Rotala rotundifolia, Ludwigia arcuata, Ludwigia brevipes, or Mayaca fluviatilis. Small or fine leaved plants make the tank look a bigger....while larger leaved plants make the tank seem smaller.

 

[herp_mommy]

thanks for all of that I'll look into the Marsilea minuta and the others you mentioned instead of the crypts.