Best beginner plants to try?

[PondLady]

I have a light sand base and have grown plants before and had decent success with swords and vals. I had a DIY CO2 system for a while, but I didn't notice much difference. Fert tabs did work well. After a move, I am starting my tank up with a sand bottom again. Can I put some sort of base material in plant saucers to grow healthier plants? Also, how do I keep the plants from becoming covered with algae? I have a pair of Nerites, but will probably get more to keep the glass clean. I also have some corys and a pair of clown loaches to move the sand. I have more driftwood on the way and love the look of things growing on it. What is the best plant to grown on wood?

 

[mrvincent]

Everything in planted tank are depending on the light you're using.

Higher lights require more CO2 and ferts. IMO, under med lights, java fern is really easy plant to gros. It grow slowly, but I have some for more than 2 years, and now it's huge big and cool !

 

[Old Scales]

If you'd like to try a class of plants other than crown root types like the swords and vals, you could try your hand at a stem plant. One I recommend to learn on that is an easy grower and doesn't require a lot of light or carbon is Ambulia. My favorite was Limnophilia sassiliflora. It's a beautiful medium green fine leaf plant that accepts trimming and replanting very well. It will give you a chance to witness side branching after trimming and propagating the plants from the trimmings. Plus it can give you some aquascaping experience with mid-ground and background placement.
Good luck, OS.

 

[PondLady]

Limnophilia sassiliflora looks very pretty, but it's on the the U.S. Federal noxious weed list. Do they still sell it at LFS?

 

[Old Scales]

I bought mine about a year ago at our local fish store. I'm not sure about all the regulations from state to state but I see it on websites for sale. I would just check your local fish stores or try and order it from an online seller and see. OS.

 

[BBradbury]

Hello Pond...

I don't get too complicated with my tanks. The simpler, the less there is to forget. You can use basic fluorescent lighting. A couple of T12s from the hardware store will work well for plants that require subdued lighting. I use these lamps and grow Brazilian water weed (Anacharis), Pennywort, Hornwort, Java fern, Singapore moss, Anubias nana and nangi and Cryptocoryne. These are plenty to fill a 55 gallon tank I keep.

These plants don't really require much more than the fertilizers the fish produce. You may need to dose a little Seachem Comprehensive liquid once in a while. I do on occasion.

B

 

[PondLady]

Lighting

My tank just didn't seem bright enough with the coralife light, which has one 28W Colormax lamp and one 28W 6700K lamp (one looks like it's kinda dim). I put the original fluorescent hood back on too and it looks much brighter with both lit. Should I buy a standard gro-light tube for the hood?

 

[Rivercats]

Is your Coralife fixture a T5HO as in skinny bulbs that are high output? If so you could get a 10K bulb which will really brighten the tank up and then use a 6000-6700k bulb along with it. I prefer Geisemann bulbs in T5HO fixtures. They are quite bright. It's helpful to add another fixture so just get a 6500-6700K bulb for it. This will help increase lighting and tank brightness a lot.

As for plants that are easy you have Anubia's, Java Ferns, and Bolbitus for attaching to rocks or DW. Then Crypts, Swords, bulb plants like Tiger Lotus, Val's, Ambulia, and Brazilian Pennywork are all easy plants. Using a Liquid carbon such as Flourish Excel daily will help photosynthesis and plant growth but I wouldn't use Val's if you decide to use liquid carbon as often Val's are quite sensitive to the liquid carbon and can often melt. You will need to use some ferts weekly if you grow any stem plants.

I wouldn't bother growing plants in anything but the substrate. And you can keep algae in check by only running lighting about 6 hours daily and using liquid carbon daily.

 

[PondLady]

When I get home, I'll have to look to see which of the skinny bulbs in the Coralife is looking dim. The hood light has a fatter tube in it that seems pretty bright, but I'm not sure what it is.
It seems odd to run lights only 6 hours per day. Doesn't that confuse the instincts of the fish? Plus I like to have the lights on before I leave for work and again when we're home in the evening.
The substract is cheap play sand, but it seemd to grow swords and vals pretty well. I had a nice Java fern at one time, but it was overwhelmed by hair algae. I also had a moss ball that got fairly large, but some new Raphael cats tore it apart (they are gone now). I would like some sort of short, grassy plant that likes medium light.

 

[Rivercats]

You can do a split light schedule and run lighting for up to 4 hours in the morning, a siesta during the day, then up to 4 hours at night for better viewing. Fish and plants do quite well with only 6 hours of lighting or a split lighting schedule. Algae will usually not do well using either method.

If your Coralife bulbs are over 9-12 months old they need replacing. Something else is that Coralife fixtures from my understanding don't have the best reflectors on them which also affects the light.

Lastly watch nitrate and phosphate levels in your tank. In a planted tank 10-20ppm of nitrates and 1-3ppm phosphates are good levels to shoot for. Do a 50% WC weekly.