Betta planted 15g suggestions?

[lexiesboots]

Hi everyone!

I am tossing around the idea of setting up my 15 gallon tank for a Betta and possibly a Nerite snail. I want to make it a planted tank and was wondering some plant suggestions? I am still pretty new to live plants but plan on using a substrate and investing in a good light. Any preferences to plants, substrates, and lights?

Thanks!

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Hi Lex.. For substrate that's pretty straight forward and wouldnt break the bank, you can consider getting either Floramax, Eco-Complete, or Fluorite. Sand is also okay for plants, although IMO, not as good as the ones listed.

For a beginner planted tank, I'd recommend some easy low light tolerant plants such as java fern, anubias, crypts, java moss, and swords just to name a few. If you want plants more challenging, you'll have to consider using a moderate to high light fixture plus injecting co2.

What's your budget on a light fixture? And what are the dimensions of your tank?

 

[lexiesboots]

Hi Lex.. For substrate that's pretty straight forward and wouldnt break the bank, you can consider getting either Floramax, Eco-Complete, or Fluorite. Sand is also okay for plants, although IMO, not as good as the ones listed.

For a beginner planted tank, I'd recommend some easy low light tolerant plants such as java fern, anubias, crypts, java moss, and swords just to name a few. If you want plants more challenging, you'll have to consider using a moderate to high light fixture plus injecting co2.

What's your budget on a light fixture? And what are the dimensions of your tank?

I have some java fern, two different types of anubias, and a water onion in my goldfish tank. I am looking for a better lighting system for that as well. I sort of have a brown thumb so the beginner plants have been great so far dot he crypts, moss, and swards send off little runners? Just so I can get an idea of how many plants I should buy so they don't completely take over the tank.

Dimensions are 20" x 10" x 16" I don't want to spend more than $100-150 on one light as I will probably end up buying some for my 40 gallon breeder goldfish tank. But I want my betta tank to be more planted than my goldfish tank so my betta can have lots of hiding spots.

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

The plants I mentioned wouldn't take over the tank at all. They're considered low light tolerant plants and grow pretty slowly (maybe java moss grows fast at times). Aside from the plants I mentioned, you can also consider dwarf hair grass, marimo moss balls, jungle vallisneria, and dwarf sagittaria. For the DHG, I'd get eleocharis parvula since it's the shorter version. You can research the plants and see what's best for placement as a foreground, midground, and background plant.

For lighting, with your criteria and budget, I'd definitely get the Finnex Fugeray 20" LED fixture. Amazon.com: AL-20WM: Finnex FugeRay Unibody Ultra Slim LED Fixture - 20" Daylight +Moonlights: Pet Supplies

Here's a couple reviews and people who use the Finnex Fugeray:
Finnex FugeRay Product Review
4g Schuber-Wright shrimp tank

Note: You can see their plant/flora list and also consider those if they're not in my list. The light fixture I recommended is perfect for low to moderate lighting. Both examples I linked to are non-co2 injected tanks.

I recommend putting your lighting on a timer. It makes things so much easier and your plants will get the needed light (photo period) even when you're not home to turn the light on and off.

Also make sure to add about 2 to 3" of substrate to provide enough depth for your plants to develop a good root system. This applies to all the plants I mentioned with the exception of the Anubias, Java Fern, and Moss (of course). Anubias, Java Fern, and Moss can be attached to DW using cotton thread or fishing line. I prefer the cotton thread because it will disintegrate over time, which the plants will have attached themselves with their roots by then.

I do, however, recommend a good liquid fert dosing. You can go with Seachem Flourish, Excel, and for Iron and Potash, you can get API Leaf Zone. Just follow the directions on the bottles for easy dosing. Hope this helps!

So what are the specs on your goldfish tank?

 

[Bbarb27]

I have a lowlight planted 10g for one of our bettas. He loves to hang out and swim back and forth in the water wisteria and occassionally sleeps under or on top of a large anubias. Both are very easy to grow.

He pretty much avoids the swords and java fern for some reason. Could be an individual fish preference though!

 

[lexiesboots]

The plants I mentioned wouldn't take over the tank at all. They're considered low light tolerant plants and grow pretty slowly (maybe java moss grows fast at times). Aside from the plants I mentioned, you can also consider dwarf hair grass, marimo moss balls, jungle vallisneria, and dwarf sagittaria. For the DHG, I'd get eleocharis parvula since it's the shorter version. You can research the plants and see what's best for placement as a foreground, midground, and background plant.

For lighting, with your criteria and budget, I'd definitely get the Finnex Fugeray 20" LED fixture. Amazon.com: AL-20WM: Finnex FugeRay Unibody Ultra Slim LED Fixture - 20" Daylight +Moonlights: Pet Supplies

Here's a couple reviews and people who use the Finnex Fugeray:
Finnex FugeRay Product Review
4g Schuber-Wright shrimp tank

Note: You can see their plant/flora list and also consider those if they're not in my list. The light fixture I recommended is perfect for low to moderate lighting. Both examples I linked to are non-co2 injected tanks.

I recommend putting your lighting on a timer. It makes things so much easier and your plants will get the needed light (photo period) even when you're not home to turn the light on and off.

Also make sure to add about 2 to 3" of substrate to provide enough depth for your plants to develop a good root system. This applies to all the plants I mentioned with the exception of the Anubias, Java Fern, and Moss (of course). Anubias, Java Fern, and Moss can be attached to DW using cotton thread or fishing line. I prefer the cotton thread because it will disintegrate over time, which the plants will have attached themselves with their roots by then.

I do, however, recommend a good liquid fert dosing. You can go with Seachem Flourish, Excel, and for Iron and Potash, you can get API Leaf Zone. Just follow the directions on the bottles for easy dosing. Hope this helps!

So what are the specs on your goldfish tank?

Thanks for all the info!

I already have the API leaf zone fert on hand. And do plan on putting enough substrate in so I don't have to worry about gravel and whatnot on top. About how long should I set the time for on the lights?

What do you mean the specs?

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

I set my timers anywhere from 8 to 10 hours, depending on the intensity of the light.. Probably for low to moderate lighting 10 to (maybe) 12 would work. Basically when you dive in to planted tanks, you have to find the balance of lighting and ferts so you get good growth from your plants without inducing algae. If you start to get algae you can reduce the photo period or figure out if you're dosing the appropriate amount of ferts.

With "spec" i mean specifications.. Like how many gallons and what are the dimensions of the goldfish tank?

 

[lexiesboots]

Gotcha! I didn't know if you meant species or specifications. Well they are still little babies and are in the 15 gallon until we move and I can get their 40 gallon breeder up and running. It's 36" x 20" I think. It's the Aqueon 40 gallon breeder. There are only three of them (my profile picture) and the smallest one is about the size of an almond and the biggest one about the size of a good sized marble. I know it's really small and bad for them but its only temporary until I move. I don't want to set it all up and then drain the whole thing in about a month and have to start cycling the water all over again. I just have the plants in gravel which I know is bad also but I haven't been able to find any 5lb bags of substrate. So I plan on putting some in the little vases when I start to set up their current tank for a betta. The plants seem to be doing okay without the substrate but I think will flourish with. Like I said I'm new to the whole live plants thing and most of the friends who have well established tanks don't use live plants. I'm learning to take everything the LFS says with a grain of salt. Learning lots of new info from trial and error and this site

 

[lexiesboots]

Sorry for any typos or grammatical errors or confusion. Typing it all out on my iPhone isn't very ideal.

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

I don't have much experience with goldfish and having their tank planted. To my understanding they like to eat plants and uproot them. I'd continue focus on the 15g as the betta heavy planted tank. While the 40B will be low tech as possible. I'd get the Aqueon T5 from Petsmart for the 40B since it's a normal output fixture capable of growing low light plants.

 

[lexiesboots]

That's what I read everywhere so I only have the four plants in the tank with them. They seem to like them and don't munch on them or uproot them and I have had them for about four to five months now.

I don't want to have anymore plants in the 40g due to space. But def want to focus more on the betta tank being heavily planted