majolo
Aquarium Advice Freak
Well, I've got all the fish I'm planning on, so even though I wasn't really thinking about plants for my first tank, well, I'm thinking...
So I thought I'd check in with the experts to see what tips and suggestions there are before I go place a big order. Here's what the tank's like:
55 gal, medium walmart gravel, single satellite compact fluorescent fixture with 2 end-to-end 65W 50/50 bulbs (what the fixture comes with), established about a month and a half, fishstock in My Info. I may want to add a mystery snail. Also, my water is hard & alkaline.
Here are changes I am willing or not willing to do:
Willing:
change to a different bulb
dose liquid fertilizers
Not Willing:
change substrate
change light fixture
do too much mucking around with substrate fertilizers
pressurized CO2
So with that info in mind, what am I looking at as far as plants? I think in a thread when I was planning to buy this light fixture, someone said I am now at ~1.5wpg, low to medium light; is that right? So I gather that I could work with a lot of Anubias, a lot of Crypts, Java Fern & Moss, that sort would do fine? Are there any vals or similar looking background plants that would work?
Also, I have no idea how many plants to get. Are those package deals that some online stores offer a decent guideline as far as numbers?
And finally, I've been seriously underwhelmed by most of the plants at fish stores around here. One place has nice specimens, but only like 3 or 4 different plants, and asking $25 for an Anubias... 8O
The others are chain stores, Petco/Petsmart, and their plants look, well... lousy. Petco has no lights on its plant tank! Just ambient. So anyway, is it worth trying lousy-looking plants? I'll probably mail order, but I though I'd ask.
So I thought I'd check in with the experts to see what tips and suggestions there are before I go place a big order. Here's what the tank's like:
55 gal, medium walmart gravel, single satellite compact fluorescent fixture with 2 end-to-end 65W 50/50 bulbs (what the fixture comes with), established about a month and a half, fishstock in My Info. I may want to add a mystery snail. Also, my water is hard & alkaline.
Here are changes I am willing or not willing to do:
Willing:
change to a different bulb
dose liquid fertilizers
Not Willing:
change substrate
change light fixture
do too much mucking around with substrate fertilizers
pressurized CO2
So with that info in mind, what am I looking at as far as plants? I think in a thread when I was planning to buy this light fixture, someone said I am now at ~1.5wpg, low to medium light; is that right? So I gather that I could work with a lot of Anubias, a lot of Crypts, Java Fern & Moss, that sort would do fine? Are there any vals or similar looking background plants that would work?
Also, I have no idea how many plants to get. Are those package deals that some online stores offer a decent guideline as far as numbers?
And finally, I've been seriously underwhelmed by most of the plants at fish stores around here. One place has nice specimens, but only like 3 or 4 different plants, and asking $25 for an Anubias... 8O
The others are chain stores, Petco/Petsmart, and their plants look, well... lousy. Petco has no lights on its plant tank! Just ambient. So anyway, is it worth trying lousy-looking plants? I'll probably mail order, but I though I'd ask.