Planting an existing tank

[Lotocus]

I have a 75 gallon that is rather heavily stocked with fish and has been established for about 4-5 months. So far I have a large piece of driftwood and a bunch of artificial plants along with some rocks. The substrate is standard aquarium gravel. The only equipment I have is the standard HOB filters (2 Aqueon 55/75), a 30 inch LED light bar and 300w heater.

I've been thinking about adding some live plants. But don't want to change substrate or add any other equipment. I was thinking about getting one or two Jungle Val and let them grow out. Would these thrive in a tank with low light and standard gravel? Should I just stick to artificials if I'm not willing to add CO2 or change my substrate? Thanks for the advice.


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[PerfectDepth]

The vals would probably survive, but without more light they will likely grow very slowly and stay short instead of growing to the top of the tank. Since you have driftwood, you could attach anubias and java fern. Both will do very well in low light.

 

[Chesmok]

Jungle Vals would be fine just grow really slowly. I second the Java fern and anubias idea. Also some mosses look great attached to driftwood like fissidens or flame moss and they're fine in low light


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[BBradbury]

Your Tank

Hello Loto...

A 30 inch light on a 48 inch tank isn't going to grow very much in the way of aquarium plants. You could try some species of Anubias like nana or nangi. Some mosses like Singapore and Christmas and some moss balls could work. A floating plant like Anacharis and Hornwort may work too.

B

 

[blueramboy87]

You could try some amazon swords. That stuff grows fast.

 

[TheresaM]

I had a similar setup with my 75g and did anachris as well.

 

[Lotocus]

Thanks for the ideas. I'll go check out what my local store has. For the plants that attach to driftwood - how do you get them to attach? Ties the with string for a while until they grab on for themselves?


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[TheresaM]

Thanks for the ideas. I'll go check out what my local store has. For the plants that attach to driftwood - how do you get them to attach? Ties the with string for a while until they grab on for themselves?

Yup, I actually use thread.