Planting Density

[Rokuzachi]

This is probably a pretty vague question, but it's been on my mind all day.

How dense should an aquarium be planted to have a significant impact on the bioload that the fish are producing? (Like if we're talking about plants that are anchored in the substrate, how much of the real estate should they take up?) Or is there a "plants per gallon" ratio to go by?

While I am slightly concerned with aesthetics, I'm vastly more concerned for my fish's happiness and well being, and thus I don't mind if I have to make my aquarium look like a jungle instead of an oasis.

For numbers sake, I'm planning on keeping my 56g at 50-80% of capacity regarding stock, none of which are particularly messy fish. This is a low light tank.

Thanks!

 

[BigJim]

I don't think you'll find any rule of thumb. It really depends on the type of plants and the tank environment. Plants like hornwort and water sprite use a lot of nitrate under the right conditions, but they can take over a tank pretty quickly also.

 

[ChizerBunoi]

Just make sure you have good biological filtration media and you will be fine.
Diana Walstad suggests planting very densely and then you are able to get away with no cycle or additional filtration. Mind you her bio load is quite low. I would recommend cycle first though. Also the cost to acquire that many plants from the get go is expensive.

Whether keeping your tank aquascaped is only pleasing for your eye. In the wild, the rivers, streams and lakes are jungles.

Personally, I like to plant very densely to the point where my fish can't swim through the first 4 inches of my stem plants. Depending on the size of the stem of the plant, I go 2 - 6 stems together. If its a large stem like Ammania Gracillis then I plant them individually.

After 3 weeks of growth, my plants hit the surface and I trim to the first 4 nodes of my stems, then replant those toppings. I wait 3 more weeks, then trim to the first 6 nodes, replant the toppings. Each cutting becomes 2 stems instead of one. That way you get a nice bushy look. This is how you properly prune stem plants. This is also a way for you to get the nice jungle look in an aquascape.

Don't do this if you don't have high lights, co2 injection or are regularly dosing fertilizers. If your plants don't grow this fast, you might end up killing them. I would hate if that happened to you.

 

[Rokuzachi]

Thanks guys!

And wow, Chizer, the tanks in your sig look awesome.

I'm using Seachem black fluorite, and I'd say your 90g community is about how I'd like mine to look (but smaller of course). I also had some black sand that I wanted to create a small open area with at one end of the tank, but other than that, wanted to have a lot of plants.

I have a list of plants that someone recommended for me with my low light setup;

Stonewort
Watersprite
Anacharis
Dwarf Water Clover
Java Moss
Anubias Barteri and Nana

I saw most of those plants in person and liked their look. I figured if some were out of my light range, I'm not really opposed to adding more light. I suppose my other concern would be that there will be a moderate amount of water movement in the tank, and I wasn't sure if the above plants were okay with that or not - when I kept a 125g over a decade ago, it was mostly sand and rock and ended up with only a few hedges of something due to the stock I was keeping being prone to messing with the aquascaping.

Thanks again for the info, this forum is awesome <3

 

[Crepe]

It's actually generally accepted that a well planted tank can hold less fish than a moderately planted tank. A very densely planted tanks has less water volume and space to swim. This doesn't really apply to larger tanks. (120g+)