n00b needs advice on plants

[downtheroad]

I'm a fish n00b, so I am learned tons in the last couple of days by reading these forums.

(for reference, see my post in the Getting Started forum)

To make a long story short, this is what I have:

1. 20H
2. Aquaclear Power Filter (150 gph w/ BioMax)
3. Black gravel, most likely. This is open to debate.
4. I have no water yet.
5. This is also still open, although, some ones I have looked at:
-Dwarf Guaramis (I hear other ones will get too big)
-Tetra of all sorts (are there any that are so different I should watch out for them?
-Rasbora
-Cherry, Albino, Black Ruby Barbs
-Red swordtail (although I would prefer to avoid breeding because I don't want to deal with it)
6. 1 Bottle Instant DeChlor
7. "24'' Colormax Full-Spectrum & 6700K Plant Lamp (T-5)"
8. 100W heater.

None of this is set up yet. I'm still in the research stage of all of this. My concern is that my bulb provides too many watts (5W/gal). Is this going to require that I get fertilizers and CO2 sources etc. etc.?

Are there some plants that can go without this sort of thing? Any general advice would be very helpful in this case, as I have heard a bunch of different things. Thanks!

 

[malkore]

How exactly does your bulb provide 5wpg? a standard 24" NO bulb is 20 watts...1wpg, not 5.

 

[downtheroad]

Whoops... That was idiocy on my part, I guess. I was thinking of the 100W heater and not the lamp...

Anyway, I suppose the question still stands. Do you need more info about the lamp?

 

[Hoovercat]

Not really. At 1wpg you'll be rather limited in what will grow well in your tank though. CO2 will hardly be useful and may accelerate algal growth. Ferts may be used very sparingly. This http://www.plantgeek.net/plantguide_list.php?category=1&filter_by=2 is a link to plants that might work under 1wpg.

 

[downtheroad]

Excellent! I don't mind that there aren't a bunch of plants that will grow. This is my first tank, so I'm not too picky at this point.

 

[malkore]

with 1wpg you shouldn't get into trouble with algae and stuff like that.
for under 1wpg, aside from the link Hoover posted, stick to java ferns, crypts, anubias nana, and you might get hornwort to grow ok. I wouldn't mess with java moss as I've heard it's really more of a medium light plant, unless you're going to float it (which blocks light below it).

You can totally have a nice looking, densely planted low light tank. Just pick the right plants.
For fertilizers, Seachem Flourish comprehensive plant fert, and Seachem Excel should be all you need. Even though you aren't high light, Excel will still help the plants, but I'd only dose it after a water change, and then again about half way til your next water change per the bottle dosing instructions.

 

[travis simonson]

CO2 will hardly be useful and may accelerate algal growth.

I have to respectfully disagree. CO2, even in low-light tanks, has proven to be very useful in preventing algae. There is really nothing wrong with using CO2 in any sort of planted tank, be it low-, medium, or high-light. You simply cannot go wrong with it

 

[malkore]

doh, thanks for noticing what I missed. yep, CO2 may not have a significant benefit to the 1wpg tank in terms of plant growth, but algae really seems to hate increased CO2 levels...so it makes for a nice buffer against algae
For $10 you can have a great DIY co2 system, and since you have low light, you don't have to worry about maintaining 25ppm levels. Even in the 10-15ppm range, you'd be doing good.

 

[downtheroad]

Hmmm... In that case, I'll have to look into what it'd take to make and maintain a DIY system (fashioned out of soda bottles).

 

[downtheroad]

I was looking at plants online so I could make a list of possibilities and I saw that these were listed as easy to take care of:

Anubias nana (foreground) http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=815
Java Fern (midground) http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=800
Micro Sword (foreground) http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=805
Anacharis????? (background) http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=780
Ruffle Plant (background) http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=1622
Temple - Narrow Leaf (background) http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=1619
Water Sprite (floating?) http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=822


Can anybody tell me whether or not these would be a good idea for me based on my experience and equipment? Particularly, I would like to know about the Temple, Micro Sword and Ruffle Plant since they are not explicitly listed in the Sticky thread in this forum. Thanks!

I'm very anxious to get started on my plants :0)

 

[travis simonson]

Those are all fairly easy to grow plants and, with the exception of the Micro Sword and possibly the Water Sprite will all grow well in low-light (1-1.5 wpg) conditions. The Ruffle Plant is actually a sword plant - E. martii - which can grow quite large and so would probably not be a great plant for a 20G tank. I've bought Anubias from liveaquaria.com before and they were some of the best specimens I've ever seen. I'm guessing that the rest of their plants are of a similar quality. You'll have to let us know how they look when you receive them

 

[downtheroad]

I now have my substrate in (20 lbs Eco-Complete, 10 lbs black gravel) and my water in. I have my heater and my filter on as well.

I had planned on doing a fishless cycle by adding ammonia. Will it be okay to add plants before I put fish in?? I had planned on using the Anubias, Java Fern, Anacharis, Water Sprite or Narrow Leaf Temple.

The girl at the fish store told me that you have to have fish in your tank to add plants. I can't see why this must be true.

Anyway, bottom line, can I go ahead and add plants then get my ammonia and begin to start the cycle?

 

[travis simonson]

Your intuitions are correct. You can definitely add in the plants right away. I think there should be some kind of signs at your LFS that say, "Please do not pay attention to any advice we may give you." No offense to those who might work there, but I hear so many stories about bad advice given at the LFS that I would be leary to take their advice without getting a second opinion.

 

[downtheroad]

This is a fish-specific store (Aquarium Adventure), so they do know what they are talking about for the most part. I think they are mostly just trying not to scare off customers by saying, "well, this is way harder than it looks and you're going to have to do researching an go through months of setup and preparations so you may as well just leave now."

Anyhoo, I'll be getting some plants sometime this week, I think :0)

 

[downtheroad]

Well, I added some Anacharis and some Anubius. I did my best to try to get the snails off. Here's hoping I got 'em all.

Edit: I was just looking closely at my Anacharis. There seem to be little bubble-looking things with little specks in them. Could these be snail eggs or something? If so, I'm gonna have to take them out and try to get them off... :-/

 

[azn_fishy55]

The plants could be pearling.

 

[czcz]

Limpets?

 

[downtheroad]

I just did a forum search for Limpets and Pearling and I've decided that I'm not sure if this is what I'm seeing or not.

I don't think it's pearling because I think that they are there when I take them out of the water. It could be limpets, though I have not yet looked closely into what they are... I only saw a picture of them.

 

[m249saw]

Just get a loach

Plants are great to put in first since they will help keep the ammonia in check.

 

[greenmaji]

but not a clown loach!