Planted beginner

[AaronW]

Hey everyone! So I have a 60 gallon aquarium that I'm cycling. I wanted to add some plants for a good natural look. I have sand as my substrate. I also am looking for some low light plants because I haven't invested in an upgraded lighting fixture. I have 2 pieces of driftwood in there. So I wanted some plants that grow on driftwood too. Maybe some moss?

 

[nereksnad]

greetings.

java fern and anubias plants are low-light plants that can be attached to driftwood.

only low light moss i have experience with is taxiphyllum spiky.

 

[AaronW]

greetings.

java fern and anubias plants are low-light plants that can be attached to driftwood.

only low light moss i have experience with is taxiphyllum spiky.

Is my substrate off? Should I get some floramax?

 

[nereksnad]

for low light plants it's not neccessary to have a clay-based substrate(although it would make a difference), wether or not the roots can survive in sand depends on the circulation of water that is possible and that depends on how small the corns of sand are.

 

[AaronW]

for low light plants it's not neccessary to have a clay-based substrate(although it would make a difference), wether or not the roots can survive in sand depends on the circulation of water that is possible and that depends on how small the corns of sand are.

Well I'm using pool filter sand. And I only have an aquaclear 70. I'm gonna double up on the filtration and buy another. A

 

[nereksnad]

that's hardly going to make much of a difference, filtration circulation in the substrate is the waters ability to travel around inbetween the grains of the substrate, extra water circulation will not help signifigantly with the water flow at the buttom of the substrate if the grains are too tiny. i've read about people having plant sucess with as low as 0.5~0.7mm grain sizes, smaller grain sizes than that will "strangle" the plant roots and they can rot.

 

[Rivercats]

Sand substrate works fine for plants. Unless you have a super thick layer you shouldn't have issues with it becoming compacted and problems with possible anerobic bacteria forming. What I would suggest if you plant any plants in the substrate is to use root tabs since sand is inert. Easy plants to attach to driftwood are the two mentioned above and Bolbutis (african fern). In your substrate you could also try water sprite, crypts, and possibly amazon swords. These should do okay in low light until you upgrade. I would recommend buying and using a liquid fertilizer weekly and possibly a liquid carbon such as Excel to aid in better growth.

 

[brennae]

I grow all my plants in sand and use Flourish brand root tabs and they do well.

 

[AaronW]

Sand substrate works fine for plants. Unless you have a super thick layer you shouldn't have issues with it becoming compacted and problems with possible anerobic bacteria forming. What I would suggest if you plant any plants in the substrate is to use root tabs since sand is inert. Easy plants to attach to driftwood are the two mentioned above and Bolbutis (african fern). In your substrate you could also try water sprite, crypts, and possibly amazon swords. These should do okay in low light until you upgrade. I would recommend buying and using a liquid fertilizer weekly and possibly a liquid carbon such as Excel to aid in better growth.

Id really like to get some crypts. I have some area where the sand is thinner. I also think some amazon swords would look nice. But I also want my bottom feeders to have room to swim!

 

[AaronW]

I grow all my plants in sand and use Flourish brand root tabs and they do well.

I think I'll order some of those!

 

[nereksnad]

the definition of sand is broad, in european terms sand is anything from 0.2mm to 1.5mm.

i've got no clue how large the grains of pool sand is but what i've read indicate that below 0.5mm could give trouble.

 

[adammorrill]

Id really like to get some crypts. I have some area where the sand is thinner. I also think some amazon swords would look nice. But I also want my bottom feeders to have room to swim!

I grew crypts successfully with just the stock light in my aquarium and some liquid ferts. For sword plants though, i needed to get higher lights and i put a ball of clay by their roots. Also, i use Petco brand aquarium sand in my tanks, and the plants grow fine.

 

[AaronW]

That aquarium sand is really expensive compared to the pool filter sand. It's only 8 bucks for a 50 lbs.

But so far I think I've decided on crypts, Anubias, java ferns, Ian's maybe some anacharis? Any other ideas? How bout elodea?

 

[adammorrill]

You might be able to do jungle val and ludwigia repens. Also, im not saying you should get the Petco brand sand, I was saying that i used sand in my tanks and the plants grew fine. The pool filter sand is perfectly fine, I actually would have gotten that if I knew about it at the time I set up my tanks.

 

[AaronW]

You might be able to do jungle val and ludwigia repens. Also, im not saying you should get the Petco brand sand, I was saying that i used sand in my tanks and the plants grew fine. The pool filter sand is perfectly fine, I actually would have gotten that if I knew about it at the time I set up my tanks.

Yeah lol not bashing the petco sand. Just can't afford it. How does it look? I like the way jungle Val looks. I'm probably gonna order my plants online. But right now my tank has ich in it. So I can't add anything into it :/