Teach me about plants !

[mandoborg]

Hey Folks, i'm new here and was wondering if i could get some sugestions on plants for my 29 gallon. I have 3 bags of Eco-Complete coming any day now and i'm looking for advice on what kind of plants i should consider. Being so new to this i no NOTHING about laying out plants, even thouhg i've been reading constantly for weeks on it !!Right now i have 3 Amazon swords, but between two former goldfish that have since been moved, i think they were the culprits nibbling away at night........and being a moron and planting them in gravel, they aren't looking so good. I have an Aquatek/Paintball CO2 cylinder already set-up and running, but that was more for the future. Any advice on ground cover especially, but also just plants in general. I'd like to purchase from within the forum as opposed to Petco/Ebay but apparently i need to post at least 15 times to do so. Sorry to be so long winded !

Jim

 

[Ansomnia7]

I would like to know the same thing!


I was considering purchasing a plant bundle from liveaquaria.com

Does anyone have experience with that?

Thanks!

 

[mitchwheelz]

I have a 15 gallon planted tank that has been up and running for a while now and I thought I could lend some advice. A good starter plant to have in a tank is java fern. Its very hardy and can survive very well in low light. But you cannot plant it directly into the gravel. You have to tie it to something like a price of driftwood or a rock. Another great plan to start out with would be some type of Anubis . This also has to be tied to wood or rock and cannot be planted directly into you're substrate. Another plant that I have had success with is Cardinal plant. You can get this at Petsmart for about $9.00 it can work good as a background plant. Or you can cut it up into separate pieces and plant it as a ground cover . Also for best success with plants highlight is recommended I rather have really high light rather than a lot of co2. Also the success of your plants can depend on what livestock you put into your tank. Cichlids or goldfish will destroy your plants very quickly. If I were you I'd stick to neon tetras or other types of community fish. I also recommend cleaner shrimp to help clean the gravel because regular sucker fish cannot clean the gravel properly. Hope this helps.

 

[Aquamandan]

I recommend java fern and water wisteria. Also, grab a few moss balls to keep your ammonia levels in check.

 

[Ansomnia7]

So moss balls are worth it, huh?

 

[Aquamandan]

So moss balls are worth it, huh?

Definitely. Get 1 moss ball for every 10 gallons of water. As long as you do regular WCs, you shouldn't have to worry about a spike in ammonia (along with the moss balls).

 

[Ansomnia7]

Definitely. Get 1 moss ball for every 10 gallons of water. As long as you do regular WCs, you shouldn't have to worry about a spike in ammonia (along with the moss balls).

Wow! That'd be a bunch for me. I haven't read that yet. It sucks because I already put in my liveaquaria order this morning. This ammonia/nitrate/nitrite thing really has me freaked out. I feel like it will be a year before I can actually add something to my tank! Lol

 

[mitchwheelz]

Don't worry once you have an established tank ammonia nitrite and nitrate stay preety solid in the low to none range. Its a lot easier than some of the people on this site make it out to be. Your levels should stabilize after about 2 weeks

 

[Rivercats]

First off what type lighting and bulbs are you using on what size tank? Lighting is what determines the type of plants you can grow. Once that is known then proper plants for your set up can be given.

Plants need three things... light, CO2/light carbon, and ferts. Again depending on the type light and plants in a tank will determine what ferts need to be dosed. I always suggest using liquid carbon even in low light tanks as it does help tremendously in plant photosynthesis and growth.

 

[Mebbid]

Being new to plants I would suggest that you try to go for either a medium or low light tank to start. With high light levels it is difficult to get everything in check to prevent horrendous algae blooms. A medium light tank will be forgiving enough to allow for mistakes but still give great growth and a good range of available plants.

As for fertilizers I would suggest going with some sort of dry ferts. You will also need root tabs for your amazon swords as they are heavy root feeders. As rivercats said, liquid carbon is a great addition to a tank.

Plants don't really care much about what type of substrate they are in as long as they get fertilized. The lack of fertilizers as well as being a target for your gold fish is the most probable reason that your swords are doing poorly rather than your choice of substrate.

 

[mandoborg]

THANKS for the replies folks !!! I've since banished the 2 goldfish to another tank !!! I actually bought some Osmocote root tabs off E-bay but i put one in a vase of water first. It was there for over a week . and the gel cap still hadn't givn way........ it was just jelly, but still held the Osmocote inside. I broke it open and did an ammonia test on that water the next day and it was through the roof so i set them aside for now and went with some API tabs.....Not saying the Osmocote caused it, i'm going to run another test on just my plain tap water after it sits for a couple of days. I've been using both Leaf Zone and CO2 booster every other day as well.......

Now i have at least some advice to go searching the web for some basic plants. I beleive i have a Tropical Sun bulb in there, but she couldn't remmeber exactly. I tried the Ocean Sun bulb, but it made my tank look like it had a green haze to it, so back it went..........I'm definetly open to bulb recomendations as well.......... i'm new to this and learning is half the fun.......

THANKS again for the advice folks !!!

Jim

 

[Mebbid]

6500k is a rather widely accepted bulb temperature for planted tanks. I would probably go with a 2 bulb fixture running a 10000k bulb and a 6500k bulb.

There is ammonia in the osmocote root tabs. A vase of water doesn't contain much water so the ammonia wasn't dilluted as much as it will be in your tank. As long as the tank is cycled it will be okay.

The leaf zone is only an iron supplement for your tank and doesn't actually contain fertilizers for plants. It is there as a supplement for leaf health rather than plant health which is something I think they really need to put on the bottle. Also, the co2 booster will need to be dosed daily as it will break down rather quickly in the tank.

Take a look at Planted Aquarium Fertilizer - Dry Fertilizers, Dry Fertilizers, , , Planted Aquarium Fertilizer - Macro Micro Nutrient Mix, Macro Micro Nutrient Mix, for a good fertilizer.

 

[Rivercats]

Leaf Zone is iron and potassium and is good when used in conjunction with Seachem Flourish Comprehensive. If your running a low light tank this combination is usually enough. If you get into medium light with a broader variety of plants then using dry ferts is much better.

Liquid carbon really should be dosed daily as it breaks down in solution in 12-24 hours.