planting ideas

I had to strip this tank back to it's core recently since someone was looking after my tanks and this (amongst others) was destroyed with algae.
It was planted with crypts, anubias, marsilia hirsuta and guppy grass (cant think of the proper name).

So i am looking for suggestions on what plants to use. I would prefer to keep it low to medium light. But if need be i can go the high light with injected Co2.
I can also move the wood around if need be. I think i will defenitly move or remove the branchy bit at the back. The floating plants will also be going.
Any thoughts?

It’s always great to see new projects from the start, I personally know nothing about plants and if I ever did a planted tank it would be a non co2 tank. This makes your project all the more interesting to us that loose even the hardy plants to see what we are doing wrong.

Best of luck and thanks for this…………………Tom.

Cheers Tom. I would also like to make this a non Co2 or low light tank. We will see what the majority think, or what sounds best to me.

The idea of this post is to get the imagination going. I would like to see how people on here would like to see this set up. Anything goes.
Move or remove some of the wood? Add rocks? Change the colour of the background? What substrate or what colour substrate? How will it be lit? Closed Hood, over tank luminaire, Halogen spots to give it that natural ripple effect? What plants. Big and bushy? Small and carpet like. Tall and grassy?
I will try anything once, but no Roman columns please.

It will be a great lesson for me to set up a tank through someone else's eyes or someone else's imagination.

Darren,

I don’t know much about plants as I said before but Java Moss (Vesicularia dubyana), Java Ferns (Microsorum pteropus) and Anubias (Anubias spp.) are the only ones I have come across and kept in the past, but I even have trouble with them.
I personally like the ground cover carpet type with rocks and some wood and too see a few Tetra’s swimming around it.

Tom.

PS. I love your floating plants......................

That's terrible,i'm looking at the pic of your tank and i'm thinking it looks good just like that!!!
Not gonna be very much help on that one.
Have you tried making terrasses with your substrate?
i mean side of mountain rice field type levels?
You could have layers of different color short plants????
if it is possible but you're pretty successful with plants so...
can't wait to see what you're gonna do!
all d best
Dimitri.

Recently decided to go for a few REAL plants myself for my new tank low light no CO2, i have got a clue about what type to get how to maintain etc. but i will get there in the end

Heres my 2cents worth

Backround dark green, sounds weird but seen it on a tank and it looked brillant

I would lose some wood and place some large and small rounded stones in the tank. large on one side working down to smaller one as you get to the other side with a gap between them.

Substrate to be dark i think it looks great when you have bright green plants on it.

I would go for some carpet plants similar to what you have on the wood at the moment, have the carpet plant on the substrate, wood and growing partilly up on the stones,some small rounded bushy plants in the foreground and some larger thin like plants at the back.

Lighting definitely the ripple effetc i think it looks so naturally with an open lid


Then fill it with as many tetras as you can fit in

Some lads are probably runing off to the jacks now with their stomachs churning but thats my view of the tank and thats the joy of fish keeping some people like some setups and not others.


All the best with the setup and keep the pics flowing

GB

Hi. I'm assuming it's about 200l, 50cm high???

If so,what works for me:
back right, hygrophila difformis: back centre, echinodorus amazonicus:back left, vallis.

The front right section, pogostemon helferi.
Put something like a nymphea lotus"Zenkeri" between the piece of wood with the little plant on it and the one to it's left. On that piece to the left, attach some "narrow" microsorum pteropus to the lower part with no moss. Some anubias coffeefoila to the higher part would be nice.
In front of these, echinodorus tenellus.
Attach some anubias nana or micro to the piece of wood at the front right.
Take a bed of crypts from the centre pygmy chains to the far right, raising up as you go (e.g. parva-wendetti-becketti).
Somewhere to the extreme right (almost against the glass), to the front, or just behind the line of the little piece of wood, a big echinodorus, such as argentinensis. (somethig that will reach the water surface with flat leaves). Aponogeton might do either.


My 5c worth.


p.s. If you are loosing the back piece of wood, how much do you want for it???

a tom barr 1.5wpg tank,

you have a lot of plant options, even with low light. I'd definitely keep your bog wood and grow Java Fern in the background with different types of Cryptocoryne/anubus Sp. in the middle and front parts of the tank. I had a low light planted when I started this hobby five years ago and once it filled in it was just as lush and beautiful looking as my present high light Co2 injected planted tank. Was very easy to maintain as well.

hey platy

what about a single species plant
if that would work (not thinking an iwagumi though)

im not suggesting a particular plant as
you know more about plants than me!
but its just a thought along the simplicity line

your roots are smashing and i think you are
more than halfway there with them anyway
whatever planting you go with!

btw..ou est la zig?

rgds

4

Add a bit of rubbish into the tank and let the algae grow a bit more over the front glass and you could call it a "Grand canal biotope"

Let me see what I can dig out Darren I have some nice picture examples of moss only tanks (well mainly moss) which would work well with low light if you used CO2 as well, but low maintainence stuff overall.

These are all low light tanks except one or two, the second and third last ones may have a bit more light but could just as easy be lowlight setups tbh if you change one plant in each.

Slight sand foreground works well in front of moss or you could bank up the mid foreground a bit like in pictures 4 and 5, this gives the picture more depth. The foregrounds in those aquascapes are moss as well, usually tied onto small pieces of slate. Maintainence is easy, just trim the moss back every month or so. I would use low/medium light, CO2 injection, and easy on the ferts, use the Tropica plant nutrition once a week or once every 2 weeks at the recommended dose, moss does'nt need much fert on its own. I would use the CO2 though if you try a moss only tank like this, moss always does better with CO2 injection IMO, without it the moss can look straggly. I would keep the fish stocking low in a moss tank like this, it can collect dirt quite easy, shrimp would be an excellent addition as well to keep things nice and clean.

Just some ideas Darren.

BTW don't like the colour of that new substrate might go back to my mud:)

Edit: pity the pictures don't size up a bit bigger on the forum, they were'nt big anyway but now they look tiny!

hi

i really like the seventh one

i have always had a soft spot for
gaps or paths in a scape

i am thinking of going to a medium light
setup with co2 as i just dont have time to
fight the battles relating to hi-tec tanks
(well mine anyway!)

i will be watching this thread
(and bumping it too!)

rgds

4

get yourself some corals 4 and be done with it:laugh: (sorry guys private joke)
have to say those pics are amazing. there was one that won a photo comp a while back that was amazing im sure some one could repost it, for this tread

thats my mates tank

it is lovely but its high-light and all that
not the route the op wants to go

rgds

4

reefpaddy wrote:

get yourself some corals 4 and be done with it:laugh: (sorry guys private joke)
have to say those pics are amazing. there was one that won a photo comp a while back that was amazing im sure some one could repost it, for this tread

I was looking at nice reef tanks yesterday reefpaddy (seahorse aquariums) could be tempted!! Darren,platty252 already does a bit of salty business, he knows his crypts from his corals alright!

fourmations wrote:

hi

i really like the seventh one

i have always had a soft spot for
gaps or paths in a scape

i am thinking of going to a medium light
setup with co2 as i just dont have time to
fight the battles relating to hi-tec tanks
(well mine anyway!)

i will be watching this thread
(and bumping it too!)

rgds

4

Definitely give it a go like I say low/medium light with CO2 injection can do really well, results above are proof I guess, very easy maintainence. Most of the tanks above are quite small as well thats why I chose those pictures, about 60-100 liters most of them except no.1 and 3.

You could try it with Xmas or Java moss both easily available.

You could even try growing the moss in the substrate, just plant it like HC and keep it trimmed, fish stocks have to be kept low though moss can pick up a lot of detrious, shrimp would be ideal.

Wow! cheers for all the replies and input people. I am only back on line and i cant keep up.

I should have mentioned the dimensions of the tank aerier. 60x30x30cm (2'x1"x1"). So my apologies to anyone thinking it was a larger tank.

Some great ideas. I think i will go with the halogen spots. I will pick up some flex tomorrow. I have the rest of the the bits here. Low light with a subtle ripple should look good. Or at least we will have a look.
I also like the idea of a simplistic tank. One plant. The only thing is i have already used moss so i think i would have to at least use another plant. But i like the idea.
The idea of banking the front relay appeals to me. It gives a nice effect.

I am tempted to go with a pale substrate front with the same colour rocks protruding from the front of a bank of moss. the same Christmas moss as the wood. May be one other plant To act as a carpet plant.
But in the same breath i could be persuaded to go for the wild look. Decisions, decisions.

Cheers to everyone who gave some input so far. I think we can all learn from this tread. Me most of all.
Cheers zig for digging out the photos. Amazing stuff with some great ideas. I would be hard pushed to get even close to any of these. But with everyone's input we will see.

I will trow some of the ideas around my head and also see what plants are available in the shops at the moment.

zig wrote:

BTW don't like the colour of that new substrate might go back to my mud:)

Edit: pity the pictures don't size up a bit bigger on the forum, they were'nt big anyway but now they look tiny!

What colour did the substrate end up in the tank? It looked fine in the bags.
I agree with the picture size on the forum. Especially when you are trying to look at anything with detail.

Anyway i had intended to organise some rocks this evening and substrate to try bank the foreground of the tank to see how it looked.But i pulled a muscle in my chest and didn't fancy cracking some rocks with a hammer. I wont get to do it tomorrow since i have to put a phosphate reactor on my marine tank, so it will have to be Wednesday.

I did get to wire the halogen spots to see how they look on the tank. These wont be the main lighting for the tank. I will use T5's. The halogen will only be for effect.

Here are the lights temporarily wired up. I will need to wire them properly and make a unit to fix them to.


Here is a short vid. to see how they look. I will need to raise them up a bit to get a better ripple effect and to get rid of the spot light look.

I just have a couple of puffers on snail patrol in the tank to eliminate all snails if possible. I haven't seen any yet, but you never know.

EDIT; i should have mentioned halfway through the video i turn off the halogen lamps to see the difference.

Lookin good Darren!

What colour did the substrate end up in the tank? well it ended up a browny colour, the browny colour you might see in a toilet:) I'm getting used to it, it will stay I'm sure. I would say it will work well though, good grain size and quite lightweight. I got a nice amount the other day for the tank that I have so will have plenty, I hate having too little substrate to play around with. I'm setting up a tank with it right now, tank is still dry, at the hardscape stage but nearly have it worked out so should be adding water soon.

The picture size is a bit of a problem alright its way too small, must see what Darragh says if we see him about.

Ok something very time consuming got in the way so i didn't get to do much with the tank.
I removed the branchy piece of wood and raised the rest of the wood up so i could try bank the front of the tank.
I also added a couple of small pieces of wood.
I added some rocks across the front were the bank will be. I will use sand in the foreground that will go up onto the rocks. I was thinking of attaching moss across the tops of these rocks with some leading down to meet the sand. Any thoughts?
I was also thinking of just having sand around the left side of the tank with maybe a little island with moss on it.

Here you can see how the pieces of wood are fixed through some acrylic using stainless steel screws. This is how i manage to keep them sitting at the angle.
You can also see were i have used bioballs to raise the base up.


After messing around with different rock arrangements i was thinking of going with this one. I will plant behind these in moss.
The tank sits in a frame base. I will raise the tank up in the base so the sand will be more visible (when it's in the tank) and wont have to be deep.
.

Any thoughts on anything that should be changed. Apart from changing all of it:laugh:

EDIT. Ok so you cant make out were the wood is fixed to the acrylic or the bioballs to raise the base. Dam picture size:angry:

I attached some of the christmas moss to the rocks leaving some rock exposed. I am hoping this exposed rock will blend in with the sand.

The acrilic will be cover and out of sight once the substrate is placed on it and planted with moss or some thing like Marsilia hirsuta.
Any ideas for any changes?

getting there. Maybe one or two small rocks on the acrylic area so it doesn't look so flat when you add the sand.

Yes i will have to do something so it dosent look flat.

Ok i played with it a bit and came up with this.

I added more wood and rock partially covered in moss. There was also some black gravel added over the acrylic.
The gravel is black so it should blend in under the wood. Also it was taken from an established tank.

I have a habit of using over sized rocks but it might just work this time. Maybe Should change the rocks on the left?. They just seem flat to me.

Any ideas

I meant to say the rocks on the right seemed flat.

Not a lot has happened with the tank since the last post. Or at least not a lot of growth.
I did notice there is some java moss amongst the Christmas moss. I must have got them mixed at some point.
I did get a bit of algae when i used a dodgy timer for the lights but soon went after i changed 50% of the water every second day for about 10 days.
I am currently doing 30% water changes 2-3 times a week. I will reduce this slightly when the tank is settled.
So to keep this tread going i will go through some of the hardware on the tank.

Light: I am using 1x 24w T5 Giesemann midday 6000k. These are a great bulb that give off a nice colour.
I have 1.8 WPG (watts per gallon) on this tank which is fine for low light tanks.
The pendent (light fixture) is about 4" above the water so it is probably less than 1.8WPG.
To figure out the WPG you just take the total watts and divide it by the number of gallons in the tank.
I haven't added the halogen spots yet.

Filtration: I am using an Eheim external 2211, 5 Watts, 300 L/H.
In reality externals dont produce the pumping capacity that the manufacturers state they do.
When you consider you lose pumping power the higher the pump has to push the water
and the flow is restricted with the media and the tubing diameter.
I estimate you get about 50-75% the flow that is stated on the filters.
So instead of 300 L/H it is probably only pumping 200 L/H since the filter is beside the tank
with no pumping head height. which gives the tank a turn over of about 4 times an hour.
IMO this ok for a low light tank with little fertz added.
If it was a high light tank i would use a filter with about 4-600L/H minimum. Better circulation for the fertz and Co2.

Fertz: I am adding 1ml of Tropica plant nutrition+ each day. I could add 6ml once a week but i prefer to add it dayle.
This will supply plenty of micro and macro nutrients for the moss. Not that the moss needs much.

Co2: I am just adding liquid carbon for the moment. The dwarf puffers (Carinotetraodon travancoricus)
i have in the tank have decided to breed so i wont add pressurized Co2 until they are finished.
More about Co2 later.

My apologise to anyone that was following this tread. I have been to busy to go on-line and the tank was put on hold.
It is more or less the same with a bit more growth.
I will make time to fill in the gaps in the next couple of days.

Darren.