# Is this enough plants?



## idris (29 Jan 2011)

Does this make sense when it comes to quantity of plants?
The tank is 110cm wide, 70cm high, and 35cm front to back, with two large pieces of bogwood giving a sort of U-shape when looking at the front.
It's going to be low tech (in the short term at least) and I think I've picked suitable plants for that, and I'm pretty happy with the layout. 







Vallisneria american Gigantica - 5 pots
Echinodorus Amazonicus - 3 pots
Cryptocoryne Nevellii - 3 pots
Eleocharis parvula - 5 pots
Java moss - I have no idea how many pots to get - maybe 2?

Is this going to be the right sort of number of pots?


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## Garuf (29 Jan 2011)

The more pots the better, but it's entirely dependant on the types of plants. A rough way is to assume that a pot is 5cm and will cover about 20cmx20cm when it's a foreground plant and about 5cm if it's a stem or background plant. 

Looking at your plant list I think you'd be better opting for a smaller vallis, that particular one can put out straps up to 3m long there's a reason it's called gigantica! 

I seem to remember using about 40 pots in a 60cm tank and could have happily added even more... I imagine you might need about the same ammount at least. I find cutting corners here really makes life more difficult as the low biomass means the tank is much more likely to get algae etc. Aim to cover 50% of the substrate.


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## idris (30 Jan 2011)

Thanks Garuf. I've been trying to get some sense of how far a pot goes to no avail so that's a big help. Thanks (if not for the hit to my wallet )

I picked the gigantica as the tank is 70cm tall and everywhere seems to sell it as 50-100cm high (not 3m) and I want it to get to the top of the tank. 

In my defence, I wasn't trying to cut corners, but trying to find advice on how many plants to buy has been a real struggle. 
Any thoughts on how far a "pot" of Java Moss will go. (Obviously I can't tell you whether that's an Imperial or Metric pot )


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## Tom (30 Jan 2011)

idris said:
			
		

> Thanks Garuf. I've been trying to get some sense of how far a pot goes to no avail so that's a big help. Thanks (if not for the hit to my wallet )
> 
> I picked the gigantica as the tank is 70cm tall and everywhere seems to sell it as 50-100cm high (not 3m) and I want it to get to the top of the tank.
> 
> ...



I'd still go for a normal Vallis, not that huge one. It puts out leaves so thick you could use them to hold your trousers up. As for the moss, you only want to get a very thin covering, or the stuff underneath can just rot and will never get a hold on the wood. I'd go for 2-4 pots, or a cheaper way will be to ask in the for sale section on here. I'm sure many people have spare moss (unless Mark took it all!).


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## Garuf (30 Jan 2011)

Even small valls will get big once they mature. Vallis nana will most likely be more than enough. 

Moss you may find two pots to be plenty, like tom says the forum is the best place to get mosses thought. 
I understand you're not cutting corners, here's a thread that may interest you. 
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/gener ... -free.html

Of course you won't be able to grow the vallis out this way but it would bulk up your biomass loads.


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## idris (8 Feb 2011)

Thanks for the suggestion and the link Garuf. (At somehing like 20 pages it took a while to wade through it.)
A couple of questions I couldn't find the answers to:

Seeing as I'm going low tech (and at this stage I'm stuck with relatively low light), it sounds like starting the tank emerged is a very good option. Once plants are established like this, can you gat away with a little less than ideal light levels, or will you end up with them dying back significantly?

I've read that you can restrict the height of Dwarf Hair Grass simply by cutting it back once early in it's growth and it will never grow any higher. (Assuming this is correct ...) should this be done as the plant is emerged or should you wait till you flood the tank?

I've got two large (and heavy) pieces of bogwood which I am planning to have sitting on the glass base with no substrate underneeth (for stability reasons). Obviously it's going to be easier to do this hardscaping before any plants go in. However, the wood is big enough that I have no way to soak it before it goes in the tank so it will doubtless leach tanins heavily. Is this an issue with starting a tank emerged?


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