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35cm Aqua Manta Cube Iwagumi Planting Suggestions

Joined
29 Jul 2017
Messages
94
Location
South West London
I'm planning on scaping an Icelandic Lava Rock Iwagumi -similar to Aquarium Gardens Galapagos Stone Iwagumi- and I need to decide on the plants to keep. I know for certain that I'm doing another Monte Carlo carpet and using some small Bucephalandras and perhaps Anubias Nana Petite. The fauna I plan on keeping are some Sakura Red Cherry Shrimp and some Celestial Pearl Danios. The aquarium is on my bedside table and as a teenager, when not at school I practically live in bed, so I want to make sure the allegedly feeble Danios feel safe. So in the background I need to decide on a relatively tall plant to give them some cover. I might also add some pothos into the filter compartment to drape along the side panel for the Danios' reassurance.

The aquarium will receive weekly >50% water changes with about 3-4ml of TNC Complete. I'm going to use Aquasoil and no CO2. I'm leaning towards a large Eleocharis or some fine-leaf stem plants like Rotalas. I expect that without CO2 I'm limited to green stem plants only, but maybe some of you have experience with getting pink tips on certain plants and if so I would like to hear your experiences. Anyway, I would love to hear some suggestions and thanks in advance.
 
High lighting seems to be the things for getting pink tips in my experience, but to be honest I don't think it is worth the effort for the likely return you will get (a tinge of pink at most) I've also tried quite a few plants with white or brown in the leaves and wasn't a fan of these either. I prefer to focus on getting variation in leaf size and texture and shade of green. To be honest I actually think it looks better... whilst I do have red plant envy like yourself, I think it is beyond the reached of low tech and have stopped trying to achieve it!

I'm sure there are people out there who will disagree, but I guess what I'm saying is don't try to chase red coloration and end up disappointed!
 
I've decided that I would rather stems over hairgrass. I think I'll choose Pogostemon Erectus and see how that goes. I considered Rotala Rotundifolia for a tinge of pink, but I hope that I'll have more success with the P.Erectus and use the Danios, Red Sakura Shrimp and Bucephalandra to compensate for colour.
 
The catch is I'm without CO2
Got a Soda Stream? ;)

P erectus is an “easy” plant without CO2, just slower growing with a more delicate appearance

You can do some trial and error to find which non “easy” plants do well in your tank - I suspect tap has significant impact
eg, H mircathemoides (med light, med CO2 demand for Tropica variant) does well in my low tech tanks but M umbrosum (with similar requirements on paper) shows signs of despair and eventually gives up

Similarly Rotala ‘Vietnam H’ra’ looks better than Rotala ‘green’ - as long as there’s sufficient light, H’ra also has a nice pink tint though it does take time to acquire the red tones

Marsilea hirsute, crenata, M Monte Carlo, S subulata, H tenellum, H quadricostatus, E mini all grow, though rather slower (& often smaller, more delicate leaf) than with CO2

Rotala macrandra also managed quite well, though remaining green, leaf health was better than Rotala ‘green’

Using a Substrate such as Tropica Soil Powder definitely helps plants establish


I wouldn’t add the Pothos plant to the filter as it can readily affect water column parameters outcompeting the aquatic plants - though if all your submerse plants are slow growers such as Anubias etc, then add the Pothos to approximate fast growing submerse plant activity

If you add some dark background paper or smokey film to the side of the tank, that will reassure fish as well
 
I understand the stuff about trial and error (sadly it's not a science). I've had previous experience with Monte Carlo; it started growing relatively well, but got hit by some algae after a left the lights on (overrode the timer over a couple of nights) and after the UK heatwave it melted a little and stopped growing. I'm quite confident that if I start off with plenty it will go fine and because I sleep right next to it I won't forget to turn the lights off. My tap water is about 400 TDS and it would be interesting to hear what yours is. I hope that the P.Erectus will do fine with my water given that James Wong lives in London, hopefully it will do even better with stronger lighting and flow.
 
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