Hi all.
A few years ago George Farmer posted a guide on setting up an underwater jungle aquarium (which can be seen here). His setup was a high tech setup that I absolutely loved. I liked the layout, the textures and the colours, and I plan on replicating his effort to a bigger scale in a tank approximately 730-ish litres with one major caveat; I want to do it low tech.
The main thing I need help with is the plant list. Can anyone tell me whether there would be issues with growing any of the below plants in a low tech setup?
Microsorum pteropus
Bolbitis heudelotii
Vallisneria americana gigantea
Crinum natans
Crinum calimistratum
Aponogeton boivinianus
Aponogeton crispus ‘Red’
Echinodorus ‘Ozelot’
Echinodorus ‘Rubin’
Echinodorus quadricostatus
Sagittaria subulata
Hygrophila pinnatifida
Anubias barteri var. barteri
Limnobium laevigatum
If there are likely to be issues with any of the above plants in a low tech setup, can you recommend other large leafed plants with similar colouring that would thrive in such conditions?
Some of the plants are supposed to be rooted to wood which I would have like to have recreated, but as I'm going for sand-capped potting soil substrate with hardly any water column dosing imagine the plants would suffer. Could I stick root tabs between the wood and the roots to keep the plants fed, or would nutrients begin to leach into the water column and potentially harm the fish?
Would using potting soil be reason not to use rocks in the hardscape? I want to avoid making anaerobic pockets without having rocks sat directly on the glass. Maybe use foam or polystyrene on the glass, lay the rocks out then fill with soil and then cap?
The lighting I'm looking to use are four of the TMC 1500nd tiles which would sit at 32-33" above the bottom of the tank (the tank is 30" high) with low intensity from the outset that I'll eventually begin to scale up until I start seeing negative effects on the plants. I plan on making use of a siesta period too for an increased viewing time in the evenings and CO2 accumulation.
Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers.
H
A few years ago George Farmer posted a guide on setting up an underwater jungle aquarium (which can be seen here). His setup was a high tech setup that I absolutely loved. I liked the layout, the textures and the colours, and I plan on replicating his effort to a bigger scale in a tank approximately 730-ish litres with one major caveat; I want to do it low tech.
The main thing I need help with is the plant list. Can anyone tell me whether there would be issues with growing any of the below plants in a low tech setup?
Microsorum pteropus
Bolbitis heudelotii
Vallisneria americana gigantea
Crinum natans
Crinum calimistratum
Aponogeton boivinianus
Aponogeton crispus ‘Red’
Echinodorus ‘Ozelot’
Echinodorus ‘Rubin’
Echinodorus quadricostatus
Sagittaria subulata
Hygrophila pinnatifida
Anubias barteri var. barteri
Limnobium laevigatum
If there are likely to be issues with any of the above plants in a low tech setup, can you recommend other large leafed plants with similar colouring that would thrive in such conditions?
Some of the plants are supposed to be rooted to wood which I would have like to have recreated, but as I'm going for sand-capped potting soil substrate with hardly any water column dosing imagine the plants would suffer. Could I stick root tabs between the wood and the roots to keep the plants fed, or would nutrients begin to leach into the water column and potentially harm the fish?
Would using potting soil be reason not to use rocks in the hardscape? I want to avoid making anaerobic pockets without having rocks sat directly on the glass. Maybe use foam or polystyrene on the glass, lay the rocks out then fill with soil and then cap?
The lighting I'm looking to use are four of the TMC 1500nd tiles which would sit at 32-33" above the bottom of the tank (the tank is 30" high) with low intensity from the outset that I'll eventually begin to scale up until I start seeing negative effects on the plants. I plan on making use of a siesta period too for an increased viewing time in the evenings and CO2 accumulation.
Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers.
H