Plant Choices - Help!

[Richard Dowling]

Hi All,

Ive been thinking about tank layouts and plants for what seems like months, Im not really getting anywhere. At the moment the tank is pretty bland and in pretty poor condition after a 2 week holiday and huge algae bloom as a result. I only have Vallis as I havnt started buying new plants yet apart from Java Fern which is on the way. I will be completely ripping it out and starting again now that I have 56 more watts, new substrate etc. I'll start this as soon as ive decided on Plants. I'd rather go for easily maintained plants until I have a pressurised Co2 unit. I was going for Java Fern on Wood surrounded by Anubias Barteri (Until I realised that cannot go below substrate), Sagittaria platyphylla in the mid ground in the rest of the tank and Marsilea hirsuta as a foreground plant. Its finding a border for the Java Fern Wood in place of Anubias that I am now struggling with. Can anyone make any suggestions about the current choices and possible swap for the Anubias idea?



Tank: 81x36x50 (125l)
Lighting: 2x18W T8 & 2x28W T5 - 8 Hours a Day
Filtration: Tetratec EX1200
Substrate: Sand (Soon to be layer of John Innes capped by Akadama)
Fertilizer: EI - Macro 3x Weekly, Micro 3x Weekly (Liquid Carbon & Profito currently unused)
Co2: Nutrafin Natural Plant System (Yeast & Baking Soda) 1bps
Water Changes: 50% Weekly
Decor: Natural Heather Wood (I have various different bog woods & Lava rock but cannot decide)

 

[hotweldfire]

You could try a hydrocotyle as a mid-ground transition. A lot of people like using downoi for that too. Small crypts might also work and possibly staurogyne repens.

BTW too much light. Used to have 2xt8s and 2xt5s on my 125l. Turned off the t5s and the tank is doing so much better now.

 

[Richard Dowling]

Your kidding right!! Ive been convinced that the 2 18watts havnt been good enough for anything which is why I upgraded about a week ago. Seems ok so far but I'll have to monitor it, I cant give up on them straight after buying them unless Ive made a huge mistake lol

Staurogyne Repens looks pretty good, although until my 5 Year Old Hillstream Loach kicks the bucket I cant put a heater in my tank. The repens needs at least 20 degrees according to Tropica. I probably should have added that its a cold water tank. Although 20 is pretty much room temp anyway

 

[hotweldfire]

Too many factors to consider but since running 2x18w t6s and nothing else I've had the best combo of plant growth/low algae I've ever had before. Keep wanting to crank up the lighting but keep stopping myself.

 

[Johncon121]

I think silk plants and flowers give more homely feel and less filter effords to your tank. They really do a good job to liven up the decor of any aquatic tank or fish tank.

Have a look on few artificial plants :-artificial boxwood
artificial topiary trees

 

[Richard Dowling]

This how im looking before my rescape to give a rough idea...



Im probably going with Staurogyne Repens as a foreground but I need something to replace the huge amounts of vallis between mid and foreground. Also I need to get rid of the dam non aquatic Hemigrapis Colorata plants that my local store sold me!