Plant Advice

[VTHouseofExotics]

Hello,

I am new to monsterfishkeepers.com and I have been trying to get into live plants more seriously the past year. Unfortunately it is not going super well. I have had good luck with water sprite, water wisteria, anubias nana, java moss, and a few others. One plant that I really like but struggle with is the vals. I have read many websites saying that this is a good plant for beginners, but have tried with no success. Most of my tanks I use a combination of Seachem Flourish and Seachem Excel. I use Carib sea sand (gold kind). Basically I have recently upgraded my 125 gallon oddball tank to a 180 gallon reef ready system with a sump and refugium. i will be running probably 2-4 T-8 bulbs on top, but might include my 4 ft led light as well or instead of a couple t8s. So basically my question is what are some good plants that I can count on looking as good as those first plants I listed based on my aquarium setup. Any advice would be helpful and appreciated!

 

[jclyde13]

Excel may very well have been your problem with the Vals. Several plants, including Vallisneria, are very sensitive to glutaraldehyde (the active ingredient in Excel and many other "liquid carbon" products).

As for easier plants, you could go with dwarf sagittaria, Ludwigia repens, Bacopa caroliniana, Hemianthus glomeratus (erroneously sold as Hemianthus micranthemoides), Rotala rotundifolia, Cryptocoryne wendtii (and several other easy Crypt species), Amazon sword, Brazillian pennywort, and several different species of Hygrophila.

 

[VTHouseofExotics]

Excel may very well have been your problem with the Vals. Several plants, including Vallisneria, are very sensitive to glutaraldehyde (the active ingredient in Excel and many other "liquid carbon" products).

As for easier plants, you could go with dwarf sagittaria, Ludwigia repens, Bacopa caroliniana, Hemianthus glomeratus (erroneously sold as Hemianthus micranthemoides), Rotala rotundifolia, Cryptocoryne wendtii (and several other easy Crypt species), Amazon sword, Brazillian pennywort, and several different species of Hygrophila.

Thank you so much for the info! I had no idea that the excel causes that! That's compelling enough to make me want to try something else. Maybe co2 would be the way to go for my new 180 gallon system. But this might be a little costly, so I'll have to look into it. Do you have any other recommendations as far as keeping plants healthy in my 180?

 

[jclyde13]

Thank you so much for the info! I had no idea that the excel causes that! That's compelling enough to make me want to try something else. Maybe co2 would be the way to go for my new 180 gallon system. But this might be a little costly, so I'll have to look into it. Do you have any other recommendations as far as keeping plants healthy in my 180?

CO2 injection would be very helpful for keeping your plants healthy and dense. There are a few different ways to do CO2 injection, but on a tank that size, you'd really want to be using pressurized CO2. A basic CO2 system with a 5lb CO2 tank would cost you around $160, and refills would cost you about $15.

There are a lot of things you can do to improve plant health, but be aware that it will also mean spending more money and putting more effort into maintenance. The easiest thing you could do is to start using some root fertilizers, since your substrate is not very nutrient-rich. You could either go with Seachem Root Tabs or DIY Osmocote Plus tabs (which you can either make yourself, or buy on eBay or Amazon). Osmocote tabs are significantly cheaper, but Seachem Root Tabs cover a larger area and supposedly last longer.

The next step would be to go more high tech, with more powerful lighting (high output LED's, or T5HO's) and more substantial fertilization (either dry fertilizers or a higher quality liquid fertilizer, like NilocG's Liquid Fertilizer), but that introduces more complications with finding a balance between light, ferts, CO2, and water changes, which I think could become a headache with such a large aquarium if you've never had a high tech planted tank before.

 

[VTHouseofExotics]

Okay I definitely have a lot to think about. I think that I am going to look into getting a pressurized co2 system with some better lights as well as those root tabs. Thanks again

 

[jclyde13]

Okay I definitely have a lot to think about. I think that I am going to look into getting a pressurized co2 system with some better lights as well as those root tabs. Thanks again

Just be aware that light is the main factor that determines the difference between an easy low maintenance setup and a more difficult higher maintenance setup. Once you increase the lighting, you have to increase everything else (fertilizers, CO2, etc.) or you end up with algae and unhealthy plants.

 

[VTHouseofExotics]

Just be aware that light is the main factor that determines the difference between an easy low maintenance setup and a more difficult higher maintenance setup. Once you increase the lighting, you have to increase everything else (fertilizers, CO2, etc.) or you end up with algae and unhealthy plants.

okay, I really appreciate the info. I am going to have to find a good balance between live plants and large predatory fish. Ill have to find plants that other fish keepers have with large fish that won't come unrooted. I am all over the place still with what I would like to make this tank into, ahhh so frustrating

 

[duanes]

I find for my larger fish (cichlids in my case), some plants are just not feasible, so on 1 sump I might have a tank for the cichlids with only tough (or no) plants, and another tank dedicated to only plants or with smaller less destructive fish.
These setups have worked well, giving the nutrient using benefit of the plants to the non-planted cichlid tank at the same time.
An example would be this planted 50 gal vallisneria tank, on the same sump as this Etroplus tank. Any plant trimming are tossed into the Etroplus tank where they are quickly devoured

 

[VTHouseofExotics]

I find for my larger fish (cichlids in my case), some plants are just not feasible, so on 1 sump I might have a tank for the cichlids with only tough (or no) plants, and another tank dedicated to only plants or with smaller less destructive fish.
These setups have worked well, giving the nutrient using benefit of the plants to the non-planted cichlid tank at the same time.
An example would be this planted 50 gal vallisneria tank, on the same sump as this Etroplus tank. Any plant trimming are tossed into the Etroplus tank where they are quickly devoured

That may be the bet route for me to take. At the moment I have a 46Gallon bow front with one 3" caribe piranha, and a 40 breeder with one 3" hoplias malabaricus (wolffish) and then the 180 which is naked (i hate it with no decorations!!) with all sorts of oddball fish that I might trade, sell, or just keep to let them grow. Maybe I will take one of the 40s and go crazy on the plants with one of those.

 

[jclyde13]

If I were setting up a planted tank for large predatory fish, I would primarily use rhizomatous plants, especially Anubias. I'd actually like to set up a large tank exclusively with various Anubias species, ranging from large A. minima and A. barteri var. barteri, to small A. barteri var. nana 'petite'.