New planted tank

ElectricBlueSeanBurch

Piranha
MFK Member
Nov 24, 2010
2,987
25
81
Panaque Paradise
I started a thread a few months ago when I first started tank hunting. I had my ok with a 60g, then a 75g, then a 90g and I finally wound up with a 4' 120g. Here is breakdown of the setup.

4x2x2 Glass AGA tank
Black Marineland stand
4' 108w dual T5 (6700k and 10000k)
I have PFS substrate

Tank will be filtered by a FX5 and already has an XP1 powering a 36w UV.

For fish I currently have a mixture of Geo species, a flagtail, some fancy plecos, a baby fire eel and black neon tetras. I plan on cutting the geos down to a group of 5+/- and adding a large shoal of clown loaches.

I'm planning on adding CO2 eventually and changing the lighting accordingly. For right now I'm wanting light to medium plant coverage. I started off with 2 chunks of driftwood with anubias planted in them. I added them yesterday. For now I'm wanting to add a few bigger sword plants and some jungle val. Is there any issues with what I'm planning? If the flagtail starts to much on the plants I can move him, he is fine so far. Only issue I see is the PFS. I almost went with a plant substrate but I just love the look of PFS, Especially with the geos. Basically I'm wondering what the limits of planting with PFS are I guess...
Thank,
Josh
 

LS2012

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Feb 24, 2013
782
3
33
Northern NJ
Hi Josh,

Sounds like its going to be a nice setup, I'm looking forward to pics :)

I have a tall 110 planted tank that includes a group of red head Tapajos with eco-complete & black sand mixed, but the sand sinks eventually. They've been an interesting challenge with plants. :banghead::banghead: But I'm obstinate, so I just keep trying different plants till I find ones they'll leave alone.

Also have a moderately planted grow out tank for my young Paretroplus Menarambo and Saratheradon Knauerae. Menarambo are messy diggers/sifters much like geos. Their tank has a sand only substrate with a bunch of Italian Vals, java moss, najas, a recuperating Madagascar lace plant and a few bronze wendtii. I dose pps pro ferts every other day & use root tabs. To keep the fish from digging/moving plants I put rocks that are too big for them to move around the stems . I do the same thing with rocks in my 110 with the geos. Attaching plants to driftwood is a good idea too. You can also try java fern on the wood.

Personally I like the look of willow leaf hygro and my geos ignore this plant, so I have piles of this in my 110.

Hope this helps,
Laurie

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bbortko

Polypterus
MFK Member
Mar 3, 2010
3,163
214
96
Northwest, Indiana
I have swords, tiger lotus, anubis, and onion plant in my 225 wide with heckelli and no problems. Light is (2) 36" and (1) 48" satellite plus with red flint sand, I have fist sized rocks at the base of the plants so that the roots and root tabs don't get disturbed. These plants are tough, besides heckellii I have (2) sevs, (3) silver dollars, and a melanurus but haven't had any issue in almost a year.
 

jwarner

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 12, 2014
6
0
0
Pennsylvania
I have anubias, micro swords, amazon swords, jungle val, anarchis, tiger lotus, rotala, a crinum, ludwigia, and Java fern with dirt, co2 and 2 42 inch bulbs and the plants are all thriving. Anubias and most swords are both very hardy plants and can grow in just about anything. Keep planting and hope to see pictures!


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HybridHerp

Fire Eel
MFK Member
May 18, 2012
1,192
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66
New York
I'm sure you already know that some of those fish (looking at that adondis pleco and fire eel) will outgrow the tank and probably dig around/move around decor and plants and aren't exactly plant friendly....

Aside from that though, if keeping plants with these guys I'd go for swords, crypts, anubias, ferns, and maybe even ludwigia just cause they are hardy and get some nice roots to help anchor them in place. As far as the nutrients, you're going to want to get root tabs for the substrate, and if you go co2 and even more lighting you will want to look into EI dosing and how to dose for a planted tank. Although I'll warn you, doing regular EI dosing in a planted tank with a high fish-load does not exactly work, and you have to play with it and dial down certain ferts so that you don't get excessive algae. Trust me, I've been learning that one the hard way *sigh*
 

ElectricBlueSeanBurch

Piranha
MFK Member
Nov 24, 2010
2,987
25
81
Panaque Paradise
Thanks for the advise. I currently have a 225(72"x27.5"x27.5") for an upgrade. And when needed I'm upgrading to an acrylic 8x3x3. I lost my 26" fire eel after my old 220 exploded and I miss the interaction. The eel will be moving once he hits 12"+ and the Adonis will move around the same time. The plants you mentioned are exactly what I'm looking at And I've already looked into root tabs. The plan is to slowly add plants and the more I get addicted the more I will remove/change my stock accordingly.

Any recommendations on plants with shades of red for my setup?
 

jwarner

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 12, 2014
6
0
0
Pennsylvania
Ludwigia, red tiger lotus and red crypts all have a good red color. If your lfs has dark red ludwigia I suggest getting that because the red is much more noticeable and vibrant


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Cookie*

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Jun 26, 2010
1,557
4
38
Northern NJ
mocoloco.com
I've read of people having good luck with root tabs in pfs, but I don't remember exactly what they were growing. It most definitely can be done successfully. I have Rotala in pfs with root tabs, and that does just fine. There's several variations of Rotala, some of which have a red/purple color under their leaves. Generally the more light the more the red will be seen, but also of equal importance is having iron. You can dose that several ways, I personally use red clay in the substrate in my dirted tank, and AquaVitro Fe Propel (put out by Seachem within the last year) in my pfs tank. I've heard a lot of people like that line of liquid ferts, if you go that route.
 
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