180 gallon planted aquarium.

[Scruffy4]

That’s a good list of beginner plants. I have experience with jungle Val, java moss, java fern, Anubias, and water wisteria so I’ll comment on those. First off jungle Val is a wonderful plant and fits the SA theme so def recommend it, however if you don’t do weekly maintenance, once it establishes (mine took around 2-3 months) it goes nuts and will “jungle” up your tank in no time. That said, may start out competing other plants so I would either do some type of barrier or cut the runner plants a lot if you don’t want it spreading everywhere and messing with other species of plants. That said, it may be difficult (and painful lol) to constantly be sticking your fingers in the pirhana tank so unless you like the idea of a jungle, maybe pass on it. Second water wisteria is a plant I really love! It is super fast growing once established but doesn’t grow horizontally, only vertically so you can easily just trim once it gets too high. Also can take a ripping and will grow pretty good even with fish messing with it s leaves. Finally java moss, java fern, and Anubias are cool, but I find they are slow growing and take a while to establish. My Anubias grows a leaf a month and since they are slow growing, will accumulate algae and detritus if not aerated well so if you get these def recommend either snails or shrimp or some algae eater that could be compatible with the pirhana. Hopefully others can chime in their experiences with other plants. I’ve attached some of my pics below!

I haven’t narrowed down exactly what I want to add to the tank. I definitely don’t want the “jungle” look because once my fish grows he will use up every inch of his tank. As far as maintenance goes I take the manueli out of the tank every week for water changes. I’ve had a few close calls with him so I’d rather not chance being bitten. I picked up a really nice and big piece of driftwood that I definitely want to grow plants off of. That’s why I’d like to add anubias and Java fern Thank you for sharing your pics, it really helps me get an idea of the plants established.

For the light, the fluval 3.0 is very good for plants, but if you don’t want to pay that much, the fluval aqua sky does a great job growing plants. All those plants you have listed will grow great, but the swords will also need root tabs. I have micro swords, had them for a while, and they barely grown since when I bought them. Don’t know why since I have good lighting and substrate.

The price difference for both the lights combined is about $120(fluval aquasky vs 3.0) It seems difficult to find lights up here in Canada. Amazon hasn’t been the easiest resource (which I find odd). They have all kinds of brands I haven’t come across yet and the last thing I want to do is spend money and end up with the same quality product already have. As far as the root tabs go I was defi

Micro swords, harder to maintain good growth and does better with co2

Water sprite,

Jungle val, Vallisneria, will benefit from root tabs, I had jungle val in the past in a 65g that grew to the surface and then across the full length of the aquarium

Bacopa - easy grow

Cryptos (lutea, wendtii red), I love crypts for their easy grow ability. Parva is a good low growing variety instead of the micro sword. Spiralis gets some good height

Anubias- on driftwood, recommend all variety. Farzeri and Congensis will get big and some height, Coffeeola for its bicolor, barterii for its rinkly leaves

Java fern - on driftwood, absolutly. Witches hand or windelov because of its unique leave ends

Water wisteria, can be made to grow horizontally if you weight the stem down against the substrate, tender leaves that could bet eaten

Amazon swords, definitly add root tabs, great variety

Marimo moss balls, never have tried, intense light though

Aponogeton crispus, good choice, will grow taller, undemanding

Susswassertang- looks like seaweed, fast growing from what I have been told, just recently was given some

Dwarf sagittaria, Dwarf compared to jungle val maybe. I have had some that stayed short, 1-3in. My most recent experience it took off and grew 24in. Better option than micro sword as it will grow in low tech tanks

Check out Beamsworks lights. Inexpensive and work well. I would recommend 2 36in fixtures as the 72in bends in the middle.

wow that’s great info!This will really help narrow down my list. The beamswork Lights look identical to the lights I have except they state they’re 6500k with 36 leds and 6 actinic 460nm (tbh not sure that that means) Again Amazon hasnt been the greatest resource for lights. I guess this is where research and patience will pay off lol.

 

[fishguy1978]

I haven’t narrowed down exactly what I want to add to the tank. I definitely don’t want the “jungle” look because once my fish grows he will use up every inch of his tank. As far as maintenance goes I take the manueli out of the tank every week for water changes. I’ve had a few close calls with him so I’d rather not chance being bitten. I picked up a really nice and big piece of driftwood that I definitely want to grow plants off of. That’s why I’d like to add anubias and Java fern Thank you for sharing your pics, it really helps me get an idea of the plants established.



The price difference for both the lights combined is about $120(fluval aquasky vs 3.0) It seems difficult to find lights up here in Canada. Amazon hasn’t been the easiest resource (which I find odd). They have all kinds of brands I haven’t come across yet and the last thing I want to do is spend money and end up with the same quality product already have. As far as the root tabs go I was defi





wow that’s great info!This will really help narrow down my list. The beamswork Lights look identical to the lights I have except they state they’re 6500k with 36 leds and 6 actinic 460nm (tbh not sure that that means) Again Amazon hasnt been the greatest resource for lights. I guess this is where research and patience will pay off lol.

Beamsworks makes 2 lights one is the DA and the other is EA. The DA has the RGB LEDs for planted aquariums. The EA has fewer LEDs and really only provides illumination for enjoying being able to see your fish. Actinic wave length light is not a concern for freshwater tanks but necessary for reef tank setups.

 

[Scruffy4]

Beamsworks makes 2 lights one is the DA and the other is EA. The DA has the RGB LEDs for planted aquariums. The EA has fewer LEDs and really only provides illumination for enjoying being able to see your fish. Actinic wave length light is not a concern for freshwater tanks but necessary for reef tank setups.

Well I just learned a few things, Thank you!

 

[robmcd]

Go to Amazon and look at Beamsworks or Nicrew LED lights. They are pretty basic, inexpensive and work great as long as you have them on a timer.

For plants I always recommend some type of Rptala to start off with. Super easy to keep, fast growing and dense. I have Rotala Rotundifolia in a high tech tank and it is going wild. I've used it in low tech settings as well and it does awesome.

What are you using as substrate?

 

[Scruffy4]

Go to Amazon and look at Beamsworks or Nicrew LED lights. They are pretty basic, inexpensive and work great as long as you have them on a timer.

For plants I always recommend some type of Rptala to start off with. Super easy to keep, fast growing and dense. I have Rotala Rotundifolia in a high tech tank and it is going wild. I've used it in low tech settings as well and it does awesome.

What are you using as substrate?

I’m in Canada and Amazon isn’t a great resource for beamsworks. They only have 1 available in 36” and it won’t come until mid January. I’ll check into the nicrew. I just want to make sure if I’m going to spend the money that it will be worth it at the end. I don’t want to buy a set and have to upgrade for a second time.
For substrate I have black sand(Stoney river) It’s not cheap filling a 180 gallon.
Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[robmcd]

I’m in Canada and Amazon isn’t a great resource for beamsworks. They only have 1 available in 36” and it won’t come until mid January. I’ll check into the nicrew. I just want to make sure if I’m going to spend the money that it will be worth it at the end. I don’t want to buy a set and have to upgrade for a second time.
For substrate I have black sand(Stoney river) It’s not cheap filling a 180 gallon.
Thanks for the suggestions!

I actually prefer Nicrew LED fixtures.

Sand isn't the best substrate to use with plants. I use Eco Complete in one of my tanks, but I am planning a 2'x4' 120 gallon and I will be using Safe T Sorb, an industrial absorbant clay, as my substrate. Check it out. It is really inexpensive and looks really natural..

 

[Scruffy4]

I actually prefer Nicrew LED fixtures.

Sand isn't the best substrate to use with plants. I use Eco Complete in one of my tanks, but I am planning a 2'x4' 120 gallon and I will be using Safe T Sorb, an industrial absorbant clay, as my substrate. Check it out. It is really inexpensive and looks really natural..

Well that’s to bad for me because I just spent about $200 on sand and already emptied it into my tank. Hopefully it works out because I pulled trigger and picked up these bad boys. I’m planning on running one on each side plus the lights that came with thank.

 

[Scruffy4]

Just wanted to mention. I would have went with beamsworks but unfortunately Amazon (Canada) didn’t have anything readily available and only had 1. They only had 1 fluval aquasky available .Other lights made me feel like I was purchasing something I already owned. I took a trip to my LFS and sure enough these were on sale. Thanks for all the great suggestions! now I need to figure out my plant selection.

 

[robmcd]

Those are NIIIIIICE!!! Can't wait to see the finished product.

 

[Scruffy4]

Those are NIIIIIICE!!! Can't wait to see the finished product.

I hope they do the job. I won’t be able to explain to my wife why I’ll need to spend more money on lights. It was hard enough to explain these (after I bought them of course).

I set them up last night and wow what an improvement. This picture is with all 4 lights on. I’m currently waiting for things to settle. hopefully be up and running by Friday. I’m going to be running an FX6 and a 306 with a koralia 1150 for some flow. I have another piece of driftwood I’m going to add that’s currently in my 65gal.

**The glass cookware may stay in since the tank is next to the kitchen **