Live Plants and Water Parameters...

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sly2kusa

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jul 29, 2006
103
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USA
Hi everyone -

I have a 90g All-Glass Aquarium with 4 Tiger Muskies in it. I had set the tank up this past May with about 8 plastic plants, and they have been fine for the beginning of things, but I have heard that live plants can help out with the controls of Ammonia and Nitrites/Nitrates.

I am wanting to go low maintenance if possible on the plants that go in there, and also be able to put something in that will be able to tolerate a small degree of salt and garlic (1teaspoon of salt per 10g, and about 20 small drops of garlic a week - this is for the fish health of the tank).

Any recommendations would be great. The bulb that I currently have is not Full Spectrum, but just your regular run of the mill Flourescent bulb that came with my tank (unsure of it's wattage, but it lights up everthing pretty nice like).

Here are some of the plants I have had recommend thus far at a rate of 1 per 5g:

Anubias nana
Java ferns (I guess there are several kinds)
Java moss
Cryptocoryn wendtii 'green'
Hygrophila siamensis 53B
Water Sprite

Any input on these species would be most appreciated, and also - will these work fine without a CO2 setup and Full Spectrum light?

Thanks
 
Most of those will be ok, you can always give them a try and if one doesn't work just remove it. With only one single strip lamp there isn't a whole lot to choose form. Adding another strip will help if want good coverage. Adding a root tab under your plants will help as will a little water column ferts. With the small amount of light you will NOT need
C02.
 
I'm considering getting another 4' Ballast with a Full Spectrum bulb of some sort, and what I think I would like to go with is this:

- Java Moss
- Java Fern(s)
- Water Sprite

I looked these 3 up at this location (great site and have some awesome pics):

http://www.plantgeek.net/

The only other thing I am wondering that I have not been able to find out yet is this. Will these 3 types tolerate temps of 60-67 degrees? I keep my tank fairly cool because the fish do much better in cold water. 67 is the norm during the hotter months here in the Midwest, and during the colder months I should be able to maintain around 60 degrees (give or take a little).

Any thoughts?
 
I'm not sure about the temps. but if you want to crank out some light with your standard 48" stirp light get you acouple advanced ELECTRONIC f32t8 ballasts that are made to run 4 48" T8 bulbs and over drive them. That is run all 4 leads into one lamp. I have done several setups like this and they crank out the light. If you need more info on this let me know and I can go into more detail about an ODNO setup. If you did this with 2 light strips it would open up alot more plants that you could use and I think you could still avoid the use of C02.
 
I'm beginning to think that a CO2 setup is going to be necessary anyways to avoid all the problems I keep seeing people have with hair Algae. What a mess!

I'm pricing something out from JBJ, and if I go with it, and another ballast with a 3 tube T8 - I'm gonna have about 160watts which will put me in the low to medium range. I just don't want to have to worry about parameters anymore, and hey - it will look a lot nicer than it does with the plastics in there now (and in all honesty - they're not all that bad).
 
If you are thinking about upgrading to a 3 tube T8 fixture why don't you look into a 4x55 watt set up form ahsupply.com or a 4x65 watt form coralife. The multipul tube fixtures are not that good they loose alot of light to restrike. Also if you are going to go with a pressurized C02 system then a good light setup will let you do so much more.
 
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