So far so good

[esoxlucius]

A few weeks ago i decided that my 180 could do with a bit of greenery so I set up a 10g tank as a bit of a quarantine tank and bought a load of different plants. I told the guy in the shop to start me off with easy ones. I don't even know which ones he give me though I do recognise the amazon swords and anubias.

I potted all the plants in a 4" pvc tube with a pvc cap glued on one end. I used seachem flourite as the substrate topped off with gravel. As I placed the plants in the substrate I also put a root tab in each one. Then I just left them in my 10g with bog standard tube lighting which is on a timer to give me about 10-12 hours lighting per day. I also add a small measure of liquid ferts every now and again.

A couple have melted and died off but the majority seem to be thriving, putting on some good growth. Once in a while, when i'm happy that they're ok, i'll introduce a pot to my 180. Currently I have 9 in there and they're all looking fine.

I'm happy with the results so far, the tank just looks so much better with some greenery in there.

 

[tlindsey]

A few weeks ago i decided that my 180 could do with a bit of greenery so I set up a 10g tank as a bit of a quarantine tank and bought a load of different plants. I told the guy in the shop to start me off with easy ones. I don't even know which ones he give me though I do recognise the amazon swords and anubias.

I potted all the plants in a 4" pvc tube with a pvc cap glued on one end. I used seachem flourite as the substrate topped off with gravel. As I placed the plants in the substrate I also put a root tab in each one. Then I just left them in my 10g with bog standard tube lighting which is on a timer to give me about 10-12 hours lighting per day. I also add a small measure of liquid ferts every now and again.

A couple have melted and died off but the majority seem to be thriving, putting on some good growth. Once in a while, when i'm happy that they're ok, i'll introduce a pot to my 180. Currently I have 9 in there and they're all looking fine.

I'm happy with the results so far, the tank just looks so much better with some greenery in there.

View attachment 1390695

The plants looks great.

 

[esoxlucius]

Believe it or not there are a lot of clown loach in there. They're out during the day a lot but not so much in the evening. So when I don't have the fish to look at I can look at my plants now.

 

[duanes]

Those plants look great, at times I find plants almost more interesting, (or at least as) the fish.
I was doing a similar thing with coffee cups, to get the plants started before putting them in the line of cichlid fire.

 

[esoxlucius]

Those plants look great, at times I find plants almost more interesting, (or at least as) the fish.
I was doing a similar thing with coffee cups, to get the plants started before putting them in the line of cichlid fire.

When my powerhead's on the plants gently sway akin to being in a slow flowing river, it is quite mesmerising. My clown loach love investigating them, no doubt they're hard wired to associate plants with critters and an opportunity for a tasty morsel. I was careful when I removed them from my little tank to ensure there were no snails attached, but I know for a fact i've failed in that respect because i've found a couple of deserted snail shells already.

 

[esoxlucius]

That original picture last night just looks like a planted tank. Just to prove there's actually fish in there I took this one this morning. 13 clown loach up to 6", several algae eaters and a couple of dennisons. More midwater fish are going to be added, possibly a shoal of festivums, i'm just playing around with a few ideas at the min. Oh, and of course, more plants. I really need to get something to take decent pictures with too, my tablet isn't good at all.

 

[FIU Panther]

Interesting take on using PVC as pots, haven't seen that done before.

You'll get some die off as they transition to their immersed state, that's normal.

The swords look to have been grown emersed so you'll see start seeing leaves die off slowly.

 

[esoxlucius]

Interesting take on using PVC as pots, haven't seen that done before.

You'll get some die off as they transition to their immersed state, that's normal.

The swords look to have been grown emersed so you'll see start seeing leaves die off slowly.

Yeah, before I even got my first plant my research told me that it was normal for a healthy plant from the shop to go through a period of looking like crap before it adjusted. That's happening now on some, others are doing great, the odd species has just melted on me, these types i'll give a miss in future. I just need to find out which plants do well for me under the conditions I provide. I don't really want to go high tech, a bit out of my comfort zone for now.

The PVC pots are great for keeping the substrate enclosed in one place although my clowns have been digging about in there and some gravel has spilled out.