Tank planting stock help

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ckcdrummer

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 21, 2012
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CA
I have a 72 gallon bow front tank with sand, round rocks and drift wood and I would like to make Iook a little more natural. I have 4 large discus the smallest one is 4" from back fin to mouth and the largest one is 6" from back fin to mouth. I also have 2 geophagus altifrons about 2.5" each and 2 jurupari about 1.5" each, 2 Bolivian rams about 2" each and one small clown loach. Also two 5" common Plecos that I don't plan on keeping to there full life. I'm looking to put some plants in it and I was thinking java fern but I don't know what else to get. I don't plan on putting in CO2 or aquarium soil in it but I do have a 260 watt lighting system. Help, any suggestions please.


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I would go with java fern, corkscrew val, anachris, amazon swords, and possibly camomba. That seems like a good combination for your tank other than the camomba cuz that's like a maybe

-Andrew
 
Yh anachris and amazon sword would look good in your tank. You could do dwarf hairgrass and anubias's as ground cover.


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Yh anachris and amazon sword would look good in your tank. You could do dwarf hairgrass and anubias's as ground cover.


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Anubias isn't really a ground cover, you would need to attach it to some small rock or stone Before planting giving it a good anchor for its roots. Plus it is very very very slow growing. Don't get me wrong it's a great little plant. But you must use it the right way for the right reasons :)


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FYI with that much light you're gonna have a really tough time. What is your substrate? I made the mistake of not listening to people on theplantedtank and ordered a 4x54W light for my 75 gallon planted tank. I really wish I checked back on that thread before ordering because everyone said that based on me not using CO2 and having play sand, that I WAY overdid it. I followed their advice after that, and I've only been running two of the four bulbs the entire time and for only 4.5 hours a day and I still have pretty bad hair algae. That is with dosing ferts in the water column, Flourish Excel, and using root tabs as well.

Plants are much harder to keep in my experience, and the key is definitely having the right balance and not just being like "OMG OMG MUST HAVE 3 WPG OMG OMG." I learned that the hard way. If you aren't dosing ferts, using CO2, and don't have a substrate conducive to growing plants (AKA NOT SAND)!, I'd tone the light down tremendously. 1WPG would be better. Your plants will grow slowly, however algae won't be such an issue. Even simple things you wouldn't think of readily can cause problems -- for example, planted tanks with no CO2 systems tend to do worse with HOB filters or bubblers -- that's because the excess surface agitation created by HOBs and bubblers allows the CO2 that created by your fish (or dosed by you via Flourish) tends to gas off.

I'm basing a lot of this on the notion that you have sand substrate and aren't dosing or giving root tabs, etc., but generally speaking, an excess of nutrients in the absence of CO2 + lots of light = algae bloom.

Sorry to scare you if I did, but I'd recommend doing a LOT of research based on what you're looking to accomplish. It's hard to kill a fish, but my lord is it easy to cause plant genocide or an algae epidemic if you don't know what you're doing.
 
FYI with that much light you're gonna have a really tough time. What is your substrate? I made the mistake of not listening to people on theplantedtank and ordered a 4x54W light for my 75 gallon planted tank. I really wish I checked back on that thread before ordering because everyone said that based on me not using CO2 and having play sand, that I WAY overdid it. I followed their advice after that, and I've only been running two of the four bulbs the entire time and for only 4.5 hours a day and I still have pretty bad hair algae. That is with dosing ferts in the water column, Flourish Excel, and using root tabs as well.

Plants are much harder to keep in my experience, and the key is definitely having the right balance and not just being like "OMG OMG MUST HAVE 3 WPG OMG OMG." I learned that the hard way. If you aren't dosing ferts, using CO2, and don't have a substrate conducive to growing plants (AKA NOT SAND)!, I'd tone the light down tremendously. 1WPG would be better. Your plants will grow slowly, however algae won't be such an issue. Even simple things you wouldn't think of readily can cause problems -- for example, planted tanks with no CO2 systems tend to do worse with HOB filters or bubblers -- that's because the excess surface agitation created by HOBs and bubblers allows the CO2 that created by your fish (or dosed by you via Flourish) tends to gas off.

I'm basing a lot of this on the notion that you have sand substrate and aren't dosing or giving root tabs, etc., but generally speaking, an excess of nutrients in the absence of CO2 + lots of light = algae bloom.

Sorry to scare you if I did, but I'd recommend doing a LOT of research based on what you're looking to accomplish. It's hard to kill a fish, but my lord is it easy to cause plant genocide or an algae epidemic if you don't know what you're doing.

Is it hard to kill fish? Weird, chuncan makes it look so easy... Ok chase I had to say it... It was right in front of me


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FYI with that much light you're gonna have a really tough time. What is your substrate? I made the mistake of not listening to people on theplantedtank and ordered a 4x54W light for my 75 gallon planted tank. I really wish I checked back on that thread before ordering because everyone said that based on me not using CO2 and having play sand, that I WAY overdid it. I followed their advice after that, and I've only been running two of the four bulbs the entire time and for only 4.5 hours a day and I still have pretty bad hair algae. That is with dosing ferts in the water column, Flourish Excel, and using root tabs as well.

Plants are much harder to keep in my experience, and the key is definitely having the right balance and not just being like "OMG OMG MUST HAVE 3 WPG OMG OMG." I learned that the hard way. If you aren't dosing ferts, using CO2, and don't have a substrate conducive to growing plants (AKA NOT SAND)!, I'd tone the light down tremendously. 1WPG would be better. Your plants will grow slowly, however algae won't be such an issue. Even simple things you wouldn't think of readily can cause problems -- for example, planted tanks with no CO2 systems tend to do worse with HOB filters or bubblers -- that's because the excess surface agitation created by HOBs and bubblers allows the CO2 that created by your fish (or dosed by you via Flourish) tends to gas off.

I'm basing a lot of this on the notion that you have sand substrate and aren't dosing or giving root tabs, etc., but generally speaking, an excess of nutrients in the absence of CO2 + lots of light = algae bloom.

Sorry to scare you if I did, but I'd recommend doing a LOT of research based on what you're looking to accomplish. It's hard to kill a fish, but my lord is it easy to cause plant genocide or an algae epidemic if you don't know what you're doing.

What plants are high lighting plants that can go without co2 or soil substrate?


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