What else aside from Anubias?

[West1]

I have a 50gl and I am going to add smooth gravel about 1/8". Somewhere around 1-2" thick. I have a 24" pc light w/ 2 65watt bulbs or 1 36" T5 w/2 10K bulbs and plan to keep the lights on for 6hrs (or whatever is best reccom).

I plan to add some Anubias on some driftwood n would like some plant that would do well in a non Co2 set up (not interested in the java family right now).

I'm hopping for a bush type plant for the gravel, any ideas on some green hardy plants for me?

I plan to try the Co2 route in the future n want to get my hands wet w/some easy stuff first

Thanks for the input

 

[nikond70s]

beside anubias. you can add vals, java ferns,swords and pretty much any cypt plants. for something bushy-ish you can try some low light hygro. theres lots of low light plants but those are the most common.

looking at your tank the other day. what i would do if i where u. is i would add substrates, sand or something. and get a nice piece of driftwood and either put it in the center or to the left/right. and tie all the anubias you have on that driftwood. add a nice sword in the back corner. add some tall vals to the corner. so that all the plants are on one corner either left or right. and the other side is open swimming space and the other side is heavily plants. it would be a nice simple easy to maintain scape rather then just randomly planting plants everywhere. it doesnt look nice like that in low tech tanks. or if you decide to put the wood in the center. you decorate all the plants around the wood. to make a planted tank nice. i think how you scape your tank is a major part on a planted tank.but thats just my opinion and idea. theres many out there.

or to learn all about plants and forums just for planted tanks. i urge you to sign up over at plantedtank.net everything you need to know about planted tanks. lots of expert there to help you out. you'll have more people helping you over there than over here.

 

[West1]

Thanks Nikond70s . Will look into that other site.
Which of my lights would be best? PC or T5?

Here is where I am right now people...
My girls picked the gravel and decorated (not bad looking except the gray rocks that turned green in water haha)













Its an Oddball Pattern Clown Loach setup with the Regular CL as the Oddball . Smallest is 1" and biggest is about 4" (about 10 pcs total). Along with 2 Oddball Angel Fish and 3 Speedy Exos.

 

[chonhzilla]

You should also look for Needle Leaf Java fern.

 

[JasonG75]

(not interested in the java family right now).

LOL I guess this was over looked..

BUSHY??? Well I would suggest Water-Sprite but I think your substrate isnt deep enough.
Dwarf Sag would work
Cabomba

 

[chonhzilla]

OOPS. Sorry LOL.

 

[West1]

LOL I guess this was over looked..

BUSHY??? Well I would suggest Water-Sprite but I think your substrate isnt deep enough.
Dwarf Sag would work
Cabomba

I like the Dwarf Sag. I have a question (also asked on a plant forum)... How can I add Fertz to the bottom of my tank if its currently stocked? Empty the tank and do it that way. Fertz, sand and about 1-2" of the gravel??

I noticed a PH drop in my set up since adding the gravel and manzanita wood. 2 baby Clown Loaches have died on me since. The maintenance on the tank has been the same for the past 2 years (50% weekly with 1 cap of Prime per water change).
PH was about 8.2 and today it was 7.2-7.4. CL's were happy till I washed and added the gravel.
The rest of the params were normal

OOPS. Sorry LOL.

No worries. I still googled it

 

[JasonG75]

How can I add Fertz to the bottom of my tank if its currently stocked?

Are you speaking of Fertz as in Planted Substrate? Meaning stocked you already have substrate, and can you add planted substrate on top of the existing substrate or would you have to remove it all and start over.

 

[JasonG75]

But honestly you have really limited WHAT you can do with the substrate you have chosen. Are you looking for a lot of plants? Just a few here and there? Buried or Tied?


Playsand or PFS would have been a better decision.

 

[West1]

Are you speaking of Fertz as in Planted Substrate? Meaning stocked you already have substrate, and can you add planted substrate on top of the existing substrate or would you have to remove it all and start over.

But honestly you have really limited WHAT you can do with the substrate you have chosen. Are you looking for a lot of plants? Just a few here and there? Buried or Tied?


Playsand or PFS would have been a better decision.

Yes I was talking about adding some type of under layer like Soil? In my head I pictured a small layer of Soil, about 1" of Sand and the gravel on top. Or is this not needed? Just slap play sand as the bottom layer and add the gravel on top?

I am not sure exactly which way I am going with Plants but leaning towards Dwarf sag, Flame Moss and a couple Crypts. I would like to start with some fairly easy stuff and go from there.
As of right now, I would say most buried and maybe... tied to the Wood.