Always Had Fake Plants Now Its Time To Have Real And Make My Tank Look

[adam12345]

hello,

in all of my tanks ive had ive always had fake plants, some of them are okay but there not the greatest. but now ive upgraded my tank to a 95 litre, its nearly stocked to how i want it. 1 problem, its got fake plants in and i would really like to have real ones for once.

i just looked into my tank and i have a sunlight 20w bulb if that means anythign to anyone, so with that info whats the easyest plants i can get? i want something that i can plant into the bottom of my tank and with no help to live accept from my light. dont want something that is going to grow everywhere and mess my tank up but if they all grow out of controll im guessing its easy just to cut bits of them?

is this possible? if so what plants could i use? are they easy to get hold of? what sort of cost am i looking at?

thank you.

 

[Biulu]

With a 20 W light, you will have a low light tank. If you are not using some kind of substrate underneath it will be difficult to grow plants if you are not adding nutrition unless you have such a high bioload that the residues from the fish provide for all of the nutrition. In that case you will still need to add some liquid phosporus, iron and trace elements now and then.

I suggest you go for cryptocorynes, anubias and ferns as they do not 'get all over the place', they are quite maintenance free and do well under low light. Why don't you have a look at this pinned article: http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/296418-planted-aquariums-resource-center/

 

[Ryefish]

I have lower lighting (about 10W?) so i stuck with the simple plants like mentioned in the post above. I only have gravel as substrate for my tank, and an under gravel filter. My plants are doing pretty well so far, but i do dose ferts to give the plants a helping handing. They weren't too costly, you just have to remember to put a drop in once a day

 

[adam12345]

I have lower lighting (about 10W?) so i stuck with the simple plants like mentioned in the post above. I only have gravel as substrate for my tank, and an under gravel filter. My plants are doing pretty well so far, but i do dose ferts to give the plants a helping handing. They weren't too costly, you just have to remember to put a drop in once a day

so your light isnt as strong as mine and you can still have live plants? thats great news! so if i get a fern for exsample i need to put a drop of what in a day? is that all you need?

thanks for the help guys

 

[adam12345]

i have been looking at java fern it looks pretty good, any information on that would be good? cheers

 

[Ryefish]

Java fern is pretty hardy, but i find it hard to find a nice looking piece. There are members on here who have stunning Java Ferns and my mangy looking one makes me jelous (maybe you could post in the classifieds??)
Ive just bought the SeaChem Plant Pack: Fundamentals because i don't have the smart Co2 kits that the other members have. There are loads of other ferts that you can get (im sure other people can suggest some). I have a 1ml syringe and i made up a weekly fertilising regieme and dose accordingly. Thats pretty much all i do. None of the expensive stuff and complicated stuff like Co2 lol

I found this link very helpful when i was looking for plants. You can search for tank specific plants (like low lighting requirements)
http/www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/plantfinder/index.php

 

[adam12345]

Java fern is pretty hardy, but i find it hard to find a nice looking piece. There are members on here who have stunning Java Ferns and my mangy looking one makes me jelous (maybe you could post in the classifieds??)
Ive just bought the SeaChem Plant Pack: Fundamentals because i don't have the smart Co2 kits that the other members have. There are loads of other ferts that you can get (im sure other people can suggest some). I have a 1ml syringe and i made up a weekly fertilising regieme and dose accordingly. Thats pretty much all i do. None of the expensive stuff and complicated stuff like Co2 lol

I found this link very helpful when i was looking for plants. You can search for tank specific plants (like low lighting requirements)
http/www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/plantfinder/index.php

im going to go with java fern i think. that website was great thanks for that!