Help me fill my tank with plants

[SABWARNER16]

I have a ten gallon tank with just a betta in it. I have attached a pic in the thread (he was sleeping so I didn’t turn on the lights, but I’ve only got two swords (One of which is floating -.-), three small branches of wisteria in the back (never grown it before so we’ll see lol) and an Anubias nana on a stone, and a hide. Needless to say, my vision of making the tank a forest is off to a bare start. I have some anacharis coming in, I think it’s three good sized bunches and some salvinia minima. Should I put the anacharis in the back? I really want to give it a very heavily planted, like forest look. I need some smaller plants and maybe some carpeting plants. However, I have a gravely type of sand substrate and no CO2 (although I’m looking into it, but I know zero about it currently). I have some more flourish root tabs on the way And also have Seachem flourish liquid fertilizer on hand. I have the Aqueon clip on LED light and have attached a picture of the K and par stuff (don’t know what it means though lol). I guess I just need some help on how to fill up my tank and what plants I should use given my tank and it’s characteristics. And also, if anyone has good online plant websites to order from, that would also be helpful.

 

[BoomerXIV]

I could be wrong, but isn't sand is inert? And I think it'll be hard to make carpeting plant using sand cmiiw. But if you want to make it looks like dense forest maybe you could plant a wall of hornwort at the back, i know many people doesnt like hornwort, but they are one of the easier plants to grow and I think it'll look good if planted densely

 

[SABWARNER16]

I could be wrong, but isn't sand is inert? And I think it'll be hard to make carpeting plant using sand cmiiw. But if you want to make it looks like dense forest maybe you could plant a wall of hornwort at the back, i know many people doesnt like hornwort, but they are one of the easier plants to grow and I think it'll look good if planted densely

Awesome! Why don’t people like hornwort? And do you think I’ll have an issue with the sand still if I use root tabs?

 

[BoomerXIV]

Awesome! Why don’t people like hornwort? And do you think I’ll have an issue with the sand still if I use root tabs?

Well I honestly don't know why some people don't like it lol. As for the sand I'm not an expert so I don't feel comfortable giving you any thoughts on this matter, so please understand that I might be wrong. I think if you use root tabs it shouldn't be a problem BUT I've read somewhere that sand can suffocate the roots and make the roots rotting. There's a good chance that Im wrong though

Btw if you haven't watched it, I recommend watching foo the flower horn in YouTube, his low tech planted tanks is really something

 

[Essjay]

Hornwort has a tendency to drop its leaves if the water isn't to it's liking - and that includes hornwort grown in cold water such as ponds being put in a tropical tank. It also grows and grows.
I only ever had hornwort drop its leaves when I put a rock from a fish store in the tank and it turned the water cloudy overnight. The rock did something to the water it didn't like. But I finally got rid of it from my tank when it grew out of cotrol and started strangling the other plants.


You only need root tabs for heavy root feeders like sword plants. Others like the anubias, anacharis and salvinia that you mentioned get their food from the water. So does hornwort.
Sand is one of the best substrates for plants.

 

[SABWARNER16]

Well I honestly don't know why some people don't like it lol. As for the sand I'm not an expert so I don't feel comfortable giving you any thoughts on this matter, so please understand that I might be wrong. I think if you use root tabs it shouldn't be a problem BUT I've read somewhere that sand can suffocate the roots and make the roots rotting. There's a good chance that Im wrong though

Btw if you haven't watched it, I recommend watching foo the flower horn in YouTube, his low tech planted tanks is really something

oh that’s interesting, I have Fluval stratum substrate on hand from another tank and wondering if I should do the switch. I just hesitate because the new betta in that tank seems very shy and like he’s still adjusting lol so maybe I’ll wait a while. Thank you for your advice!

 

[BoomerXIV]

Hornwort has a tendency to drop its leaves if the water isn't to it's liking - and that includes hornwort grown in cold water such as ponds being put in a tropical tank. It also grows and grows.
I only ever had hornwort drop its leaves when I put a rock from a fish store in the tank and it turned the water cloudy overnight. The rock did something to the water it didn't like. But I finally got rid of it from my tank when it grew out of cotrol and started strangling the other plants.


You only need root tabs for heavy root feeders like sword plants. Others like the anubias, anacharis and salvinia that you mentioned get their food from the water. So does hornwort.
Sand is one of the best substrates for plants.

Wow thanks for the info, this is new for me. Can you give some recommendations what type of sand is best for plants? Or any type of sand will do?

 

[Essjay]

The cheapest option is play sand, though the quality varies from country to country and even brand to brand. If you want to use a sand marketed for aquarium use look at your local shops and see what they stock. Sand to avoid is rough sharp sand if you want to keep bottom dwelling fish, and sand made of coral or aragonite as they will alter hardness and possibly pH. These last types are meant for marine tanks or tanks with Rift Lake cichlids.

 

[hansgruber7]

You could put in a java fern attached some driftwood in the back maybe. Or try some jungle val in the back.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Most sand is perfectly fine to use, as essjay mentioned best to avoid sharp sand (same sort of sand thats used in building sites) as sharp sand 'locks' and makes it harder for roots to push through and also sharp sand can harm or damage cories and BN barbels.

As for plants, there are a fair few easy to grow plants that can create a nice sort of forest look at the back of tank, I like vallisernia type plants as lots of these together makes for a nice natural look, foreground plants like small cryptocorynes, Java ferns and anubias are pretty good for easy to grow type plants.

Your betta will appreciate broad leaves to rest on and anubia fits the bill nicely for this.

I would not suggest a C02 set up until you are more experienced with plants and what to look for etc as going down this route can be tricky, even for experienced members. A ton of research will be needed before you even consider C02 set up.

So I would recommend staying with easy care plants that only need perhaps liquid ferts once weekly and perhaps root tabs, I use seachem root tab, a little more pricey but is a good tab for root feeder plants like cryptocorynes.

 

[SABWARNER16]

Thanks so much y’all!!