How Does This Look?

[Nix]

You see though, it is physically impossible for it to stay completly clean and lacking of rotting veggies, also, why give yourself more problems then you need to worry about? ownage denied.

 

[spAcE mOnkEy]

However, with proper care, javaferns and javamoss will thrive in most conditions that other plants would not. This means that even though the lighting of the tank may be poor, or water quality of the tank may not be at its peak, these beginner plants will still grow. You fail to see the ease of growing javaferns and javamoss. n00b

 

[Nix]

If java plants are grown with such ease why do you seem to have such difficulty growing them yourself? Some people such as you could still have a hard time growing healthy plants without ANY decomposing, besides, what do you know?

 

[spAcE mOnkEy]

If java plants are grown with such ease why do you seem to have such difficulty growing them yourself? Some people such as you could still have a hard time growing healthy plants without ANY decomposing, besides, what do you know?

I have never grown javaferns or javamoss before....
Well you have two african cichlids in a 10 gallon tank!

 

[Nix]

Point proven, you can't even grow them.

And yes, I do have 2 africans in a 10gallon, fry! (Omg!) Nice try

 

[Kowalski]

Why the hijacking of this thread?

I wanted some opinions on my tank layout, ideas ofr puffers, suggestions, advice, etc.

Not an argument.

 

[spAcE mOnkEy]

Point proven, you can't even grow them.

And yes, I do have 2 africans in a 10gallon, fry! (Omg!) Nice try yes.gif

Have you ever thought that maybe you just suck at growing plants? And i have more fish tanks than you. DENIED!

EDIT:

Why the hijacking of this thread?

I wanted some opinions on my tank layout, ideas ofr puffers, suggestions, advice, etc.

Not an argument.

Your tank looks very nice. IMO you should get more live plants. What kind of wattage you have on it?

 

[Nix]

Point proven, you can't even grow them.

And yes, I do have 2 africans in a 10gallon, fry! (Omg!) Nice try yes.gif

Have you ever thought that maybe you just suck at growing plants? And i have more fish tanks than you. DENIED!

EDIT:

Why the hijacking of this thread?

I wanted some opinions on my tank layout, ideas ofr puffers, suggestions, advice, etc.

Not an argument.

Your tank looks very nice. IMO you should get more live plants. What kind of wattage you have on it?

Or more plastic plants and not worry about lighting

 

[Kowalski]

EDIT:

Why the hijacking of this thread?

I wanted some opinions on my tank layout, ideas ofr puffers, suggestions, advice, etc.

Not an argument.

Your tank looks very nice. IMO you should get more live plants. What kind of wattage you have on it?

To be honest, I'm not too sure. I never thought about it because I never planned on getting live plants. It DOES say, "25 Watts Maximum", not sure if that's what's in there though. AH-HA! It says 50 watts total, two lightbulbs, so each 25 watts.

 

[spAcE mOnkEy]

Or more plastic plants and not worry about lighting

Well i think kowalski can decide for himself. Just ignore our arguement kowalski, and we apologize for the hijacking of your thread.

 

[Kowalski]

Well i think kowalski can decide for himself. Just ignore our arguement kowalski, and we apologize for the hijacking of your thread.

No problem, it happens to the best of us.

This is a bit off-topic, but is there an easy way to replace gravel with sand?

And could someone check the picture of a snail earlier in this thread and I.D. it for me? It'd mean a lot. I know it's a bad picture...

 

[furryrabbit]

there is no very simple way , but it is made easier by the fact that you have all plasticplants. just empty the water halfway or more , take out all plastic plants , then the gravel - and begin adding (washed) sand.
perhaps you have malaysian trumpet snails? also , i think , if i were a dp - i would prefer live plants , so perhaps replace them gradually

 

[Kowalski]

Thanks FurryRabbit. The more I've read, the more I've found out about puffers and it seems as if Dwarf Puffers don't need sand and it won't make any difference with gravel or sand. I'm thinking of just mixing in some black sand with it, I think that'd look cool. I currently only have a small ball of Java Moss, which is fine, but I'm soon going to replace 1 or 2 plastic ones with Java Ferns, and that'll do it probably. I've looked at a lot of pictures, they're not Trumpets, shells aren't that shape at all, they're very rounded, so I'm assuming they're Ramshorns.

 

[Graeme Edwards]

If you want to keep your aquarium healthy no matter what you keep IMO you MUST have live plants.

Nix what are you on, Ive never heard so much C*@p, the only reason why you would have plants die is because you don't know how to look after them, your way of fish keeping is so backward, its been proven that LIVE plants are in-valuable in a fish tank.
Just look a the nitrogen cycle, plants play a MASSIVE part and with out them the cycle isnt as strong.

Plants use ammonia as their first source of food then they go for nitrite then ammonia and then when they are used up they move onto nitrate.
Plants can stop algae all together in the right balance.
Some plants are known to help keep fish fry healthy and safe.

Fake plants are not the way to go when keeping fish, even with low light you can create a lovely planted tank.

Kowalski dude, if I was you I would empty the lot and start over, get some JBL Aqua-Basis around £7 (UK) then some pea gravel at about 2-3" over that and a good liquid fertilizer to dose each week, you dont need anything else and it doesn't cost and arm and a leg.

DONT be tempted to just put plants in plain old gravel, there is no nutriant what so ever in plain gravel ( I BLAME BAD ADVICE AT YOUR LOCAL FISH SHOPS)

There are tonnes of plants that will grow with this set up and there wont be any dead plants and gunk to clean up.

I also have dwarf puffers and they love a heavily planted tank so, apart from the biological benefits they help to from each other.

Kowalski, if you want to get some tips on growing plants go onto the planted tank forum, we are all very helpfull and I know you will see the benifits of a planted tank.

Just for a referance here is my 20cm cube planted tank, its not hard to do, you just need to know what plants need to grow well.

The cube was 21 days old in this pic.

 

[andywg]

If you want to keep your aquarium healthy no matter what you keep IMO you MUST have live plants.

Nix what are you on, Ive never heard so much C*@p, the only reason why you would have plants die is because you don't know how to look after them, your way of fish keeping is so backward, its been proven that LIVE plants are in-valuable in a fish tank.
Just look a the nitrogen cycle, plants play a MASSIVE part and with out them the cycle isnt as strong.

Plants use ammonia as their first source of food then they go for nitrite then ammonia and then when they are used up they move onto nitrate.
Plants can stop algae all together in the right balance.
Some plants are known to help keep fish fry healthy and safe.

Fake plants are not the way to go when keeping fish, even with low light you can create a lovely planted tank.

However, if you want to keep larger fish, or those with a high oxygen dependancy then plants are not the best way to go. Live plants have their place, but they are not a necessity. Such a comment as you have made is tantamount to trolling.


If plants have been proven to be "in-valuable" and a "must have", why do people who keep extremely expensive fish not try and grow them?

Look at most of the tanks larger than 130 gallons and you will see very little plants, more than 200 gallons and there will be close to 0 plants as the larger fish require conditions that make plants a great struggle. Add to this the fact that plants respire aerobically at night (that is they use up oxygen and exhaust CO2) and you have another reason not to want live plants with larger fish.

Plants can stop algae, but so can algae. Giving algae a place to grow that has more optimal conditions than the display tank will do the same, or alternatively, working out where the nutrient imbalance is that causes the algae and addressing that.

Live plants have their place, and a planted aquarium can look nice (if you like that sort of thing) but they are not necessary at all in an aquarium. Frequent water Changes will do just the same as plants and will take care of other factors as well as nitrates.