Lazy Plant Novice - tell me what to do!

[ZoddyZod]

Hello!

I've got an empty 25L which I'm planning to turn into a low-tech planted tank. I'm looking for 'easy' plants and for you all to critique the plan and tell me if it should work. I've had a few goes at using plants in the past, but I am not green fingered and not really that interested in the details, so that's where you come in

Tropica substrate capped with sand
liquid carbon, daily dosing
liquid ferts, daily dosing
lights on for 8hrs (although tank will also be near a window - will see how that goes with algae)

Currently planned plants

Sagittaria subulata​

Staurogyne repens​

Limnobium laevigatum (Amazon Frogbit)​

Anubias barteri Nana (to tie/glue to the wood)​

I have no plans to add any livestock at this point - want to see if I can get something resembling a planted tank going over a few months, first.
all suggestions & feedback greatly welcomed!

 

[Essjay]

If you are going for easy plants, you don't need liquid CO2. If you are planning fish, I wouldn't use one anyway. The active ingredient in most of them is glutaradehyde which is a powerful disinfectant.

Depending on just how deep the tank is, you may want to rethink the frogbit. I got rid of mine as I was fed up with the roots trailing on the floor of a 45 cm deep tank. I had to prune the roots at every water change as they snagged on the lower plants all the time.

 

[ZoddyZod]

If you are going for easy plants, you don't need liquid CO2. If you are planning fish, I wouldn't use one anyway. The active ingredient in most of them is glutaradehyde which is a powerful disinfectant.

well, that's one less cost removed, then!

Depending on just how deep the tank is, you may want to rethink the frogbit. I got rid of mine as I was fed up with the roots trailing on the floor of a 45 cm deep tank. I had to prune the roots at every water change as they snagged on the lower plants all the time.

I've used it before and never saw the roots grow more than 10cm, although as stated, I'm not exactly green-fingered (or the Angels nibbled them.....)

 

[Essjay]

Mine grew huge roots, but I've nothing in the tank that would eat them. In my 23 litre shrimp tank I currently have red root floater which doesn't have roots which trail on the floor of the tank as they are around 1 cm long. But they do grow fast and I have to take some out at almost every water change.

 

[ZoddyZod]

hardscape in.....

 

[Essjay]

Have you soaked the wood or will you weight it down?

 

[Back in the fold]

Hornwort. Nobody fails with hornwort.

 

[Essjay]

The hornwort I had would take over a 25 litre (6.6 gallon) tank. It tired to take over my 180 litre (47 gallon) tank which is why it had to go

 

[ZoddyZod]

all in - I give the plants 2 weeks to live, max!

Went with....
Sagittaria subulata

Staurogyne repens​

Anubias barteri Nana​

Hygrophila polysperma (last minute buy at the at local FS to fill in the back corner a bit))​

Thanks for the suggestion of ProShrimp - that's where I got the other plants from.

 

[connorlindeman]

Hornwort. Nobody fails with hornwort.

Nobody huh? I failed miserably.

 

[Back in the fold]

Nobody huh? I failed miserably.

You failed with a plant that I can't kill ? That's pretty bad. Time to take up golf.

 

[ZoddyZod]

are we totally sure I wont need any liquid carbon for this tank?

 

[Essjay]

If you intend livestock in this tank - fish, shrimps, whatever - then no as the active ingredient is a powerful disinfectant.
It's high tech plants with strong lighting and lots of fertiliser which benefit from added CO2. If there is livestock in the tank they should provide enough CO2 for low tech.

But if you don't plan livestock, it's not a problem though some plants can be harmed by Excel (vallisneria is one that springs to mind, which you don't have)

 

[ZoddyZod]

fair enough. I am planning to add livestock eventually, but will give the plants some time to see how they get on, first.

 

[Byron]

A comprehensive liquid fertilizer will help five the plants a start. You are in England, so look for TNC Lite. This can be used with or without fish in the tank.

With respect to the floating plant roots, this depends upon the nutrients available to the plants. I noted over several years that the Water Lettuce in my tank with no fish extended down to the substrate. Without fish present, there were fewer nutrients available, so the plants extended their roots. When fish were added, this changed. This was in the QT for new fish so it could sit minus fish for months, but there was a definite change in the plants once fish were present. My Frogbit was always in a tank with fish, and the roots were not more than maybe 15 cm (6 inches). Again, this tank was full of fish. One of the Frogbit even bloomed, photo below. [This was a temperate species, not the tropical, mislabeled by the store.]