Plant Advice For My Tank

[Chtheo]

Hi,

This looked like the most likley place to ask,

I am wanting to replant my tank after recovering (ish) from a hair algae outbreak.

I dont want anything that looks too busy, however i would like a heavily planted tank in order to help with algae troubles and water quality in future, i also want it to look nice... in all honesty that is the main reason!

the set up is:

Tank:
60x30x36cm/24x12x15 inches

Lighting:
1x 24W T5 Arcadia Plant Pro
1x 24W T5 Sera DAy Light Brilliance (Precision... if it makes a difference)

Ferts & CO2:
JBL Ferropol 24
Floraboost (weekly)
JBL Substrate
TetraPLant CO2 Depot Can (and diffuser)

Filtration:
1100lph Canister with 9w UV Steriliser


Basically, what i would like to know is, what plants woudl you recomend i use? I am rubbish with names, and have in the past stuck to what i know, but i want to try something different in this tank.

Ideally i would like a ground coverer, i have dried dwarf baby tears, but it didnt survive, im not sure if this was due to the algae issues or something else. So something a bit hardier would be great. Maybe a very short grass?

I would also like some diversity in colour, I already have a lot of green, and would like some reds/browns, i have about 3.7wpg of lighting, so hopefully thats enough for the red plants.

I would ideally like to stay away from plants like camboba (i think...) Basicaly anything stemmed that will grow stupidly quick (if i have the name right, i am pulling it out by the handful nearly every other day in my main tank!!!)

Ideally i wouldnt want too much height, i have some twisted vallis and java fern which survived the hair algae, as well as some tall grasses which are at the back.

Any advice or pointers would be great, please find attached a picture of the tank to (hopfully) help with placement.

and as a note - the rock is only there to weigh down the bog woon while it soaks, its not going to be a feature!

 

[tomtomtom1230]

I REALLY like the shape of that bogwood! I'm properly jealous I'd love that in my tank!

 

[kylealastairlove]

if your looking for red plants why not try rotala rotundifolia, lovely looking plant. i would say its only flaw is that it us uprooted quite easily. i had some in my tank but it wasnt doing very well due to insufficient lighting, but it would work in your tank, also barclaya longifolia is a nice looking red plant when i brought it i read that it needs soft water with high lighting to grow, my water is hard and neutral and i have a low tech set up but it seems to be growing very quickly

 

[Chtheo]

I REALLY like the shape of that bogwood! I'm properly jealous I'd love that in my tank!

I think i got a bit lucky with it! it fits perfectly in the tank, and is just what i wanted. I'm planning on getting a couple of similar(ish) peices, and building up int he back corner, so i will have places to put plants as well as caves etc for shrimp/fish. I really am impressed with this wood, it also didnt need much of a soak compared to the bog wood i normally use!

if your looking for red plants why not try rotala rotundifolia, lovely looking plant. i would say its only flaw is that it us uprooted quite easily. i had some in my tank but it wasnt doing very well due to insufficient lighting, but it would work in your tank, also barclaya longifolia is a nice looking red plant when i brought it i read that it needs soft water with high lighting to grow, my water is hard and neutral and i have a low tech set up but it seems to be growing very quickly

I love the look of barclaya longifolia that is pretty much the image i had in my head of the plant i wanted!
The first one is very nice, but im not too sure of it being stemmed, does it grow very tall? The only thing i have against stemmed plants is when they get to tall, if you cut the tops off they look cut and imo a bit rubbish (not natural) but i dont want to be pulling them up and cutting off their roots/lower stems every few weeks! - but i think i will need some variation, i will keep it in mind for sure

thank you!

 

[kylealastairlove]

well thats good then ! its a nice plant! also the rotala is quite a fast growing plant and will grow quite tall providing they have the room. yeah i know what you mean, i got a few stemmed plants and i wanted to make a few more out of it but i dont like to cut them as i dont like the look of it to be honest.

hope this helped anyway