Real Plants

[Robot_Rooster]

i have two (i think) amazonion swords well they look sword shaped. but i see from alot of tank on here theres are heavily planted with different variety so here come the questions.

would a plant be ok under the heater and grows over and around the heater? will it affect the heater at all?

whats the name of the litte grass plants that are plants across the tank floor?

what plants would you recommend ?

Thanks in Advance

 

[Robot_Rooster]

anyone?

this is what i was on about by grass floor

[URL="http/farm3.static.flickr.com/2314/2508946164_4e69eaa61e.jpg"]http/farm3.static.flickr.com/2314/250894..._4e69eaa61e.jpg[/URL]

 

[fish.com1]

Amozonion swords are called amazon swords. I don't think it would be a good idea for the plants or heater, if plants were growing under and around the heater, because the the heater may burn a hole in the leaves of the plant, and with plants covering it the heater may overheat and the plants may also obstruct the waterflow to the heater. I';m not 100 percent but i think that grass plant your on about, is in the picture glossotigma. Not sure though so i'd post that in the planted section. You could use java moss as a carpet for your tank.

 

[Robot_Rooster]

yes i was looking at java moss, i just want it to hide my substrate horrible colour D:

thanks

 

[Robot_Rooster]

how would you go about planting java moss?

 

[Corleone]

Tie it to some small rocks. After a while you can remove the string, since it will anchor to almost anything. From there it'll spread. It grows fairly slowly, so it might take a while to get the thick carpets some people have.

If you want to cover the substrate quickly, get a big potted crypt. I bought what I thought was a single huge crypt, and it turned out to be about 30 little ones. Carefully separate them and spread them around so their leaves overlap a bit, once they leaf out they make a very nice forest (you can see small bottom feeders moving around under them). I covered basically the entire bottom of the tank with them, and have just pulled a few out here or there when I need to make room for a bigger plant.

 

[Robot_Rooster]

crypt their actual name i cant find it?

 

[Corleone]

crypt their actual name i cant find it?

Cryptocoryne is the full name.

Edit:
http/www.aquahobby.com/garden/e_cwgreen.php

There's a nice picture of what I'm talking about. They also come in a red-leafed variety (not sure if it's the same species or a different one). They often come in a pot looking a lot like the one in this picture. Mine all turned out to be numerous smaller plants packed together. You can plant them together to make a bush, but I much preferred the effect after I separated them and gave them a few months to fill out.

 

[Robot_Rooster]

thanks and can anyone back up fish.com about plants next to the heater?

 

[Syphoniera]

It may bother some plants, but it doesn't seem to affect others, although as a plant illiterate, I can't be too specific.
I have some variety of Hygro (which arrived as floating, rooted leaves in some bundles of other plants I bought which brought in anchor worms and then died,) I tentatively identified before but now can't recall the name of, currently growing around the heater in some of my tanks, and others have done so, but I'm no good at IDing.
So the sturdy, crawling type plants most likely to grow everywhere are probably OK with heaters, in my experience.
Personally, I have a problem with plants being stunted/bent under HOBs, not near heaters, although none of mine are run over 80F except briefly while treating illness.
Unless they were very thick plants, I can't see how they'd cause much problem with restricting heat where the water circulation was good, as the heat would radiate through the leaves, although there I'm just guessing.
Crypts would probably melt, because they're mean like that anyway.
If that helps...

 

[Corleone]

I have valis against my heater and it doesn't bother it too much, they're pretty tough plants. They also grow nice in tight bunches, so you can put some around the heater to hide it, and use other plats throughout the tank.

 

[Attilauk]

i have Amazon swords and Java Fern near to my heater with no problems

 

[aaronnorth]

It will be fine next to the heater, the grass plat in the picture is lilaeopsis brasiliensis

 

[Robot_Rooster]

Thanks peepz

also i jsut bought a metal and net thing for java moss to hold it down my only worry is, is would the metal rust in the tank? and is all cotton and string fine to tie it down?

 

[aaronnorth]

depends on the metal?

Cotton thread is fine.