Where To Buy Plants Online

[morganism]

Hi everybody, i hope you can help.

I'm about to set up a 24"x12"x12" tropical tank with JBL Aquabasis substrate (with a layer of gravel on top)
Hagen Nutrafin CO2 and 4 WPG of lighting.

Where should i get my plants from and which plants should i get! (BTW i'm in the UK)

I'm looking for some advice on buying plants online. Where's good?
There are so many places online, I'm looking for a good mix of quality and value for money.
So far i've had a look at www.plantsalive.co.uk, Java-plants, Greenline and Ebay.

Once i've decided where to get the plants from comes the fun bit, what plants should I get?

The plant collections sound interesting, you know the ones, 24" collection 60ish plants. The collections look like good value for money but I reckon an aquascape with a smaller number of different plants will look better. I'm thinking larger areas of 6 different species, rather than smaller areas of 12 different species.

This is a new setup so I believe i'll need some fast growing species to keep the algae under control. (is this correct?) So could anyone suggest a selection of plants suitable for a new setup 24"x12"x12" tank with DIY CO2 and 4WPG?

As I said before, I hope you can help!

Morgan

 

[thefishycouple]

You should take a look at the pinned threads first.
Good luck with the new tank

 

[Themuleous]

Aquaessentials.co.uk do tropica plants which are the best you can get and the service is excellent. Tropics plants are a bit more pricey than some places but you cant fault the quality.

As for what to get, have a read of the many journals on here and see what takes your fancy. Have the plants you like the look of and that suit your size of tank, etc. No one can tell you what to get. The pinned article on plants (started by Rose) has a list of good, easy plants grouped depending on where in the tank they go, that'd be a good start.

With 4WPG you can grow pretty much anything. One word of warning get the CO2 to a stable 30ppm before adding all the light or you'll have an algae factor on your hands and plant heavily, 75% of the substrate covered.

Sam

 

[Dave Spencer]

Hi Morganism and welcome,

Within the last week I have just set up a 120l tank using CO2 and EI fertilisation, so the advice I was given should apply to your set. Buy lots of fast growing stem plants such as Hygrophilia Polysperma, Ludwigia, Egeria and Rotala. I also have some Vallisneria which is coming along fine.

For my tank I initially spent £50 on these types, plus a few specimen and foreground plants at Greenline. Tropica probably are the best ( I haven`t bought any of theirs yet), but I intend to use their plants to fill in gaps, replace plants I don`t like etc.

I initially couldn`t plant all my plants as they were bent over, making initial planting difficult. What I did was leave the surplus floating, and now that my plants are now all growing up to the surface and leaving some more substrate visible, I shall do a 50% water change tomorrow and plant them. The tank looks messy during this phase, but at least they are carrying out their algae busting duties.

Bottom line - lots of fast growing weeds from the start to fight off the algae with at least 75% coverage. Algae is your enemy at this stage.

 

[morganism]

Thanks for the advice,

After reading an excellent review of Greenline's 24" collection online at PFK's site i'm going to go with them.
Although i'll wait until my order from Aqua-essentials has arrived.

Here's the usual list of plants for the collection:
10 X MICRO SAGITTARIA (SAGITTARIA LILEOPTERUS )
3 X DWARF SWORDS
2 X SAGITTARIA NATANS
BUNCH (7) BABY TEARS BACOPA
5 X CRYPTOCORYNE WENDTII
1 X NARROW SWORD
BUNCH (10) MYACCA FLUVIATILIS
BUNCH (5) CREEPING JENNY
BUNCH (5) HYGRO. POLYSPERMA
BUNCH (5) STRAIGHT VALLISNERIA
BUNCH (5) ELODEA DENSA
BUNCH (5) LUDWIGIA NATANS
(sorry for shouting, copied it straight from Greenline's site)
I've got an Amazon Sword (I think) and some more Elodea in the tank at the moment, so the'll go in as well.
I'll also get some Java Moss, I love stones covered in the stuff!

So i hope, the Hygro, Elodea, Ludwigia (and Java Moss?) are fast growing enough to start with. I'll take one of the T5 tubes out so i've only got 2 WPG until the CO2 is at the right level (I wouldn't have done that without your advice, so thank you!).

The plan is to give it a few months and see what thrives and what doesn't, then get rid of the species that aren't working (or I don't like!) and replace with more of the species that are working (and I do like!). So I end up with a smaller range of species in the tank.

Next question
I'm looking for site/sites showing how to plant particular species, or types of species (stem, bulb etc).
I've got SAGITTARIA LILEOPTERUS coming in the Greenline collection and i'm not sure how to plant it!

Thanks again.

Morgan

 

[Themuleous]

The plan is to give it a few months and see what thrives and what doesn't, then get rid of the species that aren't working (or I don't like!) and replace with more of the species that are working (and I do like!). So I end up with a smaller range of species in the tank.

Sounds a good idea and the best way to learn about plants. Thats the advantage of greenline, it doesnt cost you a fortune if 50% of the plants die.

I'm looking for site/sites showing how to plant particular species, or types of species (stem, bulb etc).
I've got SAGITTARIA LILEOPTERUS coming in the Greenline collection and i'm not sure how to plant it!

Dont know if a good link for different plants, but most you just push into the substrate and let them get on with it, simple as that! There are a few like anubias and java fern that should be attached to rocks and driftwood as they rot if put in the substrates, but other than that simple process of pushing the roots into the substrate. The only more specific bit of advice, would be for carpet plants like HC, glosso, dwarf/pygmy chain swords which do best if you plant each individual plant a cm apart, this gives them space to grow and helps form a carpet quickly.

Sam

 

[Dave Spencer]

[Dont know if a good link for different plants, but most you just push into the substrate and let them get on with it, simple as that! There are a few like anubias and java fern that should be attached to rocks and driftwood as they rot if put in the substrates, but other than that simple process of pushing the roots into the substrate. The only more specific bit of advice, would be for carpet plants like HC, glosso, dwarf/pygmy chain swords which do best if you plant each individual plant a cm apart, this gives them space to grow and helps form a carpet quickly.

Sam


Plant the HC, glosso etc. using a decent pair of long nosed tweezers. They will make the job considerabley easier. I used them on my pygmy chain sword.

 

[Themuleous]

Plant the HC, glosso etc. using a decent pair of long nosed tweezers. They will make the job considerabley easier. I used them on my pygmy chain sword.

Good point, and plant them into damp substrate, i.e. add the substrate and fill with just enough water to almost cover the substrate, makes it easier than trying to plant when the tank is full of water, gets less water on the floor too!

Sam