Which Plant selection for new tank setup?

[Nick_T]

I have a 180l tropical tank which I have recently completely emptied out and set up again after 3 years of never looking quite as I wanted it to.
I threw the little plants I had in the tank away and have decided to start from scratch.

This time I went for a sand base rather than the normal fish shop gravel you get to create a much nicer look. I took my pressure washer to the few bits of bogwood I had in the tank to remove all algae and muck from them and put everything back in the tank (keeping 50% of my original water and keeping half of the original filter sponges). I also got some new lights for the tank after not realising you should replace them after a year or so, and to go with these I got the light reflectors to reflect more light into the tank.

I have to say the tank is currently looking better than it ever has done even though there are currently no plants in it at all! The new lights have made a huge difference as well! Unfortunately after a week since the clean out there was quite a lot of algae on the logs (the stuff which comes off very easily) and on the sand, so I had to do a lot of cleaning to get it back looking nice. I also checked the water after a week and although the levels of nitrate and ammonia were non existent to start with now the levels of nitrate are very very high (ammonia is still non existent)! I did a 20% ish water change to try and resolve this problem. I am hoping this is due to lack of the bacteria in the new filter media?

Anyway, to the point. I am looking at getting a collection of plants to completely plant my tank up so it looks like all of these gorgeous planted tanks that a lot of you lot have and that you see in books. I know that the sand may not be the best for a planted tank but I have still seen many people get decent results with sand.

I have some fairly large fish which I am worried will uproot half the plants or eat all the nice ones as they have done when I have added a few plants before. My fish include: 3 x Clown Loaches (1 is over 6" long!), 1 x upside-down cat fish (about 5" long), 1 x red tailed black shark (4.5" ish long), 1 x Gold Nugget Plec (about 4.5" long), 4 x Harlequins and another which I can't remember the name of right now.

I have read a few posts and I have found a few internet based mail order companies which do aquarium plants recommended. My LFS has very few plants and they are all pretty expensive hence me looking at online retailers. The two I have been looking at are http/www.java-plants.com and http/www.urmstonaquatics.com. Both do a collection of plants for a 36” tank (mine is 40”). I need some advice as to which to go for the list of plants you get are as follows:

www.java-plants.com:
85 Plant tropical collection for a 36” aquarium £12.95:

5 x Red water rose
5 x Ech Tenellus
5 x Hygro Polysperma
5 x Vallis Torta
5 x Elodea Densa
5 x Hair Grass
5 x Red Ludwigia
5 x Red Ambulia
5 x Pygmy Chain Sword
5 x Corkscrew (sml)
5 x Cobomba Aquatica
5 x Green Water Rose
5 x Creeping Jenny
5 x Wisteria
5 x Salvinia Natanas (floating)


www.urmstoneaquatics.com:
100 Plant collection of hardy aquarium plants for a 36” aquarium £15:

20 x Green Cabomba
20 x Mushroom
10 xElodea Densa
10 x Red Bacopa
10 x Red Cabomba
10 x Vallis
10 x Java fern
5 x Wheat plant
5 x Fountain plant
5 x Java Moss
5 x Red Krinkle Ivy
5 x Augustifolia
5 x Wisteria

Would anyone recommend one over another? Any useful tips or advice would be very much appreciated!

 

[Nick_T]

Sorry I seem to have written an essay there!

I just checked the Nitrite levels in my tank again and it is about 0.5 mg/l. This is a lot lower than it was before my water change last night but not as low as it should be. I'm guessing the addition of plants should help this and also letting the tank settle down after the big clean out the other week.

 

[lizard]

Yep, the plants should help with the nitrate level. If you removed half of your filter media, you've also removed a good portion of your biological filter, so until the bacteria can reproduce more, they'll be a little behind on processing all the chemicals.

No apologies needed for writing lots. It's always good to include as much information as possible

How many watts of light do you have over your tank? The number of watts per gallon (WPG) will help determine the kinds of plants that would be good for your tank. Some plants do okay with a little bit of light, others need lots of light.

As far as the lists go...again, what you get should depend on the lighting you have. I have experience with a few of the plants listed, and I'll share my experiences with you:

My tank has about 1.5 WPG.

Java Fern - a very hardy plant, very hard to kill, should do fine in low lighting. Mine have been growing just fine. Prefers to be attached to a piece of wood or rock.

Hygro polysperma - a grand little plant, IMO. I started out with one bunch of it (three to five plants? I can't remember) about four months ago, and I now have lots and lots and lots of them. They grow rather quickly and can be propgated from a single leaf. The leaves on mine are off-colored right now, but that may be due to the ich treatment I had in the water, or the high temps I've had the water at to try and get rid of the ich.

Corckscrew - I assume this is Corkscrew Vallisneria. Another nice little plant that grows quickly. Again, I started with a few of these and before long had many. I think I read somewhere that it send out sometime like one or two runners a week. It's done well in my tank (at least untill I added ich meds ).

Java Moss - a mossy type plant (duh! ). Not a fast grower. Likes to be attached to something. Like the roots of the Java Fern, the Java Moss will cling to whatever it's by - gravel, a piece of wood, a rock. I rather like this plant.

I haven't had any of the other plants listed. I do have an Amazon Sword (a very popular aquarium plant), a Banana Plant, and some Giant Vallisneria, as well as some "imitation" Amazon Sword (sold as an Amazon Sword, but it's nothing like my other one). The Giant Val. doesn't grow as quickly as the Corkscrew Val, but I still like it. As the same suggests, it can get rather long. The owner of my lfs had one that was five or six feet tall! The Banana Plant has been no trouble at all and my fish enjoy sitting on its leaves. I haven't had the Amazon Sword very long, but thus far it's done fine.

I hope that helps you some. Look at the plants that are listed, see if you even like them. Some people like plants that have red leaves, others like only green-leafed ones. It's a matter of opinion. See what you like. Also determine how many watts of light you have, as that will play a big factor in what will and won't grow well in your tank.

Good luck

Pamela
aka Married Lizard

 

[Nick_T]

Thanks for your help!

I have a 180l tank (39.6 UK Gallons or 47.6 US gallons) and it is lit by two new Arcadia 30w bulbs, an 'Original Tropical Lamp' - http/www.arcadia-uk.com/troplamp.htm and a 'Freshwater Lamp' - http/www.arcadia-uk.com/fwatlamp.htm.
Both the lamps have a reflector on them which reflect all of the light into the tank (they say they increase the light by 100%).

Not sure what colour of plants I want. I am aiming at a really nice planted tank with a variety of plants which look like those tanks you see in all of the books.