blueyes Posted October 6, 2010 Report Share Posted October 6, 2010 I have decided that I would quite fancy having a few plants when I set up the new tank..... the tank itself is pretty shallow the dimensions are 114Lx38Wx25H in cm's. It won't be heavily planted as I don't yet have enough confidence to work with the whole CO2 thing. I have so far bought some hairgrass, Borneo Sword a Micro Sword and some Java Moss. In my tank now I have a Java Fern, which is not very happy looking plus I confiscated a plant from my goldies tank as they keep pulling it out, I think its a Japanese Rush? I am keen on getting some Dwarf Sag and no doubt will add a few nice looking others if anyone can recommend anything easy to look after. I will be buying a proper light before I set up the new tank. At the moment I am using washed builders sand in my tank and chances are I will continue to use this as everyone in the tank seems pretty happy with it, though I wouldn't mind something a little bit lighter (colourwise) Anywho......what I am wondering is since it is at this stage only going to be lightly planted would I get away with just using JBL balls in the substrate or am I better off using something under the sand? Because it is a shallow tank I'm not sure there will be enough room to have a huge layer of gravel...... Sorry for writing such a novel and thanks in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Posted October 6, 2010 Report Share Posted October 6, 2010 You'd need quite a lot of sand if you are going to use JBL balls. It should probably be no less than 5cm deep. The reason being is that JBL balls are made out of clay, so if the substrate is too shallow then the clay might leach out into the water column and cloud the water, which creates a huge and annoying mess. So since you'd need no less that a 5cm deep substrate, that will limit your plant options to short species sice your tank is only 25cm high. If you want to, you can put in taller species, but you'd have to constantly trim them all the time. If I were you, I'd probably sell the tank and get something more easy to manage in the terms of plant growing. Maybe something about 100Lx50Wx50H. That way you could get a good get a good 4cm layer of JBL AquaBasis Plus, and on top of that, 5cm of JBL Manado, or sand, plus you'd have plenty of height for the plants to grow. It won't be heavily planted as I don't yet have enough confidence to work with the whole CO2 thing. CO2 is easy. I'm only 13 and I've mastered DIY. Pressurised is way passed my budget. It would take me a couple of years to save up for a complete pressurised system! If you want I can give you a simple set of intructions on how to get a DIY system going. Your plants will love you for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the-obstacle Posted October 6, 2010 Report Share Posted October 6, 2010 I've got a few swords growing in a 25cm high tank and 3cm of sand with jbl balls is ok as long as you don't have digging fish. worst case is you get a bit of muddy/cloudy water for a bit while the filter does it's thing. The plants are really settled in. Don't sell your tank - just pick some plants that don't usually grow above 25cm (there are heaps) and/or are easy to prune/trim (ambulia etc.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueyes Posted October 6, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 6, 2010 I was going to move my clown loaches and Bristlenoses into it and then maybe look at getting some tiger barbs as tank mates, I don't think any of them are diggers....... I just got home and had to have a burial for one of my glowlights Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supasi Posted October 6, 2010 Report Share Posted October 6, 2010 What lighting will you be using? No one has bothered to ask that yet. It is one of the most important parts of a planted tank. That size tank will be fine for most plants. Especially for a starter. The deeper the tank the brighter the light needs to be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueyes Posted October 6, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 6, 2010 Joefish, yes please if you could send those instructions that would be cool, when I'm feeling a bit more confident then I will give it a go..... Supasi, I answered the light question on the other forum Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted October 6, 2010 Report Share Posted October 6, 2010 some of my JBL balls were buried about an inch of grit for some time and one of them was showing ... no clouding of the water followed but then it wasn't sand, the grit was stationary. I have since added more to cover it over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the-obstacle Posted October 6, 2010 Report Share Posted October 6, 2010 some of my JBL balls were buried about an inch of grit for some time and one of them was showing ... no clouding of the water followed but then it wasn't sand, the grit was stationary. I have since added more to cover it over. Same I'm adding the grit to cover it up on the weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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