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Planting my tank


noonoo

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Hi, I'm really keen on planting my 60L Juwel rekord tank.

But need to know a lot more so the plants actually survive and grow

For substrate I have rounded and the filter system is the one that comes attached to the tank ( don't want to change either :) )

I can't think of any types of plants I want as I'm unaware of the varieties out their but I do like the grass that goes in the foreground

I also saw some fertiliser balls that go under the plants roots, are these any good?

My tank has,

8 golden barbs

1 cherry barb

3 Black neon tetras

3 White cloud/sunset minnows

1 longfin Calico Plec

1 red whiptail cat fish

Any advice is much appreciate

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If you go to the top of this page, click on the FNZAS Home, it will take you to the FNZAS website, which this forum is part of. Among the headings across the page you will see Plants. Click on this and it will take you to the plant databases.

It will give you a very good idea of what plants are here and allowed, what the lighting requirements are etc.

I would give you the direct link to Plants but the Home page has other information on it which you might like to have a look at. :)

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Hi, I'm certainly no expert, but my understanding of growing plants is that you are trying to get the right balance of light, nutrients and CO2 so that your plants grow well, but your tank doesn't get overrun by algae. The simplest and cheapest way is to have a low-light, low-tech setup, which means you don't add CO2 - as long as you choose plants that do well in low light, they will grow fine, but usually quite slowly. I think the lights in most all-in-one aquarium setups count as low light, so it's a good place to start. If you google "low-tech low light planted aquarium" you'll find plenty of useful info to get you started, then it's a matter of trial and error to find out what works best in your tank.

I have had reasonable success doing the following: I chose Anubias, Java Fern and Java Moss, as they all like low light levels, plus Ambulia, as I wanted something fast growing to suck up excess nutrients. I planted quite heavily right from the start. Using fishing line, I tied the Anubias onto stones which I placed on the gravel, and the Java Fern and Java Moss I tied onto driftwood. The Ambulia was planted in the gravel, and I put fertiliser tabs underneath. I bought a bottle of Valray's fertiliser (off Trade Me), and I dose 1-2 drops per day. I run the lights for 6 hours per day. Most weeks I do about a 15% water change, trim back the plants that need it (mostly the Ambulia and Java Fern), and trim off any leaves that have too much algae on them.

My plants have always grown well, although the Ambulia gets a bit leggy in low light. One of my Anubias has just flowered for the first time, which was a nice surprise! I always have a bit of black beard algae in the tank, although it doesn't seem to get too out of control - I just cut off leaves when they get affected. I also get a bit of green water algae at this time of year, because the sun comes in our top window (which doesn't have a curtain), straight onto the tank, and I don't always remember to cover the tank before I go to bed. Apart from that, I'm pretty happy with how things are going - the biggest change I have noticed with having plants is that the tank stays very stable, so all the fish are happier and healthier.

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  • 3 weeks later...

thanks! had a look and keen on these below, will have to do some research

Anubias barteri var. nana

Cryptocoryne wendtii var.

Echinodorus amazonicus

Eleocharis acicularis-

Heteranthera zosteraefolia

Lilaeopsis novae-zeelandiae

Limnophila sessiliflora

Lobelia cardinalis

Sagittaria subulata

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Hi, have settled with these plants. have looked at their plant profiles and it seems they will all work in together with my tank.

Cryptocoryne wendtii

Heteranthera zosteraefolia - stargrass

Lilaeopsis novae -zeelandiae

Limnophila sessiliflora -Ambulia

Sagittaria subulata -Dwarf Sagittaria

I have some Christmas moss in my other tank, I will take some of that from there and use it.

I also brought some fertiliser balls so hopefully they will work well. :)

Now just to buy the plants :)

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