Too late for plants?

coffeegrind

coffeegrind

AC Members
Feb 14, 2009
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California North Coast
Ok, I have been searching through the posts here, not wanting to be repetative, and still didn't find what I was looking for.

I have a new 29 set up with a nice thick layer of fine, unprocessed gravel (its not poished in anyway, looks very natural). My tank is mid-initial-cycle, and I wish I had thought of this sooner, as it would have altered my set up a little.

I want to put some plants in, and am currently looking at a higher wattage setup, hoping to get my wattage up to 2/2.5 wpg. Right now its the simple 1 bulb that came with the hood.

The biggest question I have is about my substrate. Did I think of this whole thing too late?

I'm going to add some wood, and would like some plants, but not sure which kinds are good for this type of gravel I have in there. Should I scoop it out and replace it with something else? Also, I'm looking for plants that can withstand the hard water I have here in Eureka.

Anyw suggestions here would be great.
 
well it really maters how big the gravel is if it's not that bug then you should be fine. you might want to add root tabs if you get any heavy root feeders like swords or crypts. also be away that you can attach anubias, java fern and moss the the driftwood if you want to go that way.

there really is a place called Eureka in North West sweet
 
Here are a couple of pics I took up my set up. Unfortunately, they are not of the highest quality since I took them with my phone.

light on.jpg

rock up close.jpg

The larger rocks are going to stay, the fake plants will be leaving. I plan to sink some wood, then set up a low light to med-low light grow. Hopefully, I can manage to keep the plants in the substrate I have now. Its fairly course, so there might be some experimentation.

I will have a 65 watt flor light over the top, which should be sufficient for my plans. I'm looking at some anubias, some java ferns, and hoping I can find something that might work as a ground cover (I would have to lay down some sort of mesh I think for that.

What do you think?

light on.jpg rock up close.jpg
 
the lighting you have should be more than adequate to grow plants. the substrate looks fine too. the big concern should be providing enough nutrients to keep the plants growing, but seachem makes lovely easy to use ferts that are liquid you can easily get and then there are iron tabs you can find at just about any aquarium place.

ps: its never too late for plants
 
Here's the skinny on substrates. The vast majority of plant substrates do not have nutrients that are readily available to plants in them, this includes favorites like Flourite and Eco-Complete. What they do have in favor of regular gravel are high CEC (cation exchange capacity) ratios that allows them to suck nutrients out of the water and hold them so plant roots can access them later.

Plants will take advantage of nutrients from anywhere they can, either from the roots or from the water, so you don't need to have a nutrient rich substrate if you are dosing ferts to the water. Having a plant substrate simply gives you some leeway in case you forget to dose here and there.
 
Awesome info, thanks everyone.

I have the lights on order and am looking for the right driftwood thie week coming up.

Again, thanks for the information.
 
Hey Coffee, I'm pretty close to you. I haven't found any venders for plants around our area but I do know Doctors Foster & Smith ship outta Cali. I'm not sure how the quality there plants are but it may be worth looking into.

I'm not sure if anyone else here on this site is from Northern Cali though that may have aquatic plants.
 
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