Beginner to planted aquarium

M

mister_han

Registered Member
Jun 5, 2009
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So Cal
Hello everyone I am new to this planted aquarium hobby and I was wondering if my current set up would be decent enough for my plants to grow.

I have laterite mixed in with play sand in my 10g and I have some mondo grass and some hornwort. I also add in a dose of API Leaf Zone plant food. I also have a 15w light that came with the tank.

Is this good enough for my plants to grow or will everything die?? And I would like to know if my plants would need a CO2 tank. Thanks in advance to anyone that helps.
 
Mondo grass is not a fully aquatic plant so it will likely die if fully submerged.

Hornwort on the other hand is a very easy plant to keep. I'd say your tank is fine for that, although you probably wont see much growth.
 
You will want to stay with strictly low light plants. www.plantgeek lists plants according to various needs, including low light.
The hornwort should do OK expecially if you just let it float. Other possibilities include java fern, mosses, anubias, and maybe with your substrate, cryptocornes would be a good root feeding choice.
Beware of plants sold in many chain store fish sections. They may be non-aquatic like the mondo grass. You want to know what you are getting before buying.
 
thanks for the replies. I am going to return the mondo grass since I bought it at petsmart yesterday. is my wattage amount too low for my plants?
 
15watts of what?? is it a flourescent fixture or an incandescent fixture???
 
this tank is grown with 1.5 wpg of t5 light playsand bottom and no ferts or co2
the main thing with planted tanks is patience. ya gotta let em grow

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keep that hornwort trimmed. if you let it grow too much it'll consume all of one fert or another and create a mess in a tank that's not fully supplemented.
 
thanks for all the replies
I am returning the mondo grass tomorrow. But I recently bought a pack of assorted plant bulbs that are guaranteed to grow in 30 days but today I noticed a layer of white film on the sand and around the plant bulb. is that something to be concerned about?

I am giving the plants and bulbs about 12 hours of light each day and all I have running is the filter.
 
You can grow a LOT of plants with that light. I have 2 low light tanks (1.3-1.5 WPG) that both have plain sand substrate, no ferts, no co2, and are LUSH. I really believe MOST plants easily available to hobbyists can be grown in low light. My rule iof thumb is anything GREEN will usually grow. avoid anything with pink, red or purple and you should be fine. Swords, hygros, vals, sags, mosses, apons, any rhizone plants, bulb plants, etc, most will grow jsut fine. You may encounter some issues, but those will be a case by case thing. USually because of a plant that's not truly aquatic.
 
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