Plant Impact?

[jb_lyndon]

Hey, sorry I'm new to plants (and aquariums in general) but hoping you could help me with some general guidance. My girlfriend impulsively bought a couple plants from petcetera (2 for 1 deal). The guy there wasn't positive of the species but was pretty sure one is a "Bacopa" and the other is either "Wisteria" or "Rotala." Wondering about the level of care and lighting requirements for these guys if anybody knows off hand.

Just wondering how much more maintenance will a planted tank require?
How will plants effect water in a 25G w/ AquaClear 200? pH? Nitrates? O2? is CO2 necessary?
What's the difficulty cleaning substrate with leafy (or mossy) ground cover (seems to me that it would be hard to clean under that stuff without uprooting)?

Any recommendations of nice leafy plants (don't really like 'hairy' looking plants) especially a nice short round leafed ground cover and a tall one to hide the heater and airtube (speaking of airtube... should I disconnect the bubble stone?)

Hope you can help.

[TKOS]

Don't know much about the types of plants you have. I wouldn't bother, though, with CO2 for a couple of plants, especially if you have an airstone and an AC 200 for a filter. Those will drive most of the added CO2 off as the tank and air above try to reach an equilibrium.

How much light does you tank have? A single 15 watt flourescent?

[jb_lyndon]

yes I believe it's a 15 watt.
A single "aquaglo" flourescent.

[TKOS]

That is very low light. You don't have to start messing around with CO2 addition until you get closer to 2.5 or 3 watts per gallon of flourescent light.

Your plants may not grow very well with that little amount of light.

A good plant choice for you would be Java Fern or Java Moss. Both require little effort on your part. There are other low light plants as well.