New to Plants-Trying to plant my 15 gallon

[GobyGuy5]

As the thread title says, I'm new to plants and am trying to plant my 15 gallon-low tank. I am pretty much restricted to a single tube strip light (which provides 1 watt per gallon) or a 55watt compact flourescent retrofit kit, (which would give me 4 watts per gallon in a 12" high tank) After doing some research, I've pretty much decided to work with the single tube light, not only is it cheaper, but for my first planted tank, I wanted to apply the K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple......) theory, and if I got 4 watts per gallon, I'd have to deal with CO2, fertilizers and supplements or face an Algae plague like I've never seen before. So, I'm trying to plant my tank fairly heavily (not so much overgrown like European tanks, just well-planted) and I’ve narrowed down my plant picks to the following plants that are understood to do well in 1 watt/gallon conditions:

-Hygrophila
-Dwarf Sagittaria
-Jungle Vallisneria
-Ozelot Sword
-Duckweed (kept under control of course)

Also, In my tank I currently have:

-Underwater Banana Plant
-Java Fern
-Plenty of Algae

I have a fairly heavy bioload (I’ll find out just how heavy when I get my testing kits soon) With 8 fish ranging from 2-3” and more planned. Do these plants survive under these conditions? Do plants need and absorb lots of nitrates? Would I need to fertilize, or would my fish ‘provide’? What other things do I need to consider? All opinions, facts and advice is welcome, thanks for your help!

[Ger]

I am about to set up a planted 15 gallon myself with a 55 watt and CO2...Maybe we can exchange notes ;). But in the meantime, I can comment on some of your plants. I am growing Hygro like weeds in my 30 gallon at about 1.3 watts per gallon. I also have Java fern and java moss. The Java Fern grows little daughter plants right on the leaves. I started off with a single plant... now I have, errr, alot. I have what I consider to be about average bioload. Tom Barr (and others) have responded to a couple of my inquiries about plants, and among all of that useful information is the fact that plants do indeed feed off the nitrates (their source of Nitrogen). I think that your fish will indeed provide -- I add nothing as far as fertilizer is considered to any of my current setups.

[GobyGuy5]

I am about to set up a planted 15 gallon myself with a 55 watt and CO2

Hmm, what made you decide on using 4 watts/gallon and CO2?

[Tempest]

Goby- That jungle val gets awfully tall for a 15 gallon. :)

[Ger]

I saw some of the setups submitted for the AGA Aquascaping Contest (http://showcase.aquatic-gardeners.org) and felt that this was a dimension of the hobby that I wanted to explore. After a good amount of related web-surfing, I decided that I wanted to focus on fast growing stem plants, especially red ones. My (naive?) approach at the moment is that my plants are going to thrive, and not just muddle along -- hence the high light and CO2. Among the plants I am looking at are Rotala and frill. The others I put in there could get by with less, I'm sure.

I still have a lot to learn, and may discover that I could have gotten by with less. Time will tell.

[GobyGuy5]

Goby- That jungle val gets awfully tall for a 15 gallon

That's what I think I wanted..................
I figured I could let some of it float at the top of the tank, giving it an overgrown look, and anything else I could just trim off weekly
Just how big would that plant get?

Also, should I supplement certain nutrients, or would my plants do fine without them?

[GobyGuy5]

Do I really need CO2 for the setup I wanted to work, I know it would help them to thrive but do I need it to keep them green and growing?

Won't the fish provide enough CO2 for the plants?

[Tempest]

Goby... On the jungle val, it will get like 3 feet tall. :)

As to the question on the CO2.. At 4 watts per gallon, the fish will not provide enough Co2 or other nutrition for your plants by a long shot...

[Tempest]

Goby... If you are going with the low light setup, then you will not need to supplement Co2. With my low light tank, I add some fertilizer once a week when I do the water change. With a low light tank one of the prepared aquarium fertilizers will work. I use the separate ones for my high light tank so anymore I just make a small batch up for the low light ones too.

[GobyGuy5]

Okay, can anyone vouch for any of these plants growing @ 1 watt/gallon?

Also if you can, what do you do to supplement them, etc.

[tetra_girl]

I currently still only have about 0.66 watts/gal (1 20 watt strip in a 33 gal, 30 w/substrate) and my Hygrophila and Rotala are thriving and of course Java Fern is a low light plant and is very hardy.

Don't have any other plants on your list, but can vouch for having plants do well with very little light and no CO2 bottle. I do have a rich substrate though, and fertilize with a Kent liquid supplement every other week.

[Skippy]

Here's a plant I consider great for starting off tanks.

It's called Foxtail. Specifically Green Foxtail. It grows so abundantly taht I actually have it in Mbuna tanks and they cant nibble it to death faster than it grows.

Drawback, frequent pruning.

I use this plant especially when I'm starting up a tank and need something that will gobble up nitrates and such should a spike occur. Grows under 1wpg lighting, and with no particular fertilizers or c02 considerations.

Although I will admit the BEST and astest growth i've seen on it was in a molly tank that had about 1 tablespoon of salt per 5 gallons of water in it. I have also had it actually grow in a tank that was half full, with no filtration or livestock in it sitting in the back of my "lab" with no lighting over it other than the flourescents in the room for a month.

It's pretty common and can be found at many stores, plus on www.aquabid.com and on ebay if you do a search for "foxtail" and "aquarium plant".

Just my 2 cents worth :)

[GobyGuy5]

It's called Foxtail. Specifically Green Foxtail.

interesting, I'm a little catious about common names, as I've heard more than one plant called foxtail, what species is the one your talking about?

Also, I've been reading over the posts, and it seems like it would be a good idea for me to get some plant-friendly substrate, what would be a good choice for my setup?

Thanks for all your help so far, this is why AC is so great :)

[Kaylee Skylyn]

ya it depends wich 'foxtail' you are talking about.

Myriophyllum or Limnophilia (I've seen both refered to as 'foxtail' on ebay or such, mostly its myrio tho) are very hard to grow. They need lots of light and CO2 addition.

Ceratophyllum (AKA Hornwort) is VERY easy tho. It tends to like to float and has no roots. This one I owuld recomend for a first time tank. Will grow well in most anything and if given lots of light it will grow like crazy!

As to Jungle Val it will get prity big for a 15 gal. I have a version of jungle val and it seems to stay smaller in the 15 gal than it does in the 33 gal but its still big. I think a regular straight leaved Val would do what you would like and look a little beter proportioned.

Just so you know at one waterchange I took a Vall leaf out of my 33 gal tank that measured TWICE (and then some) my hight (5'10) and then still had nearly 2 feet to the tank and the botom of the plant!! The leaves on the top of the water was a twisted tangled mess to most people but I liked it. and so did my SAE who would rest on a leaf and bearly have to move a fin to stay there near the surface.

Neadles to say not much light reached the bottom of the tank untill I recently trimed the Vall back to 2 feet. ;P Some of the leaves also reached over an inch in width, with most of them being between half an inch and 3/4ths. I've also found that my Jungle Vall grows very very slow compared to others, reproduction wise anyways. I still only have less then a dousen plants.

I'm thinking of getting some regular Vall for the smaller tank. :)

[punch]

Instead of jungle val, Try corkscrew val. It grows to about 6 "

[BluEyes]

I have a 15g with an incandescent hood over it, I ditched the incandescents, and put in two of the screw-in compact flourescents. Much more light than a single tube could give, and it works great!
The tank will work with, or without CO2 (since I'm lazy and only change the yeast bottle every few months) and the plants grow wonderfully, but not too fast to be a pain with pruning...
The substrate is about 2" of clay soil conditioner.

HTH