125 gallon planted project

[Snagrio]

So I've slowly been renovating a recently bought 125 gallon. It looked like this when I bought it.



Have since rehomed the cichlids it came with, removed the substrate and decor, replaced them with black sand and real rocks and driftwood and got better full spectrum lighting. Today the first plants came in.




An Amazon sword, narrow leaf Java ferns, Anubias congensis and Bacopa. Wanted to get Vallisneria and micro swords but I only had time in the evening to visit a few big box stores instead of a specialty LFS a couple towns over, but I'll go tomorrow and see what they've got. Put root tabs under the substrate plants and put a tiny amount of liquid fertilizer for the others in the meantime.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Have you considered buying plants online? Find the right places and you can get a bigger selections and better prices. Also, depending on the source, and how long they have had them, many plants should arrive with a lot of stored nutrients. Where they are grown, the nurseries want to accelerate growth, so they puch the fertilizer. For the ones planted in the substrate, the first thing they do is to ecpend energy rooting. They will not usually need ferts immediately. I like to see signs of new growth before I fertilize for the first time.

Also, I really like the look of black sand. So a number of years back I set up one of my summer tanks with it. And then I learned that black sand shows off debris like they are a flashing neon sign. I could see a small piece of poop or a fragment of a dead leaf on the sand from across the room. Whiter sand also shows the dirt, but it is not stand out as much, imo, as black does.

 

[Snagrio]

Have you considered buying plants online? Find the right places and you can get a bigger selections and better prices. Also, depending on the source, and how long they have had them, many plants should arrive with a lot of stored nutrients. Where they are grown, the nurseries want to accelerate growth, so they puch the fertilizer. For the ones planted in the substrate, the first thing they do is to ecpend energy rooting. They will not usually need ferts immediately. I like to see signs of new growth before I fertilize for the first time.

Also, I really like the look of black sand. So a number of years back I set up one of my summer tanks with it. And then I learned that black sand shows off debris like they are a flashing neon sign. I could see a small piece of poop or a fragment of a dead leaf on the sand from across the room. Whiter sand also shows the dirt, but it is not stand out as much, imo, as black does.

In hindsight I probably should've... I was put off by the extra shipping costs but given how the plants I bought are double the price of options I've seen online the end expense wouldn't have been all that different. But at this point it'd probably be better because, to be frank, the big box stores in my vicinity are ironically better in quality than the LFSes, what few of them there are. And for all I know they might not even have the species I'm looking for in the first place.

Another problem is, time is not on my side. I also have a 55 gallon that must be dismantled and sold soon and its fish transferred (two bristlenose plecos, giant danio and Australian rainbowfish, the latter two are in their twilight years and will live out their remaining days with me despite the South American fish theme I'm envisioning for the new tank) because my mother is getting impatient as she wants to move furniture around to where the old tank is and things have already been delayed twice as long as should've been.

Ideally, I would leave the plants a couple weeks to grow in undisturbed, but that's unfortunately no longer an option for me at this point.

 

[Snagrio]

Decided to just order online this morning instead of running around wasting gas and time. After some searching around I went with Aquarium Plants Factory and ordered some super red ludwigas (x3), micro swords (x3), salvinia (x1), and vallisneria gigantea (x2). Should arrive in a few days.

 

[Sprinkle]

I got my bacopa caroliniana coming in as well as me sparklers and gravel, tryna go walstad.

 

[fishorama]

Watch those vals, they might be happier than even a 125g, lol. You can trim them if they get super long but a little "comb over" along the surface can be nice & hide ragged snipped or ripped ends. We're going to need pics as you go...please

 

[Snagrio]

Watch those vals, they might be happier than even a 125g, lol. You can trim them if they get super long but a little "comb over" along the surface can be nice & hide ragged snipped or ripped ends. We're going to need pics as you go...please

That's exactly the reason why I want them, for that "overreaching" they do when they get long enough to drape over the surface. Won't let it get too crazy so other plants get cheated out of light of course but that draping is what allured me.

 

[Sprinkle]

That's exactly the reason why I want them, for that "overreaching" they do when they get long enough to drape over the surface. Won't let it get too crazy so other plants get cheated out of light of course but that draping is what allured me.

I like how they look weed like and how they spread and make bushy jungle :3

 

[fishorama]

Well, keep your scissors handy! I don't mind & kind of like the comb over in 1 or 2 tanks...but they spread by runners too. It's not a low maintenance plant, but not terrible either. I have 2 different "jungle vals", your's might be a different kind than mine (there are many!). When the runners get to the tank front, take action soon. They're not called "jungle" for no reason

 

[Sprinkle]

Well, keep your scissors handy! I don't mind & kind of like the comb over in 1 or 2 tanks...but they spread by runners too. It's not a low maintenance plant, but not terrible either. I have 2 different "jungle vals", your's might be a different kind than mine (there are many!). When the runners get to the tank front, take action soon. They're not called "jungle" for no reason

I had 4, broke 1, they spread and got 4 again