an old friend needs advice

jerzsky

jerzsky

GALLON GUZZLER
Dec 25, 2006
134
0
0
45
LANOKA HARBOR, NJ
hello all! i have been away from his geat site for a while, as i have been on a saltwater adventure. i need a lil advice. i would like to transform my 55gal fakeplanted/ugly colored stone/fake log looking setup, into a low tech planted aquarium. when i sy low tech, i know there will be maintenence, but i really cant spend the money on co2 systems and all.

what type of substrate?
plant types?

sorry if im not including enough info.

any advice greatly appreciated!! thanx all!!
 
for low light plants, a fancy substrate is not always needed. I prefer soil substrates (I use alot of soilmaster select) but sand it good as well. The most limiting factor for you will be lighting. Most stock 55g lighting will not cut it for plants. Do you know what wattage bulbs you have? You want to shoot for between 1-2 watts of light per gallon of tank in order to grow a nice range of low light easy plants.
 
right now im at 1.5 watts per gallon. but will be uping the lighting when i start the transformation. since iwill be building a new canopy for it, im gonn get a retro fit kit to install.

how about growth of the plants. since i will not be using a co2 system?

any yes they fancy substrate is goin in the trash, i hate it! would like a soil substrate.
 
also...is there a plant selection that plecos wont eat...knowing theyre green munchers...if not i guess i will have to find a suitable home for him.
 
I keep BN's in most of my tanks but they tend to be easy on plants.
I keep anubias, crypts,java fern (a few different varieties) some java moss(beginning to hate this stuff but it's good in fry tanks)
 
im sure the pleco wouldnt bother onion plants or java ferns.... i wouldnt be concerned to much about him eating plants if your feeding him enough veggies :D
 
What kind of pleco is it? Many are actually not plant eaters. For instance, my L387s are primarily carnivorous with just enough herbivorous to classify as omnivorous. But generally, they leave the algae wafers alone and have never glommed onto my plants.

If you're concerned about the pleco eating plants, go with Java fern and/or Java moss. Both are very, very easy to grow and very few fish and other aquatic life will touch them let alone eat them. Plus, there are a couple varieties of Java fern. I have the Windelov (lace java) variety that is quite lovely.

Anubias are awesome for low tech, low light tanks, but they tend to be slow growers.

I have also been able to keep dwarf sag, bacopa monnieri, guppy grass (najas grass), in addition to the javas mentioned earlier alive. I say this because the tank only has about 1.5 wpg and a mixture of gravel and laterite as substrate. There is no CO2 or any other plant booster, lol.
 
im not sure what type of pleco he is...but i once had a couple plants, n i think it was the wisteria he muched like crazy.
 
Try not go over 2wpg if you use t5HO. I would go with 2wpg of cf. Soil substrate and gravel mix of 3" depth. Some driftwood attached with anubia palnts, java ferns, wisteria and some swords plants. U can also add some floating plants like anacharis, duckweed and water lettuce. Large pleco tends to destroy plants and uproot them. If it's over 4" it is better not to have one in a planted tank.
 
yeah he's about 8"

just curious, why if using t-5's u say not to go over 2wpg?
 
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