Going with live plants after 3 months

ok first of all most LFS are just trying to make money. they give a lot of wrong info all the time. i wouldnt go out and spend a lot of money on a co2 set up yet. start off with low light plants like other people say. make sure you really want plants and the work that comes with them. from there your best bet would to get more lighting first. there are all kinds of lighting. T12 T8 T5 power compact. the best thing to do is start reading. there are many people that give away there plants on this board.

how i started was in steps. i started with low light plants. i got more lights from there got co2 and from there i started using Fertilizer.

free plants
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=63091&page=7

lighting
http://woo.gotdns.com/Aquarium/Lighting.htm

co2
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31965

fertilizer
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12585
 
http://www.aquabotanic.com/abstore/index.html?lang=en-us&target=d3.html

I bought the reactor for $49 there and a bubble counter/solendoid/needle-valve for $79(free shipping)...If you go on ebay now there's a guy selling 10 lb CO2 tanks for $50 plus $25 for shipping...You'll need it or else fight a losing battle with algae...

Also on ebay 265W pc fixtures for $69-$89
 
yes, those plants Ms. Bubbles suggested will survive the salt ich treatment, as long as it's not for more than 2-3 weeks. I had most of those in my tank when I did the salt: Hygrophila, water sprite, Anubias, C. wendtii green, java fern, as well as Anachris. Anachris in particular is very salt tolerant. I haven't gotten java moss yet, but I think it'll survive, too.

The only thing was that some of the leaves wilted or yellowed (also because I ceased fertilizers during that time). I just cut those ones off and now they're growing back like nothing happened.

Actually, I would hold off on the Cryptocoryne until after you're done with salt. Those tend to 'melt' whenever anything changes. I put mine in another one of my tanks when I saw it starting to do that.
 
plah831 said:
yes, those plants Ms. Bubbles suggested will survive the salt ich treatment, as long as it's not for more than 2-3 weeks.
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Yeah I think that's going to be my problem. Salt is always going to now be a part of my main tank (along with Garlic). The Salt will always be in there at a rate of 1teaspoon per G, and the Garlic will be at 20 small drops a week.

Are there any plants that will tolerate these additives? I'm looking forward to understanding this part of the hobby a lot!
 
Is this 90gal you planning to plant the same tank with the tiger muskies? If so they'll probably end up uprooting your plants unless you attach them to driftwoods or rocks.
 
I was wondering about that, but you know - they haven't done that with the Plastics that are in there, and they'll be planted just as deep into the gravel in the tank. Are they more flimsy to the wake of water from Muskies striking at prey like lightning bolts?

The main reason for me wanting to do this is to hopefully make that tank that much more healthy (I've been hearing how you don't even need to worry about your water parameters once live plants are in there, but that was with a full blown CO2 system. Thus I am hoping for similar results with lower maintenance plants).
 
Usually big fish are pretty hard on live plants especially if they're not achored well. Yours are probably still small enough so they're not able to knock around you fake plants. You don't have to worry about your water parameters as long as your tank is fully cycled and you're not grossly overfeeding or overstocking. Also water changes will help keep your water parameters in check. Plants do help get rid of nitrates but water changes can do the same. I think Java Ferns, Java Moss, and Anubias achored to driftwood or rocks would be good in your case.
 
A single-tube fixture on a 90 gal. is probably 48 inch. A 4' t12 is 40 watts, 4' t8 is 32 watt. I think adding one more strip would put you close enough to 1wpg to keep the low light plants mentioned. No co2 necessary and not much fert needed.

Mark
 
sly, I was thinking Anachris would be another good suggestion, along with is300's suggestions of java fern, java moss, and Anubias, as those are all hardy and don't need to be grown in substrate.

Anachris is very salt tolerant, (long-term) and doesn't need a lot of care (e.g. does fine in lower light, with no ferts or extra CO2), AND can be grown floating so you don't have to worry about your fish uprooting it. The great thing about Anachris is that it's a super fast grower, so that means it absorbs nutrients (like nitrates and phosphates, the bad stuff) very quickly and oxygenates the water very well. The new name for Anachris is Elodea, but most places still call it anachris.
 
plah831 said:
sly, I was thinking Anachris would be another good suggestion, along with is300's suggestions of java fern, java moss, and Anubias, as those are all hardy and don't need to be grown in substrate.

Anachris is very salt tolerant, (long-term) and doesn't need a lot of care (e.g. does fine in lower light, with no ferts or extra CO2), AND can be grown floating so you don't have to worry about your fish uprooting it. The great thing about Anachris is that it's a super fast grower, so that means it absorbs nutrients (like nitrates and phosphates, the bad stuff) very quickly and oxygenates the water very well. The new name for Anachris is Elodea, but most places still call it anachris.
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Thank you so much! This is exactly what I am looking for - something that will make my quality of water for the Muskies all the healthier.

What about Water Sprite? Is it also a tolerant plant? And with the Anachris / Elodea - can I plant it anyways? Or does it have to float?

Also - and I probably should have asked this earlier on - my tank stays at around 60-66 degrees all year long (60 in winter and around 66-67 in the hotter months). Will these plants fair well in these temps?

Thanks again!
 
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