my planted tank upgrade

gagaliya

gagaliya

GNOME POWER!
Nov 20, 2005
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NJ
www.happyreward.com
just done my research, got my shopping list in order:

1) 36" coralife power compact aqualiight 96W 6700k(1.92 WPG) + holder to lift the light above tank

2) eco complete 2" thick substrate

3) Vallisneria spiralis -background
Java farn - anywhere
Anubias barteri var nana petite -fore/mid ground
Marsilea minuta (aquatic clover) - carpet

4) daily dose of Flourish + Flourish Excel


Checked http://www.floridadriftwood.com/product.asp?3=850 . They told me 1 order of marsilea minuta is 2" x 2". My tank area is 36"x15". How many orders do you guys think i should buy to get started? i want the entire substrate covered like a carpet type layout.

also does my shopping list look ok?

thanks
 
I'll throw some thoughts at you here...

If you are just setting up the tank I might suggest some fast growing stem plants like Hygro poly, Hydrocotyle leucocephala, Hygro difformis, etc. This will help the plants get the upper hand during the first few weeks. Or even consider some floaters for the first few weeks. You can scoop them out later.

I have never kept Marsilea minuta. Plantgeek lists it as moderate. You say you have about 2 wpg. However with the Coralife fixtures the reflectors may make the lighting more efficient, though as I have never had these fixtures before so can't say for sure. The point I am getting at is some carpet plants tend to be more demanding than others, although it may do fine in your tank. Most often when I have bought such plants, I have been able to break apart the bunches and space them out. If they are going to do well, they will fill in on their own.

Lastly, there was a recent thread where myself and a couple of other members were discussing the suitability of vals with Excel. I might suggest a search for "vals" and "Excel".

HTH, good luck.
 
jart said:
If you are just setting up the tank I might suggest some fast growing stem plants like Hygro poly, Hydrocotyle leucocephala, Hygro difformis, etc. This will help the plants get the upper hand during the first few weeks. Or even consider some floaters for the first few weeks. You can scoop them out later.
Click to expand...

hey hth, i have seen this mentioned elsewhere as well but dont quite understand. Why do i want fast growing plants during initial setup? is it just cosmetic to make the tank look green faster or some other more important reason? You said to help the plant get the upper hand, against what? the fish?

i will research into excel and vals. thank you!
 
You want fast-growing plants because if you have high lighting on a tank and start dosing fertilizers algae can (and probably will) take over. If the tank is heavily planted with some fast growers though they can out-compete the algae. Then you can slowly replace them with the plants you want, allowing them to fill in and never giving the algae a chance.
 
Good summary, EcoPit. I would add that balance is often the key in planted tanks. During the initial stages, or when drastic changes are made, algae is most likely to rear it's head. After a period of time, things tend to become more stable. Most of the plants you had listed are considered to be lower light tolerant, and perhaps slower growing, although the vals can spread quite fast.
 
I wouldn't want to rely on them dealing with it. I would just keep the lights low and order more plants as quickly as you can.
 
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