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What plants for a large no tech tank

hinch

hinch

Member
Joined
31 Oct 2011
Messages
695
Location
South Yorkshire
I'm busy planning my new 1000l tank and am trying to decide on plants. The tank will have no co2, no ferts and only a pea gravel substrate (at this size I really can't afford a proper substrate)

I'll be taking the plants out of my 200 litre tank which include lots of vallis (straight), some java fern, few stems of I think Ludwigia Mullertii (L. Repens) or Red Ludwigia, and a few stufts of a long grass like plant not sure what it is but its litterally like a bush of garden grass.

The only conditions apart from surviving in completely no tech is that they must be hardy plants and pretty fast growing the tank contains a fair quantity of pleco's which destroy anything like crypts etc and with the tank being 2.5 foot deep there's no way once its full i'll be getting down to the substrate level to work on it that often

I'll deffo be getting some more vallis as thats done well the the little tank I'm thinking of Vallisneria Asiatica but what else will suit the rather wierd requirements
 
gigantea is the vallis I've already got loads of I'll be transplanting it from the 200litre tank
I like the look of the Limnophila sessiliflora would go well I think mixed in clumps in the vallis.

So far I've got a fairly large 1m piece of bogwood am looking for another one or 2 in a similar size or perhaps something more like a tree stump have to check the expensive lfs's though for it since delivery on stuff that size is stupid 🙁

Light at first will be 2x 54 watt t8's but I'll be doing a DIY LED system for the tank after its all up and running just need to get the parts and the time to do it. So yeah will be pretty "low" light for starters.

I was going to put a few anubis in but after testing some with the current pleco collection they got eaten pretty much straight away 🙁
 
Not sure why some fish like the taste of anubias :lol:
Forgot to mention Sagittaria subulata, I used this plant a lot in the past in my low techs, usually as a foreground plant, never grew that tall.
Regarding ferns the only one I really like is Microsorum pteropus 'Needle Leaf', haven't tried the 'Trident' variety yet.
 
How well does Java fern stand up to plecs? You can get a really good display using its various different forms (narrow, needle, trident, windelov, mini etc) and it's pretty much bombproof. Looks good paired with Bolbitis, which also does well in low tech.
 
I've got a fair amount of Microsorum pteropus type of java fern and its never been bothered by any of the pleco's they'll suck on it to get algae or scum off it but never eaten the leafs.

The albino bristlenose fry have chewed on my vallis in the past taken tips off etc but the stuff grows so fast even in low tech that its not an issue.

I've had Sagittaria subulata suggested to me before but because its more of a shallow rooted plant (certainly in the low tech) it tends to get uprooted alot by the plec's rummaging around in the substrate, I have considered glueing some of it to one of the bog wood pieces but don't know how it'll take to that as its not a common self attaching plant as best I can tell.

Never tried bolbitis with pleco's but am willing to buy some to give it a shot how does it fare in a no tech setup?
 
hinch said:
Never tried bolbitis with pleco's but am willing to buy some to give it a shot how does it fare in a no tech setup?
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WIll probably be a very dark green in low tech, rather than the brighter colour you might see elsewhere, and with quite elongated, narrow leaves. Should do fine, requirements and growth rate seem very similar to java fern in my experience, apparantly likes high flow areas but also grows fine in my filterless tank.
 
cool will buy a pot this weekend just to give it a try before I start on the bigger tank (pointless buying a tonne of it only for it not to work)
 
just ordered a bunch of 5 of each of the plants mentioned from plants alive thought i'd give them a try since they're nice and cheap 🙂

Any more suggestions anyone?
 
I'm busy planning my new 1000l tank and am trying to decide on plants. The tank will have no co2, no ferts and only a pea gravel substrate (at this size I really can't afford a proper substrate)
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Hi pea gravel isn't perhaps the best planting medium. It is generally inert and will hold little if no nutrients, therefore aquatic plants will not benefit from it at all except as a mechanical rooting substrate. So I doubt that you will enjoy very much in the way of success trying to grow plants in it.

Actually, you can afford a proper substrate, in fact probably the best on the market...its called soil substrate. You do not need CO2, or ferts, and a wide variety of plants will grow vigorously and thrive in it almost indefinitely, and it's a very low maintenance approach.

And...AND it works out at about 30 to 40 times cheaper than Gucci substrate, which given your "no tech" approach would not serve you particularly well either.

Plus there are also a lot of enthusiastic hobbyists here at UKaps that have a lot of knowledge and experience using soil substrates and will only be too glad to help out.

If you are interested read my tutorial and give it some consideration, there is even a list of suitable plants to get you started. Just follow the link below.
 
I wouldn't count out gravel too quickly.

Now i know there are mainly stems in here, but i did grow glosso really well in the latter days of this tank. Crypts grew great to as did an echinodorus species...(cant remember which one)

I dosed ferts (cant remember which one.) this is one of my first tanks, so i knew jack about the hobby, but gravel still did OK. Admittedly, i added co2, but in real small amounts (again, because i didn't know how much to add)

this.jpg

London dragon was the king of glosso and gravel.
 
I don't really want to go the soil route due to being pleco heavy and some of them are sensitive. so not only do they disturb the substrate like nuts but any dip to acidic will cause some of them to pop their clogs which is an expensive loss.

Mark I'm only going to head for mostly stems anyway stuff that grows tall and fast most rooting plants won't last long with plec's in the mix unfortunately but thats why i've bought a load to give a try see what happens.
 
I dosed ferts (cant remember which one.) this is one of my first tanks, so i knew jack about the hobby, but gravel still did OK. Admittedly, i added co2, but in real small amounts (again, because i didn't know how much to add)
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In my experience gravel, without ferts and CO2 (which is part of hinch's "no-tech" plan), will not yield very much in the way of plant growth, in fact eventually probably quite the opposite. Nice tank by the way...as usual.

I don't really want to go the soil route due to being pleco heavy and some of them are sensitive. so not only do they disturb the substrate like nuts but any dip to acidic will cause some of them to pop their clogs which is an expensive loss.
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No worries, soil substrate is not for everyone. However, it clearly is still very much misunderstood.

I have kept some very sensitive species in soil substrate tanks including Campylomormyrus tamandua, and a pleco in a tank with moss peat capped with sand as a substrate and it thrived; the humic substances given off are actually beneficial to the reproductive health of fish. The tank was also densely planted with vigorously growing plants (also down to the peat) which also contributed to its overall health and well-being.

A well balanced soil substrate usually has a fairly neutral pH, give or take, and is incredibly stable; research has shown that it will resist fairly extreme fluctuations in water column chemistry, including those that affect pH. Even peat on its own isn't usually that acidic, especially in hard water areas, and certainly not enough to cause harm to fish.

I also had a pair of Misgurnus anguillicaudatus which loved the peat substrate and would bury themselves in it with just their heads poking out. There was very little in the way of substrate disturbance, I might add, since even milled peat is still fairly coarse and fibrous and it was soaked first to rid it of any floating matter; plant roots held much of it firmly in place anyway.

Regardless, a gravel tidy or soil retainer can be used to stop some fish doing what comes naturally and digging in the dirt.
 
perhaps if heavily planted but its not going to be heavily planted mostly just background plants I want to keep the front end completely empty and open I have considered testing soil in one of my smaller tanks but when working with £100+ fish its too much of a risk to take so I'm going to stick with something completely inert with a few hardy plants (probably mostly stems as mark suggested) which I know will grow in gravel

If the tank was smaller or had less expensive fish I'd be tempted to try your soil route but its just too risky for me to attempt it if things go wrong draining down a 1000l tank and removing the fish etc is a big ass job not like a little tank.

still open to plant suggestions though if you have any 🙂
 
Don't complicate matters. 🙂

Wood with java ferns attached, then moss, and for the grand finale get some pots, tie hessian to them or wood, and plants crypts, large echinodorus and vallis gigantea.

A lot can be done on the cheap, and using rocks you can hide most stuff.


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this is the tank for scale the book cases are a total of 10 foot across end to end 🙂
6653452395_832dcd22f5.jpg
Tank by hinchles, on Flickr

one of the filters aqua one - aquis 1200
6653457543_e977f4b973.jpg
Small filter by hinchles, on Flickr

the other filter
6653463367_c4c68b9b9c.jpg
Big filter and some wood by hinchles, on Flickr

including some wood on the left and the paint for the room with the tank in 🙂 thats why i'm only planning the tank at the moment I haven't finished decorating yet 🙂

couple more pieces of wood and the fx5 piping for scale those ties are 1'x1' 🙂
6653469627_3ec8a73397.jpg
Some more wood and pipes by hinchles, on Flickr

the wood, plants and most of the bigger fish from this tank are all going into the new tank. This tank will be resetup as sand/rocks/wood only with massive flow as its going to house a group of snowballs (hopefully breeding ... yes i'm going to attempt to get snowballs to breed in captivity!)
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This is all going in big tank too by hinchles, on Flickr

and this is 2 of the little terrors going in the big tank thats a 10" common pleco and a juvi albino bristlenose I couldn't tempt the rest out of hiding even using some food 🙁
6653479391_075a51444f.jpg
Terrors by hinchles, on Flickr
 
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