55 gallon fish tank

[9murphy9]

hi
i have a 55 gallon tank that I've just converted from a cichlid to a community with platies,guppies,a bala shark and angel's and i fancy live plants but the bulb is just a regular T8 florescent and the substrate is around 2 inch deep of large gravel/stones with a fluvial u4 filter so what aquatic plants could i have in here that will last a good few years,i'm happy to maintaine it but my budget is quite small any suggestions guys ?

thanks

Alex

 

[hinch]

remove gravel, put some john innes no3 compost/peat in bottom, put gravel ontop.

then after that you can grow pretty much anything that doesn't "require" co2 really. the lighting is fine. you may need to add some more water movement without knowing the actual tank dimensions vs the u4 I can't even guess if flow would be enough.

get some EI salts (or a premixed EI fert) check out APF sponsor of here. you'll be able to grow stuff fine after that and they should last a good few years as long as you keep up the ferts and general tank maintenance.

 

[9murphy9]

thanks is there any way i don't have to add the soil like some kind of plants that take there nutrients from the water as the tank is 4 ft long x 18 x 18 and it take for ever to clean the gravel removing it will be a night mare and the tank is all cycled so i don't want to cycle it again, thanks

Alex

 

[roadmaster]

I have a 55 gal with single 32 watt T8 bulb on for ten hours a day.(been meaning to add another bulb)
Anubia's attached to wood,crypt's,watersprite, Floating pennywort,grow with this lighting but ever so slowly.
Tank is basically used for trimming's,cutting's from other tank's, but plant's mentioned do well enough that after I have a few too many,, I take them to fish store and trade for credit.
Substrate is black sand, and I add fertilizer once each week ,same as other tank's with plant's.

 

[nry]

Crypts and ferns are a good choice, moss may be OK too but I find it a bit invasive.

Use a general fertiliser such as Tropica Plant Nutrition Plus (or the non-Plus version if you have a high fish load) and job done.