can you help me on first planted tank

[tovtm]

hi i have a 125ltr tank which house my discus breeding pair, corgys x6 and two bolivian rams.

temp 28 D
sand substrate with jbl root balls
weekly dose of jbl ferropol 5ml
fluval 204 exsternal pump
1x t8 40W power-glo 42" long

ive just brought 5 tubs of Sera CO2 tablets but am unsure how to add these to the tank i.e how many and how often or even if its just drop one in the tank? a diffuser is being supplied with these

second question is has anyone used a website called JAVA-PLANTS.COM ?
been looking at the discus collections on there as they supply 85 indervidual plants for under £25 which consist of-
5 x Crypt Nevilli
5 x Ech Tennellus
5 x Pygmy Chain Sword
5 x Crypt Wendtii
5 x Green Ludwigia
5 x Amazon Swords
5 x Red Amazon
5 x Lobelia Cardinalis
10 x Red Ludwigia
5 x Indian Fern
5 x Vallis Corkscrew lrg
5 x Hygro Polysperma
5 x Vallis Torta
5 x Barclaya Longifolia
5 x Crypt Balansae
4 x Aponogeton Crispus
1 x Nymphea Stellata

is this a good website to use

end result i want a tank to stand out with a fresh green look to it and where the ble fish stand out. this is how my tank is not any suggestions welcome

 

[Tom]

I used them and received nasty, small portions of unhealthy plants. Maybe it's just my experience, but I won't use them again.

Tom

 

[tovtm]

who do you get yours from now?

tom,

 

[Tom]

I will probably go with The Green Machine, but they are pricey. You get what you pay for generally.

 

[Tom]

And I'd get a second opinion on Java Plants though, I haven't used them in ages so things might be different.

 

[tovtm]

will do hope some other people comment, what do you think about my set up regarding the t8 light should i get anotherone? and any ideas on the co2 tablets?

 

[Kosh42-EFG]

I've used them and got OK plants. The even didn't send me one plant I ordered and credited me as the stock they got in was up to scratch.

However, I agree that you get what you pay for. Bought some from The Green Machine before and they were top class.

 

[foxfish]

Hi & welcome to the forum, the best or at least the more effective way to get a lush green looking tank is via a pressurised C02 system.
You tank is not that big to house many discus, if you plant to heavily there will be even less swimming room?

 

[Tom]

I typed you out a long reply earlier, but the forum went "unavailable" again :/

 

[sanj]

I have not used Java in a couple of years and for similar reasons to Tom, i was not impressed with the quality of the plants I received at the time.

 

[tovtm]

Hi & welcome to the forum, the best or at least the more effective way to get a lush green looking tank is via a pressurised C02 system.
You tank is not that big to house many discus, if you plant to heavily there will be even less swimming room?

very true but im not looking to over crowd my tank with plants more like a few vallis plants along the backmaybe some others bunched in the corner, allowing some of the background rock wall to show through then some sort of carpeting plant along the bed, so in matter of speaking il still have the swimming space but visually the tank will have green along the back and on the bottom somthing like this (botttom picture )

and this

i would have gone with co2 bottle but i cant afford the d+d £130 set up or even the jbl £200 set up

 

[foxfish]

OK - unfortunately I cant help you much because I have never had the patience to go low tech.
There are dedicated threads on the forum from those who have the knowledge to succeed with low tech tanks, good luck.

 

[aquaticjedi]

i was going to order a large selection of plants from java this week .may be i wont bother now can any one recommed some top sites for plants thank you

 

[Tom]

Try plantedtanks.co.uk or theplanttank.co.uk