I've recently been replanting my tank to try and create something that provides a good natural habitat for the fish, but is lower maintenance on the plant front that it was previously. I've removed all of my Monte Carlo carpeting at it was getting very thick/deep and pruning was a messy business resulting in little bits of the plant floating around the tank. Same goes for any moss that I origianlly had stuck to driftwood etc; pruning was messy and it would spread all over the place. I pulled up all of the Vallisneria spiralis, while I liked the look of it and trimming wasn't a problem, it was putting out feelers and spreading so rapidly that I was in a constant battle to keep it under control (even where I have rock/plastic barriers under the substrate).
This was a bit of a rash decision but with a new baby I didn't have time to keep on top of the maintenance and didn't want to let it get completely out of control. As a result the plants I dropped in to fill the void were pretty much whatever the local aquatics store had available at the time - I don't really even know what they are called. That said my plant maintenance has reduced so mission accomplished in some way. I introduced some floating plants (Amazon Frogbit and Phyllanthus Fluitans) to provide some immediate shade/cover for the fish as the new pants settled in - they are doing well and the fish seem to enjoy the top cover.
I'm now wanting to tweak the plants again to reduce maintenance further. I'll also consider adjusting the light regime to get healthy growth/colour while slowing the growth rate if it's possible to achieve both? Photo of the current layout and my light programs attached - this is a Fluval ROMA 125 with 2x 32W Plant 3.0 LED lights. We have very hard water so I run 50:50 RO/TAP. I use CO2 injection; the drop checker and KH/PH test results suggest I'm maintaining just below 30ppm of CO2 during the lights on period. For ferts, I have ADA amazonia substrate under the sand, some flourish root tabs round the plants and I liquid dose daily. The fert mix I'm using is 'James planted tank all-in-one' formula, I use one squirt per day which equates to about 2-3ml. I reduced this from two squirts as I was getting a fair bit of algae. There's still a bit of hairy algae and some blotches on the larger green pants (Swords?) but it seems to have stabilised and may be receding - it's certainly not getting any worse now.
In terms of changes, first of all I plan to remove one of the large green plants, the one in the centre behind the log (I 'think' it may be an Amazon Sword?). This is reaching up higher than I would like, the base of the plant is also left looking messy as leaves are trimmed off. I would like something that grows lower so that it's not reaching up and interfering with the plants above. I'm considering a red tiger lotus as I love the idea of it sitting quite low and shooting small lilly pads up to the surface
Second change that I'm planning is to plant a bed of 'Eleocharis mini' in the sandy beach at the front of the tank. While I like the idea of the beach, there's always loose substrate scattered around (from replanting or dug up by shrimp/fish) and of course pleco poop. Seems it would just be better to carpet with something green. I did previously have some of this in the tank (there are a few sprouts still hanging around teh bottom of the log) but it was more or less overtaken and eliminated by the monte carlo.
The last thing I would like to do, and the one that I'm looking for the most guidance on is replace the red stem plant located to the left rear of the tank (some sort of Ludwigia?). While I like the look of this plant and it's growing well, I absolutely hate the look of the roots that shoot out of the stems. I presume this is how the plant feeds from the water column? Trimming these roots off is a time consuming hassle. Can anyone recommend a stem plant that does not sprout roots above the substrate? Ideally it would also be one that can simply be cut back from time to time to stop it overtaking - without the need to prune, replant cuttings etc. If there were a similar looking plant, or at least something red that will grow up to the surface, that would be ideal, but I'm willing to consider anything that will not throw out those roots.
This was a bit of a rash decision but with a new baby I didn't have time to keep on top of the maintenance and didn't want to let it get completely out of control. As a result the plants I dropped in to fill the void were pretty much whatever the local aquatics store had available at the time - I don't really even know what they are called. That said my plant maintenance has reduced so mission accomplished in some way. I introduced some floating plants (Amazon Frogbit and Phyllanthus Fluitans) to provide some immediate shade/cover for the fish as the new pants settled in - they are doing well and the fish seem to enjoy the top cover.
I'm now wanting to tweak the plants again to reduce maintenance further. I'll also consider adjusting the light regime to get healthy growth/colour while slowing the growth rate if it's possible to achieve both? Photo of the current layout and my light programs attached - this is a Fluval ROMA 125 with 2x 32W Plant 3.0 LED lights. We have very hard water so I run 50:50 RO/TAP. I use CO2 injection; the drop checker and KH/PH test results suggest I'm maintaining just below 30ppm of CO2 during the lights on period. For ferts, I have ADA amazonia substrate under the sand, some flourish root tabs round the plants and I liquid dose daily. The fert mix I'm using is 'James planted tank all-in-one' formula, I use one squirt per day which equates to about 2-3ml. I reduced this from two squirts as I was getting a fair bit of algae. There's still a bit of hairy algae and some blotches on the larger green pants (Swords?) but it seems to have stabilised and may be receding - it's certainly not getting any worse now.
In terms of changes, first of all I plan to remove one of the large green plants, the one in the centre behind the log (I 'think' it may be an Amazon Sword?). This is reaching up higher than I would like, the base of the plant is also left looking messy as leaves are trimmed off. I would like something that grows lower so that it's not reaching up and interfering with the plants above. I'm considering a red tiger lotus as I love the idea of it sitting quite low and shooting small lilly pads up to the surface
Second change that I'm planning is to plant a bed of 'Eleocharis mini' in the sandy beach at the front of the tank. While I like the idea of the beach, there's always loose substrate scattered around (from replanting or dug up by shrimp/fish) and of course pleco poop. Seems it would just be better to carpet with something green. I did previously have some of this in the tank (there are a few sprouts still hanging around teh bottom of the log) but it was more or less overtaken and eliminated by the monte carlo.
The last thing I would like to do, and the one that I'm looking for the most guidance on is replace the red stem plant located to the left rear of the tank (some sort of Ludwigia?). While I like the look of this plant and it's growing well, I absolutely hate the look of the roots that shoot out of the stems. I presume this is how the plant feeds from the water column? Trimming these roots off is a time consuming hassle. Can anyone recommend a stem plant that does not sprout roots above the substrate? Ideally it would also be one that can simply be cut back from time to time to stop it overtaking - without the need to prune, replant cuttings etc. If there were a similar looking plant, or at least something red that will grow up to the surface, that would be ideal, but I'm willing to consider anything that will not throw out those roots.
