How planted is well planted?

[jameson_uk]

When I setup my tank I thought real plants looked nicer than fake ones and thought they would be more natural with the fish so bought a bunch of plants.

So a lot of what I have been reading differentiates between well planted, moderately planted and lightly planted tanks. I have a 180L tank which looks like this:

The left hand side has about five Amazon Swords planted down the side and across the back.
The middle has a small crypt in the middle and some small patches of Lilaeopsis Brasiliensis (thought it would be nice to give Squidward Tentacle's house a little lawn 🙂)

Down the back is then some Rotala Rotunifolia and another stem plant I can't remember the name (Might be Bacopa caroliniana) followed by some Vallisneria behind the wood and down the right hand side.

Finally I have two Anubias, some Java Fern and Java Moss on the wood.

How well planted is this?

I want to keep this low tech and I was planning on a simple routine of root tabs, and a little weekly fertiliser. Any thoughts on what I need to do to keep the plants healthy (Substrate is sand btw)

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

So a lot of what I have been reading differentiates between well planted, moderately planted and lightly planted tanks.

The problem you have at the moment is that even though you have a reasonable number of plants, other than the Vallisneria they have all been <"produced grown emersed">, and until they've adapted to life underwater, in some ways you aren't really planted at all at present.

When plants go from emersed to submerged they have gone from ~400ppm atmospheric CO2 down to just 1 or 2 ppm CO2 submerged. Often the plants will shed the leaves they have, and only after an acclimatization period will they start to grow submerged leaves, which are often different in morphology and physiology.

You need to add some stems of something like Cabomba or Ceratophyllum, which are obligate submerged plants, and don't have to go through the acclimatization period. I like to have floaters as well, they always have access to atmospheric CO2 levels and help reduce algae etc during the set up.

People's version of well planted differs, but I like a tank which is full of plants. (From <"Too much light...... Really">).



I'm a pretty shoddy fish and plant keeper,and I like grown in jungles because they are <"pretty robust and stable">. More skilled aquarists can get manage tanks with a much lower plant mass.

cheers Darrel

 

[Chris Jackson]

I'd say your tank is moderately planted now but when those plants grow in it will become densely planted pretty quickly.
For examples of planting densely from the start try taking a look at



or pretty much any other ADA video. PlantIng a tank out Amano style is going to be costly....and require a lot of preparation.

Your plant selection is quite robust and I'd only perhaps expect the lilaeopsis to struggle. Patience will be your greatest asset.

 

[jameson_uk]

Your plant selection is quite robust and I'd only perhaps expect the lilaeopsis to struggle. Patience will be your greatest asset.

Indeed that was not originally on my list but I thought I would give it ago as it only in two small patches that I would not miss if it does die off.

The larger swords in particularl look a little out of sorts (leaves going a little transparent and a few holes) but they did did spawn children almost as soon as they were planted and these look a little better (which I guess is submerged vs emersed ?) Not too worried about growth (as that will just mean more maintenance 😉 but more about keeping the plants healthy. How much will plants take whilst adjusting? What ferts should I look to be adding?

I guess root tabs are going to be necessary for the swords (particularly as the substrate is Unipac Limpopo which is ~1mm sand so they will not get as much nutrients as they would from gravel / proper plant substrate ?)

Is there anything I can do to check plant health or is how they look the best indicator? Is there any way I can tell whether plants needs more ferts as opposed to more CO2 / just needing more time to adjust to living submerged?

Also lighting is 2 x 45W T5s which are currently on for 3 hours in the morning and 3 hours in the evening (was looking at upping this to 2x4 when cycled). Is this sufficient for these plants

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

The larger swords in particularl look a little out of sorts (leaves going a little transparent and a few holes) but they did did spawn children almost as soon as they were planted and these look a little better (which I guess is submerged vs emersed ?)

Yes that looks likely. Just take the leaves off as they melt.

I guess root tabs are going to be necessary for the swords (particularly as the substrate is Unipac Limpopo which is ~1mm sand so they will not get as much nutrients as they would from gravel / proper plant substrate ?)

Root tabs will help, but even plants like Echinodorus and Cryptocoryne spp. can take in nutrients through their leaves. You can buy root tabs or you <"can DIY them">.

Is there anything I can do to check plant health or is how they look the best indicator? Is there any way I can tell whether plants needs more ferts as opposed to more CO2 / just needing more time to adjust to living submerged?

You can use plant health as an indicator, if you use a floating plant it takes CO2 out of the equation, I've called the <"Duckweed Index" (towards bottom of page 1.)>.

The other approach is to use a fraction of <"EI dosing">, the dry salts are available from <"some of our sponsors"> (other sponsors are available). You will need other people to post what fraction of EI they use, but I think it will be somewhere <"in between 1/10 and 1/4"> the full dose.

cheers Darrel

 

[jameson_uk]

So effectively I can just add a floating plant and if this is looking healthy then all is good. If that looks a bit sad then this is likely to be nutrients as it had unlimited CO2?

Would Amazon Frog-bit be OK?
The Juwel Rio 180 has a lid with about 10cm the water line including the lights. I assume floating plants will be OK with this?

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

So effectively I can just add a floating plant and if this is looking healthy then all is good.

Yes.

If that looks a bit sad then this is likely to be nutrients as it had unlimited CO2?

Yes.

Would Amazon Frog-bit be OK?

It is my "Duckweed" of choice.

Have a look at "First Low-Tech attempt...">.

cheers Darrel

 

[Derek113]

My swords grew huge! My aquarium was left to grow un-checked. The result