Re: My venture into my new 760 ltr aquariam.
Always Broke said:
Come then chaps.
How many plants am I going to need when I first plant this up.
Now remember I have no plant keeping knowledge at all so I will be relying on a lot of help from you.
What do you think I should start with. I appreciate I need to get the quantity of plant in the tank to start with and perhaps will need to get rid of some of them at a later date.
So how about a few suggestions of where to start.
Simon
Hi,
The focus in this tank should be to build bacterial colonies in the sediment as quickly as possible. There is a symbiotic relationship between sediment bacteria and plants, the interface of which is the roots. With this premise in mind one should worry much less about aquascape, but instead concentrate on having a good quantity of plants with roots. Since it's a big tank anyway and since large Echinodorus, Aponogeton and Cryptocoryne typically are a nice fit for large tanks then these are perfect choices as they tend to develop massive root structures. The Tropica catalogue is replete with popular Echinodorous, however you might find a couple of unusual ones such as E. kleiner bar, E. red special, E. horemanii and even E. grisebachii at
Aquarium Gardening 20 or so specimens of these would do well in the middle to background along the aft section.
There are also some crypts not generally seen such as C. Green Gecko, C. cordata Rosanervis, C. lucens, C. blassii and C. aponogetifolia, however, any of the standard crypts such as C. wendetii (brown or green) or C. balansae will do. Aponogeton madagascarensis is a lovely plant as are cousins A. crispus and A. ulvaceus.
Having tended to the strong rooted plants, the next, (or perhaps an equal) priority is to add many fast growing stem plants. Any plant named Hygrophila will do the trick nicely, especially the oft pink tinged H. polysperma "Rosanervis" is an extremely hardy and fast growing plant. These can all fill the middle. 100 or so stems (they are usually sold in bunches of 5 stems). Heteranthera zosterifolia aka "star grass" is so hardy it quickly becomes a nuisance. There are also some fast growing easy care Ludwigias such as L repens or L.mullertii. 50 stems of any of these would look nice. Any of the Bacopas would do as well B. coroliana is a popular favourite. Rotala indica is also an excellent choice.
I hesitate to suggest foreground plants since these are always problematic for beginners, primarily due to CO2 issues, so it's often a waste of money until CO2/flow/distribution are excellent. You might try a combination of Hydrocotyle, Cyperus helferi, Echinodorus latifolius Echinodorus quadricostatus, and Lilaeopsis nova-zelandae, say, 20 pots apiece.
Now this tank could easily swallow twice the number I've given, so it's a matter of cost that I haven't suggest over the top numbers. Planting won't be a breeze either unless you've plenty of helpers on hand.
Cheers,