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PLANTS FOR 63 LITRE TANK

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Member
Joined
24 May 2009
Messages
49
Location
Meath, Ireland
hi! im new here and too planted tanks but not to fish keeping and this is my first post, i have a juwel 63 litre tank that prob only holds 59 or so litres after displacement. i already have a few crypts that i was growing with just the juwel 15 watt t8 tube and no fertiliser or C02. today a fitted another 15 watt t8 to the hood and will start dosing ferts and C02 througha can that co2 is pumped into the diffuser in the tank, the ferts im getting say to only dose once a week but i will divide this amount into 7 and dose daily. atm i have a bit of a algae prob with hair and green spot algae on the glass and a piece of slate, the hair algae was on two leaves but i removed them and will scrub the slate clean too, the green spot is on the front glass and i cant remove it but it isnt that noticeable so i dont mind it that much, this algae has come from wc negligence and over lighting bt i have cut the photoperiod to 8.5-9 hours and am developing proper a wc schedule instead of irregular wc intervals, my water is quite hard and slightly alkaline but i have a water softener in my filter and am going to put some peat in there too. unfortunatly i dont have a plant substrate as i wasnt going to do this tank as a planted tank when i first set it up, what plants would you most recommend for this tank given that it now has 30 watts of light? current stocking is 11 cardinal tetra, a stray rainbow fish (1.5") and two small plecs (1" each) but i would like to get a trio of apisto nijsseni soon unless im advised otherwise.

thanks for reading and for any replies,
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welcome to the forum :D

i wouldnt bother with soft water TBH as it wont matter in a planted tank. but now you have about 3 watts per gallon thats enough for all plants and if you starts dosing ferts and injecting co2 you should be open to a wide variety of plants which is great :D

what did you have in mind e.g slow growing ferns and mosses or fast growing stems ect
 
thanks, this website is amazing :D will i still be able for most plants even though i have no plant substrate? i would like to have an amazon sword in the centre of the tank behind a high piece of bog wood and in between two crypts, i would also like a carpet of some sorts and a quite like the riccia one in the tutorials section, would a trio of cichlids be advisable or will i just leave it at the cardinals, i was hoping to go fr a amazonian look for the tank to suit the fish' habitat so i suppose some anubias, mosses and ferns wouldnt go amiss. i really am not that fussy about the type of plant as i will have time to look after them. should i add some otocinclus or will the two plecs be enough for algae?

cheers,
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What fertiliser? With CO2 and ~2wpg, you'll need to be dosing NP and K in suitable amounts and few off the shelf products have any of these in?
 
padlock said:
will i still be able for most plants even though i have no plant substrate?

absolutely! this was my first ever set up with inert gravel. no fancy substrates, just good water column dosing (estimative index)

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wow that tank is amazing!! what ferts would be best and i dont fully undersatnd EI, the fert i was looking at is made by API, i dont think it has a particular name, just plant fertiliser. can anyone recommend any ferts that will give all the required nutrients?
 
ok, if i can manage to find some dry chemicals i will deffinatly use them or else ill just have to dose the tropica plant nutrition + which i have access to, thnks for setting me right on that count.

does anyone have any suggestions for plants? i want to go jungle style :D
 
EI is easy, it looks complicated, but in reality it isn't.

I have a 54litre Juwel Rekord60, 2wpg, pressurised CO2, into which I dose EI as follows:

KN03 powder, 20g.3 and a little bit teaspoons into 250ml of water
KP04 powder, 7.5g/1.5 teaspoons into 250ml of water

I then dose:

Tue/Thur/Sat: KN03 mix 10ml, KP04 mix 5ml, Tropica Plant Nutrition 2ml

Monday is 50% water change day. I've never measured the exact weights of the powders into the water for about 12 months now, EI is about dosing more than you need, which I do, so no problems there for me :)
 
Tsk tsk...algae feeds on ammonia (which is a nutrient I guess), but not the remaining nutrients we add for plants. Plants will take ammonia up too, but are happy with the other nutrients instead. The nutrients we add via EI do not in themselves trigger algae.
 
ok thanks, i told you i was a noob :lol: i have a lot to learn about planted tanks but i am willing to learn :D will the sponsers ship to ireland?
 
Hi,I've got a little 2 foot tank with just playsand substrate going great for aroud 6 months now.I just use flourish excel (carbon supplement) every other day (1ml or so)and 1ml or so flourish (fert) per week.This tank is REALLY basic compared to some of the set ups on here but going great guns.
In it I have Hygrophila Polysperma Rosanervig,java moss,xmas moss,fissidens fontanus,anubias nana and another unknown variety,java fern,windelov fern,crypt wendtii green,echinodrus latifolius,hc and amazon frogbit.(Just over 1w per gallon lighting).
 
as i have 2 wpg and want a lot of growth i have decided to go EI, this is also cheaper than adding TPN+.

as for the plants i have decided on:
background: dwarf vallisneria, cambomba, my crypts (which i think are beckettii)
background-midground:java fern and moss, anubias nana
miground: java moss, anubias nana
foreground:something for a "lawn effect", and maybe some other small plant so i can create a kind of pathway with plants. with the "lawn" plant, do i have to pull it up frequently or can i just keep the lawn trimmed nice?
 
i know this thread has been inactive for some time but im ordering the ferts tomorrow, are the ones i need potassium nitrate and mono potassium phosphate? do i need the trace elements mix or will the two mentiioned above be enough for all my ferts needs?

thanks, Paul
 
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