• You are viewing the forum as a Guest, please login (you can use your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft account to login) or register using this link: Log in or Sign Up

Soft water Walstad style tank - which plants?

leemonk

Member
Joined
17 Apr 2009
Messages
132
Hi,

I've recently moved from London to Exeter and am trying to sort my tank out. It suffered a little from the early packing and the journey but came back fairly well, however following a one week holiday where my parents where house sitting, I was informed that for some reason the lights did not come on for the whole week.

Thus I now have a tank full of fairly poorly plants along with a ton of water lettuce (love these) which have lost most of their roots (? - not sure what the waterbourne roots are called).

I was planning on spending some time over the coming weekend to get it all back into shape and was wondering what plants would work well in the tank.

I've always struggled with Amazon Swords in this tank, but would like them again, I've also struggled with Java fern which is very frustrating as I understand that it is hardy as nails and will thrive anywhere.... other than my tank it seems.

I love Anubis and am happy to wait for it to look good, but can you recommend some 'Walstad' style plants that need minimal upkeep (minimal as in I don't change the water more than once every 6 months or so and dont want lots of pruning).

On a side note, what fish and shrimp like soft water? I have some Cardinal Tetras which I know like it and some blue Rainbows, which Im not sure about.

Regards

Lee
 
Some plants which will work for you are:

Anubias which you know already
Cryptocorynes
Java fern - just give it another shot ;) did you plant the rhizomes? It should be grown in the same way as Anubias
Bolbitus
Sagittaria Subulata
various mosses so Java moss, weeping moss, christmas moss etc
Mircoswords - Lilaeopsis Brasiliensis
Ludwigia Repens will work - from my tanks I think I will have to prune them every 1-2 months

I can't comment on fish as I do not know the size of the tank but for shrimps I would suggest cherry shrimps as they're pretty simple to keep and they can adapt well.
 
Hi all,
If you keep away from carpets and fast growing stem plants you should be all right. If you have a look at "BigToms" bucket that was designed to survive long periods of neglect, <Tom's Bucket O' Mud - new vid page 28 | UK Aquatic Plant Society>.

In Exeter your water may not actually be that soft, it depends where it comes from <http://www.southwestwater.co.uk/media/pdf/2/3/Hard_Water.pdf>. If it is really soft the only plant I've tried that really doesn't do very well is Vallisneria, it loves our tap water (about 17dKH), but doesn't like rain-water.

cheers Darrel
 
Hey,

Thanks for the replies. I'd already looked at the map from SW water, sadly I couldnt work out from there where i was as I look to be on the cusp of the central part of exeter/east devon.However, given the lack of limescale in the house and kettle I'm going to assume that I'm in the medium soft area, at least until their report gets emailed.

I didnt bury the Java Fern but I did leave it in the little plastic cages it comes in, perhaps my next batch will get tied to something.

Out of interest, how many of the plants listed take nutrients from the water column? I'm assuming the Anubis and Java Fern at least? The reason I ask is that I have lots of Water Lettuce in my tank as it has some powerful lights that I didnt want to go to the expense of removing, so I use the WL to provide cover and to suck up nutrients from the water column, which gives me zero algae, but could give me a problem with a lack of nutrients in the WC.

Regards

Lee
 
Out of interest, how many of the plants listed take nutrients from the water column?
ALL of them. That's why they are aquatic plants.

so I use the WL to provide cover and to suck up nutrients from the water column, which gives me zero algae
Nutrients don't cause algae, so this cannot be the reason you don't have algae.


Cheers,
 
Back
Top