Aquatic Plant Care

[RockyGurly]

Hello, me again
I ordered some anubias, duckweed, amazon swords and mariamo moss balls for my new ACF. She's getting a couple of each, and I'll be able to pick which ones I'll take, so they should be here in a week or so 8)
I was wondering if anyone had any tips or suggestions (or a recommended care sheet, I'm finding some conflicting ones outside of here :S ) they could throw my way for these plants My tank is bare bottom right now, but I plan on using a few inches of playsand as sub, and I'll be tying (gently) the plants to large flat rocks to keep them anchored. Right now I have a 20 gallon with just the one fully grown frog, but no lights. Would lights be an absolute necessity, or would the natural lighting of the room be enough? Anything special I should be providing for the plants?
Thanks Sorry for the newbie questions, I'm just fumbling my way along here :P

[Louis Charles Bruckner]

Is it a 20 long? and Duck weed? Well it is the tiny little plants that float on top of the water
I will advise against that in the tank since it will block out the light.
I use to use it my pond to help with alga blooms.

if so I highly recommend the oceanic LED single bright a little expensive $60.00US but well worth it, 3 years old and still
as bright as the day I bought it as far as I can tell. No bulbs to change out and it runs cool and it is thin.

It has a Day and moon light mode.
and my live plants love it and my ACF's are just fine. But it is on a 46G bow front. and that is much deeper
than your 20 especially if it is a long.

I also use Flurish liquid by seachem.
I use 1/2 of the dose after water changes.
and my plant are growing like crazy. I might even cut it back to 1/4 dose.
and my frogs and fish love the plants.

[deranged chipmunk]

Hello, me again
I ordered some anubias, duckweed, amazon swords and mariamo moss balls for my new ACF. She's getting a couple of each, and I'll be able to pick which ones I'll take, so they should be here in a week or so 8)
I was wondering if anyone had any tips or suggestions (or a recommended care sheet, I'm finding some conflicting ones outside of here :S ) they could throw my way for these plants My tank is bare bottom right now, but I plan on using a few inches of playsand as sub, and I'll be tying (gently) the plants to large flat rocks to keep them anchored. Right now I have a 20 gallon with just the one fully grown frog, but no lights. Would lights be an absolute necessity, or would the natural lighting of the room be enough? Anything special I should be providing for the plants?
Thanks Sorry for the newbie questions, I'm just fumbling my way along here :P

Louis brings up a good question. 20h? or 20L? first off, light is a necessity. aquatic plants (with the exception of algae) cannot grow without a supplemental light source. they will also need nutrition. seachem flourish, as Louis stated, id the best liquid fert out there. that will suit the anubias just fine, since they receive nourishment through their leaves. however, the amazon sword is what is called a rosette plant and it is a HEAVY root feeder. if only using sand as a substrate, you will need to provide ferts to the roots in the form of root tabs. the other issue with a sword is that they grow ridiculously large. i had 3 cover the entire background of my 125g planted tank. that is a 6 foot long, 20" high tank. you can figure out ho big they were from that.....lol oh, and that only took about 6-8 months for them to grow that large. keep in mind that they were grown under high lighting conditions with a LOT of fertilization. duckweed is a nice little plants, but again, like Louis already stated, it will reproduce quickly, blocking out any precious light for the other plants. it is also difficult to get rid of once you have it established in your tank. there's a reason we call it herpes in the planted tank world.

as far as the marimo balls, they are algae and would grow in a pot of water on the stove if you let them.....lol keep in mind with the anubias, i know you said you were going to tie them to rock, but it is essential that the rhizome does not get buried, otherwise they will rot and die.

if you have any other questions about aquatics and marginals, please feel free to fire away. i have been keeping planted tanks for about 7 years or so, and i'm happy to help if i can.

[Louis Charles Bruckner]

Now that Bill said about the anubias is very true and I have heard that it is best to tie them to real driftwood
for best results. Just keep in mind that you don't want anything sharp or jagged in the tank.

[deranged chipmunk]

i just use super glue. tying them just got too difficult until i got bifocals....lol

[Mentat]

i just use super glue. tying them just got too difficult until i got bifocals....lol

Don't get bifocals; the progressive's beat them hands down and are worth the extra $$$! I've used both ! Now back to plants !

[deranged chipmunk]

Don't get bifocals; the progressive's beat them hands down and are worth the extra $$$! I've used both ! Now back to plants !

they are on the list for my next visit. i should have gotten them in the first place, oh well, lesson learned. but they do come in handy when i am chest deep in a stream trying to tie a nymph onto a tiny little leader so the trout can't see it....lol

[deranged chipmunk]

Gurly, here are a couple examples of how a "plant" anubias. this is a 30g tank for shrimp only, notice how i just placed the anubias and java ferns into the lava rocks but kept the rhizomes above the rocks


in the top left corner of the second pic, you can see the rhizome from an anubias angustfolia, you can see how the roots work into the rocks securing it.

this is from my old 75g planted. this is one of about 15 anubias nana 'petite'. each one, i just stuck on the wood and allowed the roots to grow into a jungle vine look

[mpmistr]

Hello, me again
I ordered some anubias, duckweed, amazon swords and mariamo moss balls for my new ACF. She's getting a couple of each, and I'll be able to pick which ones I'll take, so they should be here in a week or so 8)
I was wondering if anyone had any tips or suggestions (or a recommended care sheet, I'm finding some conflicting ones outside of here :S ) they could throw my way for these plants My tank is bare bottom right now, but I plan on using a few inches of playsand as sub, and I'll be tying (gently) the plants to large flat rocks to keep them anchored. Right now I have a 20 gallon with just the one fully grown frog, but no lights. Would lights be an absolute necessity, or would the natural lighting of the room be enough? Anything special I should be providing for the plants?
Thanks Sorry for the newbie questions, I'm just fumbling my way along here :P

Ambient room light isn't enough for anything other than the most undemanding plants even then there's serious risk they will rot and decay. Maybe if the tank received indirect sunlight somehow but I would get a fixture.

I've had good luck with Finnex lights. I use one of their more powerful LED fixtures on my 40B but it's probably overkill. They do produce a nice strip called a 'FugeRay' which has white and moonlight LEDs and is good for plants. I don't think it's too expensive, around 80 dollars?

Of the plants you listed the duckweed will do quite well no matter what, the mariamo balls aren't actually plants they're algae and I've never seen them rot.. amazon sword will require substrate of some sort.

[Louis Charles Bruckner]

Man Is there a echo in here or what. LOL

[mpmistr]

Man Is there a echo in here or what. LOL

I'm distracted at work actually you guys all replied before I finished my post lol...

BTW I kind of like duckweed.. yes it grows like crazy but it's easy to remove and it does eat a lot of nitrates. I keep it in my tanks and I remove most of it weekly but it always bounces back of course.

I can understand the hatred for it though, pretty much unless you are dedicated enough to net most of it out every week along with your water change then don't bother. If you let it grow wild, it will basically take over everything.

[RockyGurly]

Alright, thanks! First off, yes, it is long So my new plans are ditching the amazon (at least for now I'm a bit shaky with aquatic setups and I'm not sure about the whole fertilizer in the substrate thing). I'm grabbing a hood light (an LED if she has one) as well as that liquid fertilizer. And I'd like the duckweed, anything that can grow with fewer demands is better since this is new and I'm not exactly a green thumb. I'm fine with trimming it down regularly, I'll try a moss ball and an anubia. I have tons of pieces of driftwood so I can easily tie it down to that, but if glue would work better, what kind? I have Krazy glue, hot glue guns, titebond and maybe a few others floating around. I'm also going to get the sand going sometime this weekend if I have time, or at least next week, just before I get the plants :P Would I be able to stick the anubia into the sand then? Or is it a floating plant?
I'm hoping to upgrade him to a 29 or 40 breeder this summer, so I might try the amazon swords then

[Louis Charles Bruckner]

I think Biil was kidding. I think?

[Mentat]

...I ordered some anubias, duckweed, amazon swords and mariamo moss balls for my new ACF. She's getting a couple of each, and I'll be able to pick which ones I'll take, so they should be here in a week or so 8)
I was wondering if anyone had any tips or suggestions (or a recommended care sheet, I'm finding some conflicting ones outside of here :S ) they could throw my way for these plants

Visit this link and will find a comprehensive list of plants with care info and comments: All Plants - Plant Profiles. If thinking low light; would recommend start with some Crypto's and balance out the darker hues with Anubias. Be aware than when planting Crypto's the rhizome should not be buried and sometimes the plant leaves will fall off but it will grow back. You can tie the Anubias to objects (or glue like Bill stated). If wanting Swords can try the dwarf species, but they need lot's more lights than the previous ones discussed. Also, I would skip the duckweed... maybe you would be happy with some real moss attached to driftwood pieces.

My tank is bare bottom right now, but I plan on using a few inches of playsand as sub, and I'll be tying (gently) the plants to large flat rocks to keep them anchored. Right now I have a 20 gallon with just the one fully grown frog, but no lights. Would lights be an absolute necessity, or would the natural lighting of the room be enough? Anything special I should be providing for the plants?

Subject was discussed already. Not sure if you have a 20L or 20H; if the latter will need lights almost twice as powerful than a 20L.

Have fun with your plants !