Quote Originally Posted by RockyGurly View Post
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.