# New to plants in an aquarium



## Ezekial (May 16, 2008)

I'm am wanting to add live plants to my aquarium. I currently have a 60 gallon aquarium pictured below










I have a 125 gallon that I purchased recently but probably won't set that up for awhile due to finishing the basement.

I normally raise cichlids but am currently without any at the moment. When I set up the 125 I'll get cichlids again but I haven't decided what yet. I currently have a Royal Pleco, a Bushy nose Pleco, 4 Clown Loaches, 8 Buenos Aires Tetras, and 1 Serpae Tetra. I also have many Malaysian Trumpet Snails that the Clown Loaches are keeping in check for me.

I have a Java and an Anubias that were given to me by a friend just the other day. I'm just beginning and right now all i'm interested in are low light plants that are easy to care for to get my feet wet, pardon the pun. :bathbaby:

Am I on the right track? What other plants would work? What other general info do I need to know? I'll be searching the site some to find out but let me know if I should be looking in a specific direction 

Thanks all. I look forward to learning what I can and hopefully adding live plants to my tank long term.


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## cs_gardener (Apr 28, 2006)

To find out what plants are suitable for your tank you can check out the PlantFinder at the top of the page (on the left in the gold bar). You can search by lighting requirements, species, placement in the tank, etc. 

Read a lot before you jump in. There is a lot of helpful information and the stickies in the forums are a great place to start.


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## Ezekial (May 16, 2008)

In doing some research it would appear I'm not only in way over my head but have no desire to do all that is necessary to make live plants work.

I have a 30 watt, 18,000 K light which is way too low in terms of wattage (.5 wpg) and way too high in K. The option appears to be to buy a whole new light fixture which would have to work on my 125 gallon eventually if I were to do it at all which costs a fair amount.

I do not have any CO2 and it sounds too complicated for anything I want to do right now. That and probably having to add fertilizers does not sound appealing. Maybe someday but with two young kids and a wife that already dislikes my fish addiction this sounds like way too much of a time committment to pull off. 

Is it really that complicated? Is there a simpler, easier, less stressful way to provide the basics without getting tremendously involved? I was always told that plants were easier than fish but I'm finding that difficult to believe now. Fish are childs play compared to plants from what i've read


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## cs_gardener (Apr 28, 2006)

Have you looked at the El Natural forum? Light would still be a problem unless you can put the tank near a window, but the El Natural method uses soil and fish food/waste as a source of nutrients and no CO2 injection is needed. It does take a bit of work to read up on and set up properly, but there is minimal maintenance - water changes 2-4 times a year, feeding fish, occasional pruning, and cleaning of the power head or filter (if you choose to use one). You could also try a modified approach of planting in pots or trays so you don't have a total soil underlayer. Or just use plants you can tie to wood & rocks like Anubias, Java ferns, Bolbitis heudelotii, and mosses and save trying out soil for some other time when your feeling adventurous. It doesn't have to be difficult or time consuming. The low tech/El Natural methods can provide good results with minimal input. I'm sorry I didn't direct you there initially.


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

For the cheapest route, you could go with mosses, java fern, and anubias. They will all tolerate low light and I think they will survive your aquarium.
When I had cichlids (years ago) I had TONS of Java Fern and some type of moss and it did very well. That was in a 100 gallon with MAYBE 48 watts of whatever light it came with (and the fixture and lights were OLD...used).

-Dave


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## Ezekial (May 16, 2008)

Thanks for the replies. That sounds like what i've heard before so apparently it wasn't completely false. I'll check out the el natural area :clap2:


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## dawntwister (Sep 29, 2007)

I have low light in my 29 gallon tank, 40watts. After all of the trouble I have had with plants in this tank, I wish I had just started with java fern needle and amazon swords with some ornaments. If the plants die before I upgrade my lights that is what I am going to do.

Java fern comes in many variations. If you are interested in the java fern needle try Tex Gal. I got a bunch from her. There aren't any good pictures of. It looks similiar to the hygrophila salicifolia, willow hygro.

If you update you lights buying retrofit kit would be the cheapest and easiest route to go. Many people at this forem recommend www.ahsupply.com.


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## Ezekial (May 16, 2008)

OK, I have an Anubias of some sort (I forget the exact species) and a java sword? So far both seem to be doing OK, though two of the Java's leaves died almost immediately. Since then the rest are fine and the Anubias actually seems to be growing (I may be seeing things I want to see, who knows)

One thing i've noticed though. There are long hair like algae strings? I'm assuming it's what i've heard called hair algae since it looks like hair growing off of the leaves themselves. Is there anything I can do with this? Is it a problem at all?


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

You need to get the hair algae out. You can use a pipe cleaner or a tooth brush. Just keep pulling it out. That's a hard algae to get rid of. For fertilizer you can just get root tabs. I used them for decades. I did have higher light wattage and grew all kinds of plants. I do think mosses and anubias and java will grow fine for you. You could also try crypts and swords, (with root tabs, they're cheap as they last about 6 months). 

If your tank is new that's probably why you have the hair algae. Maybe it also came in on some of your plants. The main thing is to get all the algae out. Keep pulling!! Once your nutrifying bacteria kicks in and your plants start growing you should be ok. Make sure you don't overfeed. 

Happy fish and plant keeping!


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## dawntwister (Sep 29, 2007)

Flourish excel, which is a replacement for Co2, has a side affect of killing algae most of the time. I find it on EBay for a reasonable price. Cheaper than driving to the petstore that is 20 miles from me.

Keep us updated.

Good luck


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## Ezekial (May 16, 2008)

My tank is not new and is primarily a fish tank, not a plant tank. i'd guess the algae came with the plants but I'm not sure. Right now it's only on the plant leaves themselves and it's on all of them so i'd have to get rid of the whole plant as opposed to cutting off any leaf. 

Flourish Excel huh? I'll check that out. It's a replacement for CO2? So it's not a fertilizer? I'm assuming it won't hurt my fish in any way? Nothing like scaleless fish are susceptible or anything like that? 

Sorry about all the questions but this plant thing is completely new to me.


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## SongCloud (Aug 30, 2005)

Flourish Excel is a Co2 alternative. It supplies carbon to the plants, in almost the same way that dissolved Co2 would do. Also, Excel does not affect PH like Co2 can. Some people have found that it have algaecidal properties, but SeaChem will not officially condone it's use for that. I have used it as an Algaecide a few times and have found it to work remarkably well. For normal Co2 dosing, follow the directions. For use as an Algaecide, you can safely double the amount. What I normally do is use a dropper to squeeze the Excel directly onto the algae. Withing a day or so the algae begins to turn yellow, brown, or red (depending on the type of algae) at which point the snails and other fish usually will start to consume it. Java Fern and Anubis always seem to get algae on them when grown under high lighting as they are a slow growing plant. I would guess that this is how your friend had them and as a result, they had algae. 

Another option you can try is a bleach dip. Both plants will survive one. I would say keep them in no longer than about 30 seconds in a 1:20 bleach to water solution. After that, be sure to put them in clean water with a bunch of dechlorinator added (I use Prime. In the small cup that I use for the dips, I usually add a quarter eyedropper which is more than enough). I usually use a third cup with tank water with a bit of dechlorinator just as a final rinse. This will also kill the algae to the point where snails, shrimp, and/or fish will eat it. 

Don't worry. You are doing fine!  :mrgreen:


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## dawntwister (Sep 29, 2007)

On the bottle of Flourish I read it is organic cabon for the plated aquarium. A lot of people use it to kill algae. It is not promoted as an algae killer by the company. Guess that is because there are exceptions where it doesn't kill algae, especially with difficult algae like BBS.

I have been using it for a few months in my 29 gallon tank and 10 gallon tank. The ph from the tap is 8.4. In both tank the ph around 7.2.


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## Ezekial (May 16, 2008)

Thanks for the info, I ordered some and will try it out and hope for the best.


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## The old man (Apr 12, 2008)

Otos and briselnosed catfish are excellent for cleaning up algae. The otos are cheap and quite active.


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## dawntwister (Sep 29, 2007)

If you don't have to many delicate plants snails are good. They crawl over everthing looking for algae. Sometimes they break branches crawling around.


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