advice on planted tank

[lellison]

I am in the process of setting up my 55 gallon ( thanks engineergoby!) and have decided to go with a planted tank. I have never done this before, so we will see how it goes. I have flourite in tank and will be adding driftwood whenever I can afford. It sucks being poor. Anyways, I was wondering what was the best way to go as far as collecting plants to put in. There are packages of plants you can order off of the internet, but I kinda want to see what I am getting. Are there any stores that have a good selection of low light plants?

[fishman76092]

Dallas North, True Percula, Boutique, etc have a decent selection of low light plants. What plants are you looking for? What other hardware are you going to get?

[FishGurl721]

I wouldn't recommend ordering off the internet, I did and spent ALOT of money and when I received my plants it took me an hour and a half to untangle all of them because the site I'd bought them from had just thrown them all in one bag. After I was done only about half of what I ordered was usable. I was very disappointed and I had ordered from what seemed like a reputable place. Getting them from the store is definetly better.

[lellison]

Oh, sorry to hear that you had bad luck with internet orders. Good thing I didn't go that route. I am going to pick up some from Blake (biggin) I think. May be going to DNA today also. They normally do have a fairly good selection of plants, too bad they charge so much.

As far as other hardware fishman, I have never done this before, what do you recommend?

[kewlkatdady]

well lighting is a very important piece of the puzzle.

at least I think it is...

[FishGurl721]

I think it all depends on what type of plants you want to keep and how much money you want to spend. This is based on my own personal experince:

I have a variety of low light AND high ligh plants in my tank. I've got a 46 gallon with 2 96 watt bulbs on them. Thats about 41/2 watts per gallon. I've had great results with the lights I have. I would recommend looking on ebay for some lights. It where I got mine. The lights I got off there have built in moonlights as well and I got the whole thing (plus shipping) for $70. Which is a GREAT deal because the system i got would have normally cost around $300. they were brand new and shipped wonderfully
heres the link to his store http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQfrppZ50QQsassZfishman911
anyways, I have florite mixed with small natural stone as my substrate. THe florite provides all the iron my plants needs and I supplement with liquid fertilizer after each water change. I use tetra fertilzer its worked great for me and its not too expensive.
Now, I don't inject co2 because I couldnt afford the pressurized tank system and i've heard bad thing about the yeast method so i use the liquid co2 it cheaper and so far its worked great for me. I havent had any plants die or whither and they're growing great. Its realy just abour experimenting with different plants to see what will grow great in your tank. I've got plants in my tank that people told me wouldnt survive without injected co2 and they're doin great. So i dont think you're limited to JUST low light plants (unless you dont purchase the lights) Good luck and if you've got any questions I'd be happy to answer them :)

[FishGurl721]

P.S since your tank is a 55 the liquid co2 should work good for you. I think if its used with larger tanks that you start having problems.

[Homer_Simpson]

You really cannot go wrong with these grow your own bulbs. (http://www.aquariumplants.com/Grow_Your_Own_Bulbs_s/29.htm) They are pretty much fool proof, don't need special conditions or substrate to grow and are perfect for large tanks as they will sprout super long leaves. They are excellent starter plants and I found some of these to be even more hardy and less demanding than anubias, java ferns, and cryptocornes. Go figure.

[rolloffhill]

You really cannot go wrong with these grow your own bulbs. (http://www.aquariumplants.com/Grow_Your_Own_Bulbs_s/29.htm) They are pretty much fool proof, don't need special conditions or substrate to grow and are perfect for large tanks as they will sprout super long leaves. They are excellent starter plants and I found some of these to be even more hardy and less demanding than anubias, java ferns, and cryptocornes. Go figure.


But what are they??:confuzeld:

I don't see anywhere on that site that lists what they actually are...

[biggin]

Costly? overpriced? expensive?

But what are they??:confuzeld:

I don't see anywhere on that site that lists what they actually are...

[Homer_Simpson]

Sorry, the bulbs are a mixture of apongenton, tiger lotus and madagascar lace plants. IME, these do well in a low to moderate light tank. These bulbs sprouted into full grown plants in both my high tech and low tech tanks. Never had one that did not sprout and I don't work for the supplier, honest to God. As far as expensive and overpriced. The local Wal-Mart which is the cheapest source of plants in my city sells a apongenton for $7.00, the other local fish stores sell apongenton, madagascar lace plants and tiger lotus plants for $10 a piece. The bulbs have sprouted into full grown show plants for me in as little as 3 weeks. Each two packages gives me 6 plants at $10, plus $10 shipping. That is $20. 6 of the same plants purchased locally cost me $60 and include the risk of snail and snail eggs not to mention algae spores. I am not a mathmetician but I would sooner pay $20 over $60.

For the record, I am the last person in this hobby that is going to suggest or post something if I felt there was no benefit and did not experience any benefits myself. It is only a suggestion and option. I am not pushing this on anyone. If you feel it is not worth it, don't buy.

[lellison]

yea i have looked at them before and it says nowhere on there what they actually are. My fiancee's mom tried them one time and they never grew. I have never had experience w them though.

[biggin]

They look like the same things at Wal-Mart, Petsmart or Petco....

I am sure there are others....

Never thought a Lotus would come from them....

[lellison]

Sorry, the bulbs are a mixture of apongenton, tiger lotus and madagascar lace plants. IME, these do well in a low to moderate light tank. These bulbs sprouted into full grown plants in both my high tech and low tech tanks. Never had one that did not sprout and I don't work for the supplier, honest to God. As far as expensive and overpriced. The local Wal-Mart which is the cheapest source of plants in my city sells a apongenton for $7.00, the other local fish stores sell apongenton, madagascar lace plants and tiger lotus plants for $10 a piece. The bulbs have sprouted into full grown show plants for me in as little as 3 weeks. Each two packages gives me 6 plants at $10, plus $10 shipping. That is $20. 6 of the same plants purchased locally cost me $60 and include the risk of snail and snail eggs not to mention algae spores. I am not a mathmetician but I would sooner pay $20 over $60.

For the record, I am the last person in this hobby that is going to suggest or post something if I felt there was no benefit and did not experience any benefits myself. It is only a suggestion and option. I am not pushing this on anyone. If you feel it is not worth it, don't buy.

wow, sounds worth a try though

[biggin]

Nice edit...

Now honest to God.... I can get very similar bulbs at my Wal-Mart for ~$3-5.... I have used them and got 3 of the 10 to sprout....

Snails are not THAT hard to control.... Algae is another story....

Like I said I have never seen Lotus advertised.... if you can get a Lotus plant from them GREAT and well worth the $$ but otherwise find the other post about this option and see the benefits (yes there are some) and the drawbacks to this option.

Sorry, the bulbs are a mixture of apongenton, tiger lotus and madagascar lace plants. IME, these do well in a low to moderate light tank. These bulbs sprouted into full grown plants in both my high tech and low tech tanks. Never had one that did not sprout and I don't work for the supplier, honest to God. As far as expensive and overpriced. The local Wal-Mart which is the cheapest source of plants in my city sells a apongenton for $7.00, the other local fish stores sell apongenton, madagascar lace plants and tiger lotus plants for $10 a piece. The bulbs have sprouted into full grown show plants for me in as little as 3 weeks. Each two packages gives me 6 plants at $10, plus $10 shipping. That is $20. 6 of the same plants purchased locally cost me $60 and include the risk of snail and snail eggs not to mention algae spores. I am not a mathmetician but I would sooner pay $20 over $60.

For the record, I am the last person in this hobby that is going to suggest or post something if I felt there was no benefit and did not experience any benefits myself. It is only a suggestion and option. I am not pushing this on anyone. If you feel it is not worth it, don't buy.

[Homer_Simpson]

Everyone's experiences are different. My experience has been nothing but positive with these bulbs. Snails easier to deal with than algae?? I am not sure. It took me 3 months of 2x weekly water changes, throwing in a Siamese Algae Eater, Albino Bristlenose Pleco, some otos, double dosing of excel, manual removal daily of algae, tweaking ferts and monkeying around with my photoperiod to get rid of the algae, and even now I am still battling the green spot algae that remains. Yeah I could scrape it off, but it will come back. Now, as far as snails, I guess you can get a Pakistani Loach, clown loach, and or Kuhli loach(to get the eggs) or talking catfish if you have a big enough tank to control the snail population. You could get a puffer if you have a small tank but that means only a puffer as they are aggressive you cannot put them with any other fish. You could soak your plants in 1 tablespoon water and alum or give them a quick bleach dip to prevent the problem. Well I have tried both methods only to have many plants not recover from the dip.

I had a 10 gallon overrun with snails. When I did weekly water changes, I could see a ton of them in my filter. The tank was only 10 gallon and had other fish, so I could not put in a puffer and it was way too small for a loach or talking catfish. As far as feeding fuelling the snail problem, the fish were minimally, I am talking every 2nd or 3rd day, fed so that was the problem. I could not use chemicals like had-a-snail as they contain copper sulphate, which would have killed my otos. The bait them with Zucchini method and remove them approach did not work as they were reproducing faster than I could bait and remove them on a daily basis. 3 months after trying to bait and remove them with Zucchini, the problem was still out of control. To make a long strory short, I was forced to tear down the tank.

Now, back to the topic of bulbs, I also tried Wal-Mart grow your own bulbs. I did not have the greatest success with them. They were a different brand name, and sometimes quality control may be an issue when we get into suppliers.

From the three tanks that I used the bulbs in, I have yet come across one where I had any draw back. The only drawback is that I ended up with a ton of Tiger Lotuses in my tank where I put a lot of these bulbs in and had to transfer the bulbs into my 40 gallon as the tiger lotuses outgrew the tank and I got sick and tired of pruning them. The leaves were growning faster than I could prune them. This was the tank I originally placed them in and it was when I was using PPS-Pro which is a lean water column fert and no c02 at the time. Despite the fact that I used them when the tank was just set up, they took off like crazy.

When I set up a low light low maintenance tank, I threw a bunch of these bulbs in. Again 100% germination despite low light and the fact that the tank gets ferts maybe once a week.

Here are some pictures of Aponogeton Ulvaceous that grew from one of the grow your own bulbs that produced this many leaves and we are talking about in a 5 gallon low light low, low tech, non-c02 tank with minimal if any water column ferts. By the way, this is only a sample of leaves that I had to trim in a week to keep the leaves from totally choking out the tank. I had to do this every week.


http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p312/aadhanani/Picture078-medium.jpg


You can take this however you want. I respect the fact that peoples' experiences will be different and some will choose to be critical and I have no problem with that.

My experience was nothing but positive with these bulbs in the 3 tanks that I threw them in, so I have yet to see any drawbacks or ill effects of using these. Until I do, I really have no reason to be critical. It is part of testing.

Thanks.