Plants....

What are some good low maintenance plants i could put in my tank? Ive tried live plants before bought at petco and i always kill them.

Java fern the #1 aquatic plant in my opinion...pretty much you cant kill it will grow in any condition and most fish leave it alone...Java moss would be another thats very hardy to and most any anubias plants are very hardy also but some need a good fertilizer or they will yellow...Java fern though basically needs nothing to grow lol

Wisteria, Water Sprite and Anacharis are few other very low maintenance plants.

I have snails, will my snails eat these plants?

More than likely not. Unless the plants start dying, then the snails will eat the decaying part of it.

Oh cool. What helpful little guys :)

malaysian trumpet snails would be the best snail for your planted aquarium

Water onion, Amazon sword, micro-sword 'grass', dwarf hair grass and marimino moss balls... And second on the Java fern, wisteria, anubas and Java moss! Don't forget the duck weed.

The swords can handle some of the toughest conditions. I've 'recycled' some from a system that turned into a swamp (long story) just two weeks ago - and they've got a ton of new growth.

I'm also having some luck with waterlilly and Aponogeton bulbs.

I run med/high light depending on tank. Use a general Flora clay blend by itself or under a layer of pool sand. Give them a shot of Fertilizer once a week when I remember.

None of these plants are listed as needing CO2 injection. Makes life easy.

These tanks were planted around two weeks ago:

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Oh wow what beautiful tanks! I will have to check all these plants out! My water condition is good i test it like every other week. I dont know why my plants always die. Most likely they required some kind of fertilizer or somethign that i just had no idea about :)

What type of plants have you tried?

BTW ... what type of lighting do you have?

Check your lighting levels. I try to have at least 2 watts per gallon and use daylight/grow lights. May have to lay an additional grow strip across it if you have a 20-29T tank as you can't find bulbs over 17W for those hoods.

Also, what kind of fish do you have? During my first attempt I unwittedly put fish that enjoyed any plant I gave them. Now that I have them in tanks with either danios/shrimps or predatory fish - they are able to grow well. (BTW the amazon swords survived three months of being mowed into shreds. As I said - tough plants!)

There are solid tab fertilizers and liquid. If your plants went yellow it may be iron deficiency. You can get iron-rich red volcanic rocks that will solve that problem permanently. Also, make sure to add epsomn salt - cheapest source of sulfer and magnesium.

What is your substrate?

well i have a small tank now but im prepping a 55gal right now so i will remember that when buying lights. I have mollys pretty much and some platys but im straying away from platys right now.

They did go yellowish/brown so i will buy some red volvanic rocks and i do put ummmm some kind of petsco brand salt in there every time i change out water which is about once a month i should probably do it twice a month but its such a pain in the butt and i only have two fish right now so ;)

Careful with swords and micros both high light high nutrient needs to maintain fully.
Anubias are also another great plant that comes in several varieties that can be fore ground, mid, or back ground plants. Java fern is almost indestructable very little maintance required...attach to drift wood turn the lights on for 8-12 hours forget about it lol

Those fish are more than ok. You do need to add the epsomn salt (magnesium sulfate) along with the aquarium salt (primarily sodium chloride)

Try the Java fern/Java moss first. Add more from there.

BTW - walmart sells a complete growlight strip that can be attached to the bottom of any shelf or just set right on top of a piece of plexiglass - for less than $20. I kept two of them over my 55G when I had the swords in there. They'd grow 2" monday-thru-Fri and then get mowed to the ground over weekends. I'd say that tank was lit at around 2W per gallon.

In my current 'classroom' planted 29T - I'm using a 17W daylight spectrum bulb + one of the walmart growlight strips (50-75W). 10G tank at home has two 10W Ultra Sun compact bulbs.


I've just run across another aquarium grolight bulb for small tanks. Only $4 per bulb instead of the $9 per Ultra Sun bulb. Made by Penn Plax. Called Aqua Life: Aquari-lux PG. 15W per bulb. Put these in the 5G I just set up.

here's some pics of my 55gal planted tank



All the plants came from others in the hobby from there cutting so 90% were just the cost of shipping. Be sure to use a good substrate like soil or plant gravvel (which can get expensive). also check out local thrift store you can find nice tank light cheap sometimes.and just replace the bulbs. Just be sure your bulbs are 6500K or higher.

My husband suggested getting those grow lights usually used for indoor plants or people that start growing thier plants liek roses inside. They have a clip so that you can clip it onto different surfaces.... think i could get a few of those with 6500k bulbs and jsut clip it to the side of my tank and point it down towards the tank? or do i need a lid?

I think ill jsut start off with the java fern maybe i can find some threw this forum :) and then add to it as time goes on.

I use construction clip lights from Walmart $6.98 each and 100W daylight screw in compact florescent bulbs from walmart $9.99 for 2. There is 2 on the above tank under the canopy. You can leave and open top and use floating plants like duckweed to decrease chances of jumpers. Yours should be fine open top.or cover it with glass or plexi-glass. Where do you live so people have a general idea may have some locals near you that no shipping would be involved just a pick-up.

PS you really do not need to add salt just another expense and bad for plants.

However plants DO need the magnesium sulfate (epsomn salt) and it's cheaper in the epsomn than getting it in fertilizer. Helps the fish as well!

(First thing every rose gardner does in the spring - 1 cup epsomn salt per plant)

yes epsom salt helps just don't over do it.

Yeah i have some.. i fallow the direction of the box for it :) im in Springdale Arkansas hatman is the closest person to me ive found so far from the forum hes about an hr 1/2 from me! and im keeping my eyes peeled for people posting their plant on the forum.

Do not use salt of any kind.....Buy one of the many brand name liquid fertilizers and use per the instructions........Salt has a detrimental effect on many plants....You won't need the epsom salt as the liquid ferts will contain necessary plant nutrients and there is no set measurement for the amount of epsom salt for the varieties of plants.

Lighting and good fertilizing routines will do the most for low tech plants.....

dano wrote:

Buy one of the many brand name liquid fertilizers

Why not just save some money and go with dry ferts if you're gonna go through all that trouble.

What dry ferts are you using??? Are tehy sold on-line or in a nursery none of the lfs near me carry dry ferts.

I get all my supplies from AquariumFertilizer.com. They have a couple pre-mix options as well. Good way to get started with dry.

I have found it much easier to use the liquid brands such as Flourish and Topfin Leafzone....There are also premixed macro nutrients available and Flourish Excel for carbon.............................It is so much easier to use the measuring cap and pour it in than it is to calculate dry ferts and mix it up.....I'm just too lazy.