Advice sought for sparsely planted tank

Hello,

I am just setting up a cichild tank and would like to add some plants.
Given that cichlids view most plants as a salad, I am a bit restricted
as to what I can put in. I am going to try Java Fern and Anubias as
these can be fixed to the (fake) rock background, keeping them away from
the fishes' digging habits and nearer the light.

Any advice for healthy plants ? I have a heavily planted tank as well
and don't have too much problem with that, but then I can whack in more
nutrients and have more lighting. This new tank runs a danger of algae
taking over due to the lower number of plants taking nutrients.

The tank is a 24" cube. At the moment I have two 18" lights (15W each),
one Interpet Beauty Light Plus and one Interpet Blue Moon Light (as
these bring out the colours of the cichlids). Both tubes have a
reflector. Is this going to be OK for my plants ?

Any advice would be appreciated. I would like healthy plants, but I'm
not bothered for huge growth, just keeping the plants free of algae
would satisfy me !!

TIA

--
Alan Silver

Alan Silver
wrote in
message ...
Hello,

I am just setting up a cichild tank and would like to add some plants.
Given that cichlids view most plants as a salad, I am a bit restricted
as to what I can put in. I am going to try Java Fern and Anubias as
these can be fixed to the (fake) rock background, keeping them away from
the fishes' digging habits and nearer the light.

Any advice for healthy plants ? I have a heavily planted tank as well
and don't have too much problem with that, but then I can whack in more
nutrients and have more lighting. This new tank runs a danger of algae
taking over due to the lower number of plants taking nutrients.

The tank is a 24" cube. At the moment I have two 18" lights (15W each),
one Interpet Beauty Light Plus and one Interpet Blue Moon Light (as
these bring out the colours of the cichlids). Both tubes have a
reflector. Is this going to be OK for my plants ?

Any advice would be appreciated. I would like healthy plants, but I'm
not bothered for huge growth, just keeping the plants free of algae
would satisfy me !!

No guarantees, but you might want to try sagittaria subulata, particularly
the dwarf v., planted within rings - I use lava rock rings wrapped with java
moss. Plant the sags thickly with their crowns covered by coarse gravel
below the level of the top of the ring.

Sags are excellent for water quality and do well in moderate or even
moderate-low lighting. They will grow quite densely when confined in a
ring.

I've used floating water sprite, too. Depending on the cichlid, it may
propagate faster than it gets demolished.

kush

Hello,

I am just setting up a cichild tank and would like to add some plants.
Given that cichlids view most plants as a salad, I am a bit restricted
as to what I can put in. I am going to try Java Fern and Anubias as
these can be fixed to the (fake) rock background, keeping them away from
the fishes' digging habits and nearer the light.

Any advice for healthy plants ? I have a heavily planted tank as well
and don't have too much problem with that, but then I can whack in more
nutrients and have more lighting. This new tank runs a danger of algae
taking over due to the lower number of plants taking nutrients.

The tank is a 24" cube. At the moment I have two 18" lights (15W each),
one Interpet Beauty Light Plus and one Interpet Blue Moon Light (as
these bring out the colours of the cichlids). Both tubes have a
reflector. Is this going to be OK for my plants ?

Any advice would be appreciated. I would like healthy plants, but I'm
not bothered for huge growth, just keeping the plants free of algae
would satisfy me !!

No guarantees, but you might want to try sagittaria subulata, particularly
the dwarf v., planted within rings - I use lava rock rings wrapped with java
moss. Plant the sags thickly with their crowns covered by coarse gravel
below the level of the top of the ring.

Sags are excellent for water quality and do well in moderate or even
moderate-low lighting. They will grow quite densely when confined in a
ring.

I've used floating water sprite, too. Depending on the cichlid, it may
propagate faster than it gets demolished.

Thanx. Any thoughts on the lighting type/level I mentioned ? Also, what
about fertilising ? I want to get the plants to grow, but don't want an
algae explosion !!

--
Alan Silver

Alan Silver
wrote in
message ...
Hello,

I am just setting up a cichild tank and would like to add some plants.
Given that cichlids view most plants as a salad, I am a bit restricted
as to what I can put in. I am going to try Java Fern and Anubias as
these can be fixed to the (fake) rock background, keeping them away
from
the fishes' digging habits and nearer the light.

Any advice for healthy plants ? I have a heavily planted tank as well
and don't have too much problem with that, but then I can whack in more
nutrients and have more lighting. This new tank runs a danger of algae
taking over due to the lower number of plants taking nutrients.

The tank is a 24" cube. At the moment I have two 18" lights (15W each),
one Interpet Beauty Light Plus and one Interpet Blue Moon Light (as
these bring out the colours of the cichlids). Both tubes have a
reflector. Is this going to be OK for my plants ?

Any advice would be appreciated. I would like healthy plants, but I'm
not bothered for huge growth, just keeping the plants free of algae
would satisfy me !!

No guarantees, but you might want to try sagittaria subulata,
particularly
the dwarf v., planted within rings - I use lava rock rings wrapped with
java
moss. Plant the sags thickly with their crowns covered by coarse gravel
below the level of the top of the ring.

Sags are excellent for water quality and do well in moderate or even
moderate-low lighting. They will grow quite densely when confined in a
ring.

I've used floating water sprite, too. Depending on the cichlid, it may
propagate faster than it gets demolished.

Thanx. Any thoughts on the lighting type/level I mentioned ? Also, what
about fertilising ? I want to get the plants to grow, but don't want an
algae explosion !!

If the tank is really two feet high, 30 watts of lighting lands you
well-and-truly in the low-light end of the hobby. I don't know what the
spectrum (degrees kelvin) of your lamps are but, if they make your fish look
good, they're probably on the high end for plants (between 5000k and 7000k).
Java fern and anubias should do OK and you'll probably be alright with java
moss, sagittaria and, maybe, some tall crypts, but they will be growing VERY
slowly and contributing little to water quality - you'll probably want to
start off doing 25%-or-so weekly water changes until you get a feel for how
stable your tank is. The good news is that fertilizing won't be necessary
at all (test for iron from time to time and watch for pinholes in the
leaves) and you sure won't be pruning much. Consider converting your hood
to compact flourescents... www.ahsupply.com

Good luck.

kush

In article , Dunter Powries
writes
If the tank is really two feet high, 30 watts of lighting lands you
well-and-truly in the low-light end of the hobby.

I know, that's one reason I asked the question in the first place.

It should be pointed out that I will be concentrating on Java Fern and
Anubias, both of which attach to rocks, and so will be placed higher up
in the tank. Thus they will not be under two feet of water.

Also, I have reflectors on the lights, so I should be getting more than
30W. The sales blurb on the box claims that they double the light
output. I'm not convinced that's true, but even if they only increase it
by 50%, it takes me to 45W which is a little better.

I don't know what the spectrum (degrees kelvin) of your lamps are
but, if they make your fish look good, they're probably on the high end
for plants (between 5000k and 7000k). Java fern and anubias should do
OK and you'll probably be alright with java moss, sagittaria and,
maybe, some tall crypts, but they will be growing VERY slowly and
contributing little to water quality - you'll probably want to start
off doing 25%-or-so weekly water changes until you get a feel for how
stable your tank is.

I usually do twice weekly 10% water changes anyway, so this isn't a
problem.

The good news is that fertilizing won't be necessary at all (test for
iron from time to time and watch for pinholes in the leaves) and you
sure won't be pruning much.

OK

Consider converting your hood to compact flourescents...
www.ahsupply.com

Well, if the plants will be happy, albeit with slow growth, at the
current level, then I'm not worried. I just want healthy plants, I'm not
bothered for loads of growth.

Thanx for the reply

--
Alan Silver