low-maintenance plants

[_Vodnik]

Hi,

I've got a 25L tank I'm planning to convert into a low-tech planted tank. I'm after some easy-to-grow plants and I'd love for you to review my plan and let me know if it's got any chance of working. I've had a few attempts at using plants in the past, but I'm not exactly green-fingered and I don't get too caught up in the details.

My plan is to use Tropica substrate capped with sand, and I'll be dosing liquid carbon and ferts daily. I'll have the lights on for 8 hours a day, but the tank will also be near a window, so we'll see how that goes with algae.

The plants I've got in mind so far are Sagittaria subulata, Staurogyne repens, Limnobium laevigatum (Zorchzon Frogbit), and Anubias barteri Lynxa - I'll tie or glue the Anubias to the wood. No livestock planned for now, I just want to see if I can get a decent planted tank going over the next few months.

All feedback and suggestions welcome - I'm counting on you to help me get this right!

[sSjey]

If you're aiming for easy plants, I'd say you can skip the liquid CO2. To be honest, even if you were planning to add fish, I'd advise against it - the active ingredient in most liquid CO2 products is glutaraldehyde, which is a pretty potent disinfectant.

The frogbit might not be the best choice, depending on how deep your tank is. I had it in my 45cm deep tank and it was a real pain - the roots would trail all over the floor and I'd have to prune them every time I did a water change, as they'd get tangled up with the lower plants.

[_Vodnik]

If you're aiming for easy plants, I'd say you can skip the liquid CO2. To be honest, even if you were planning to add fish, I'd advise against it - the active ingredient in most liquid CO2 products is glutaraldehyde, which is a pretty potent disinfectant.

The frogbit might not be the best choice, depending on how deep your tank is. I had it in my 45cm deep tank and it was a real pain - the roots would trail all over the floor and I'd have to prune them every time I did a water change, as they'd get tangled up with the lower plants.

One less cost to worry about, thanks for that.

sSjey said:

Depending on just how deep the tank is, you may want to rethink the frogbit. I got rid of mine as I was fed up with the roots trailing on the floor of a 45 cm deep tank. I had to prune the roots at every water change as they snagged on the lower plants all the time.

I've had a bit of experience with frogbit before and never really had any issues with the roots growing too long - they seemed to stay around the 10cm mark, although I suppose I could've just been lucky, or maybe the Angels were helping out by nibbling on them.

[sSjey]

Mine grew massive roots, but I've no tankmates to keep them in check. I've got red root floater in my 23 litre shrimp tank now, which is a different story - the roots are super short, only about 1 cm long, so no snagging on the lower plants. However, they do grow like crazy, so I have to remove some at nearly every water change to keep things under control.

[_Vodnik]

Added the hardscape to the tank. I've used a mix of rocks and driftwood, trying to create some visual interest and provide a few hiding spots for when I eventually add some livestock. The driftwood is tied down with some fishing line, and I've also added a few rocks to weigh it down.

[sSjey]

"Have you given the wood a good soaking or are you planning to weigh it down instead?"

[infold]

Hornwort's a no-brainer, it's a great choice for a low-tech tank and nearly impossible to kill.

[sSjey]

My experience with hornwort was the opposite - it grew like crazy and took over my 180L tank, I had to get rid of it to maintain some balance, it was a real handful.

[_Vodnik]

I'm done, fingers crossed it doesn't turn into a disaster. I've stuck with Sagittaria subulata and Staurogyne repens, and added Anubias barteri Lynxa to tie onto the wood. Last minute, I picked up Hygrophila polysperma to fill in a bit of the back corner. Thanks for the tip on ProShrimp, I got the other plants from there. Now the waiting game begins, I'm not exactly optimistic about my chances of keeping these alive.

[_Vodnik]

I'm having second thoughts about ditching the liquid carbon, do I really not need it for this setup?