Hard water plants in 1W/Gal lighting.

[Rick Lindsey]

Hi all, I'm starting to decorate my new tank while it cycles, and I'd like some advice on plants... I haven't gotten kH/gH tests yet, but the website for the local water comission says that our water is extremely hard, with gobs of calcium carbonate (high kH?). I've heard that some plants won't fare so well in the "liquid rock" that we call water.

I have a ~75gal tank that is 24" deep. Right now I just have a shoplight type setup with 2 40W bulbs (one daylight and one plant/aquarium, i believe both are GE bulbs, from Home Depot and Kmart respectively). Eventually i want to rip out the shoplight and replace it with a custom job that has 3 or 4 bulbs, but for the moment I've just got the two (and the money for light refits will likely get spent on fish instead, so it might be awhile before the lights get changed).

I suspect that this qualifies as "low" light, since I have just barely over 1W/gal, and a tall tank to boot.

I have no plans to supplement CO2 in this tank. The primary dwellers will be dwarf tanganyikans -- I will probably only plant one corner heavily, and perhaps a few plants along the back. I want to leave plenty of open water and sand for the cyprichromis and shell dwellers respectively.

The substrate is a fine gravel/course sand. I could build a terrace and have gravel in the corner if my plants would prefer that.

Now that I've bored you all talking about my tank, does anyone have plant suggestions?

 

[ddaquaria]

Anubias varieties
vallesneria
java fern

I have had great success with these in my Malawian African tank. With such low light and no additional CO2, make sure you add aquatic plant fertilizer. Also consider get the type of ferts that can be placed near the plants roots (for the anubias and val)

With teh addition of CO2, I was able to grow crypt spiralis in an african biotope.

 

[Rick Lindsey]

Thanks! I've heard/read that both the java fern and anubias like to grow attached to wook or rocks... how do you fertilize them in that case? Just attach a little fertilizer plug to the wood/rock with the plant?

Also, will these plants continue to do well when i finally get around to my light refit, or will they not like the additional 40-80 watts of light? I really want to avoid having to go C02, but I'm willing to upgrade my lighting sooner than later if it means my plants will be happier (and hopefully less likely to die!)

 

[Rick Lindsey]

deleted due to accidental double post

deleted due to accidental double post

 

[ddaquaria]

For java fern, mount to wood or rocks.
For anubias mount to wood or rocks or plant up to the rhizome. You want to plant the roots, and not cover the rhizome. For plants that are tied to an object, fertilization is through the water column (aka using liquid ferts). When you tie anubias, you will notice that the roots will go towards the soil. When the roots get embedded in the soil, I would add a base fert like dupla K or bioplast balls (bury deep enough so it does not escape into the water column)

I grow mine at 500 W on a 120. They are beautiful. I average about 1 leaf a week on the anubias under direct light, and 1 leaf a month under teh shaded anubias. When you upgrade teh light, you will still need to maintain a balance in the tank - this may mean adding CO2 sooner or later.

 

[Rick Lindsey]

When you upgrade teh light, you will still need to maintain a balance in the tank - this may mean adding CO2 sooner or later.

What sort of balance will need maintaining? Please forgive my ignorance, I'm still a newbie at this . When I had a tank back in high school, all I managed to do with plants was kill them off... I'd like to do better this time around!

 

[ddaquaria]

When increasing light, you need to still balance the mini-ecosystem or you end up with algae. More light means the plant metabolise faster, therefore needing more nutrient. If anything gets out of balance, then you get algae. One way to try to beat it is when you add the new lights, increase your fert dosage slowly and continuously look out for algae.

Also check out www.thekrib.com for more information.