Tank condition for plants

**prec** · 24th Jul 2007, 11:44

Hi, have just joined the planted tank hobby again after a few years.

Right now im owning a 30cm x 20cm x 20cm tank with a thin layer of ADA africana, 13W PL (12hrs), 1 x DIY filter (jbj wool with peat moss). Temp hovers ard 24-26deg. No co2 addition. Using DI water.

Am planning to grow fissiden tied to mesh on the foreground and jap hairgrass on lavarock and together with some java ferns and winderluv as cover for my small pair of apistos. In addition, maybe trying out a small patch of flame moss near a cave that i've created for the fishes to hide.

Anyone thinks this is feasible (as in lightings enough)? or do i need to go into the aspect of dosing ferts? My aim is just to create a luscious foreground with tall backgrd plants (java fern n winderluv) in this miniature glass tank.

**illumnae** · 24th Jul 2007, 11:58

do test your ph before putting the fish in...with africana your ph will probably already hover at about 5.5-5.7...adding peat to your filter may bring it too low for the apistos.

just curious, what type of apistos are you keeping?

**prec** · 24th Jul 2007, 12:42

cacas.. 2 of them being in their juvenile stage. I will be moving back to breeding crs and keeping other variants of apistos once the tank is settled down.
My ph is around 5.8 to 6 now after adding peat and because my layer of ada is really super thin.. so i guess it aint as effective..