Plants for new tank

[ah tong]

Hi guys,

Need your advice regarding this.
I am getting a new 4ft tank next Sat and have plan to get these plants:
1. Ludwigia sp
2. Eusteralis Stellata
3. Rotala rotudifolia/macaranda??
4. Tonina fluviatilis
5. Micranthem micrathemoides
6. Hair grass
7. Glosso
8. APP
9. Tiger lotus
10. Blyxia Japonica
11. Various mosses (java, taiwan and erect)

I understand that some plants are particularly vulnerable to die off during the initial stabilising stage of a newly cycled tank.
Do you guys encounter such problem?

Thanks in advance!

[Simon]

[quote:c00bbca014="ah tong"]Hi guys,

Need your advice regarding this.
I am getting a new 4ft tank next Sat and have plan to get these plants:
1. Ludwigia sp
2. Eusteralis Stellata
3. Rotala rotudifolia/macaranda??
4. Tonina fluviatilis
5. Micranthem micrathemoides
6. Hair grass
7. Glosso
8. APP
9. Tiger lotus
10. Blyxia Japonica
11. Various mosses (java, taiwan and erect)

I understand that some plants are particularly vulnerable to die off during the initial stabilising stage of a newly cycled tank.
Do you guys encounter such problem?

Thanks in advance! [/quote:c00bbca014]

shouldn't bother too much, since stemmed plants very seldomly melt down.. even in new tanks. The only concern will be planting emersed plants and waiting for them to convert

[Desewer]

I see that most of the plants you chose are "high-light" plants, and you have quite a few red plants in there as well. You will need a lot of light for those plants, as well as a high dosage of iron.

Also, mosses and the blyxa japonica require cool waters I believe. If the tank is in an air-con room, then you should have no problem, but the high light requirement might raise the temperature of the water. My blyxa is currently dying slowly in my tank, and my temperature is 27-28deg.

After you set up the tank, put in fast-growing plants first to help stabilise the water? Then slowly you can add in the more "difficult" plants. I gave up on APP after my nitrate levels were too low to sustain good growth. Glosso will also need attention.

The hairgrass, glosso and APP are all foreground plants. How much do you plan to cover in the 4ft tank? I trtied growing APP and glosso together once, and in the end the APP grew all over my glosso, suffocating it!

[ah tong]

[quote:21e0e072e5="Desewer"]I see that most of the plants you chose are "high-light" plants, and you have quite a few red plants in there as well. You will need a lot of light for those plants, as well as a high dosage of iron.

Also, mosses and the blyxa japonica require cool waters I believe. If the tank is in an air-con room, then you should have no problem, but the high light requirement might raise the temperature of the water. My blyxa is currently dying slowly in my tank, and my temperature is 27-28deg.

After you set up the tank, put in fast-growing plants first to help stabilise the water? Then slowly you can add in the more "difficult" plants. I gave up on APP after my nitrate levels were too low to sustain good growth. Glosso will also need attention.

The hairgrass, glosso and APP are all foreground plants. How much do you plan to cover in the 4ft tank? I trtied growing APP and glosso together once, and in the end the APP grew all over my glosso, suffocating it! [/quote:21e0e072e5]


Simon,

Thanks !

Desewer,

i will be getting 6 36W PL lights from Chan of NA which gives me a total of 216W, but going by 3W/G rule, i am still short in terms of wattage.
Hmmmmm.... probably need to plant stratgically so that plants with higher ligh demands get sufficient illumination.
cooling is another issue, i will need another set of fan liao!!! (no money for chiller)

As for the foreground plants, i plant to plant them with gloso in the center and APP at both sides. HG will follow behind these plants from left to Rt and all the way to mid tank region.

Well, all is plan and say at this moment, hope things will turn out OK. :P

[Simon]

tong, if you are already using an AC fan. don't really need additional ones. Those plants you listed above will do just fine at temperatures of 27-28 degree. With that many species in a 4ft, my guess is the only problem you might have is, light penetration. Some stemmed plants require that inorder for the bottom portion of the plant to stay healthy. So space them out enough for light to penetrate.

plants which will rot from the bottom if light is insufficient
1. Ludwigia sp
2. Eusteralis Stellata
3. Rotala roundifolia/macrandra
4. Tonina fluviatilis
5. Micranthem micrathemoides
6. Blyxa japonica

[ms]

Hi Tong,
I just started planted tank anout 3mths ago. I planted the Wistera first, followed by the other plants a few days later.

The glosso was planted a week later, but they are glowing very slowly.

Have a look at my tank and let me know what is your comment.

Thanks.

MS
http://sg.f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/...;.dnm=45aa.jpg

[ms]

I forgot to ask you...what's APP?

MS

[ah tong]

[quote:2e1070d948="Simon"]tong, if you are already using an AC fan. don't really need additional ones. Those plants you listed above will do just fine at temperatures of 27-28 degree. With that many species in a 4ft, my guess is the only problem you might have is, light penetration. Some stemmed plants require that inorder for the bottom portion of the plant to stay healthy. So space them out enough for light to penetrate.

plants which will rot from the bottom if light is insufficient
1. Ludwigia sp
2. Eusteralis Stellata
3. Rotala roundifolia/macrandra
4. Tonina fluviatilis
5. Micranthem micrathemoides
6. Blyxa japonica[/quote:2e1070d948]

Simon,

OK thanks! Looks like i wont need so many stalks of them then. Fortunately i've not started my plant shopping yet, or else i planned to plant them heavily together

I think i will also hold back planting APP and tonina fluviatilis as many other articles that i read seems to suggest they are sensitive to water conditions.

Appreciate for the info!

[ah tong]

[quote:4b9344d362="ms"]I forgot to ask you...what's APP?

MS[/quote:4b9344d362]

MS,

Nice tank you have there!
Can't really see from far, but the landscape looks alright to me! thinking of making a moss wall behind?

APP: Ah pek plant,
Elatine triandra
Cheers!!

[Simon]

Best if you can plant everything in at the same time, don't worry about the new tank sydrome. The tonina fluviatilis I have do not need special water condition :P I just leave them to grow and without any problems. APP needs plenty No3.. so just increase yr dosing.. anyway, just choose between the foreground you listed, IMO, they would look messy if planted together, and especially when you have HG (which is extremely slow), APP which is super fast and No3 hungry and Glosso (middle grower compared to the other 2) you do not want your APP to engulf the other foreground plants and cause them to rot or die off?

[ah tong]

[quote:6f155fe792="Simon"]Best if you can plant everything in at the same time, don't worry about the new tank sydrome. The tonina fluviatilis I have do not need special water condition :P I just leave them to grow and without any problems. APP needs plenty No3.. so just increase yr dosing.. anyway, just choose between the foreground you listed, IMO, they would look messy if planted together, and especially when you have HG (which is extremely slow), APP which is super fast and No3 hungry and Glosso (middle grower compared to the other 2) you do not want your APP to engulf the other foreground plants and cause them to rot or die off?[/quote:6f155fe792]

point taken, didn't know APP can grow so fast! I guess will have to settle with HG all around first.
My only reason for planting these faster growers is to avoid HG from getting algae on them. And of course try to see if they complement each other or not.

Looks like i willl have fun breaking my back planting them HG