Newbie non CO2 tank

[amaninus]

Good day to all,

I just got a 1ft tank today after much procrastination. I think I got java fern but please correct me if I m wrong.

Can anyone please advise what is the small short plants? I got it like a carpet (approx 3" x 2"). But when I try to root it in to the substrate, the whole "carpet" float. To make things worse, I tear the carpet into pieces so that I can root them into the substrate. Wrong move, it floats even more. Now I m left with half the carpet. Can any kind souls advise how to root the carpet? Will it grow and cover the substrate eventually? Will I face the same scenario if it was hair grass instead of this short grass/ moss?
Thank you.

[wongce]

Yes, the plant is Java fern, do not bury the roots/rhizome.

The carpet plant you have is HC,not recommended to beginners...

If you want some carpet plants, try out E-tennelus, Monte Carlo, Brazilian micro swords, dwarf sag, hair grass(dwarf/Japanese)....or even moss... However they might not suit everyone's likings

Its not hard for plants to cover the foreground but there are certain criteria to meet...type of plant,lights,fert,co2, temperature... Well, I recommend you to read my blog before you spend more money on buying spree

[Greentank]

this is HC (Hemianthus callitrichoides) plant, this is fairly difficult plant to grow without Co2. You need to separate it into small bunches before planting it with patience.

[Greentank]

http://www.youtube.com/results?searc...allitrichoides

These videos may help in your project.

[amaninus]

Yes, the plant is Java fern, do not bury the roots/rhizome.

The carpet plant you have is HC,not recommended to beginners...

If you want some carpet plants, try out E-tennelus, Monte Carlo, Brazilian micro swords, dwarf sag, hair grass(dwarf/Japanese)....or even moss... However they might not suit everyone's likings

Its not hard for plants to cover the foreground but there are certain criteria to meet...type of plant,lights,fert,co2, temperature... Well, I recommend you to read my blog before you spend more money on buying spree

I see. Thanks for the info. I will check out your blog. I suppose you will recommend where to get the fore ground carpets in your blog right?

[amaninus]

this is HC (Hemianthus callitrichoides) plant, this is fairly difficult plant to grow without Co2. You need to separate it into small bunches before planting it with patience.

http://www.youtube.com/results?searc...allitrichoides

These videos may help in your project.

Thanks for the info.
This is a non co2 tank, so I guess I will change out the foreground carpet. Will check out the video clips too. Thanks again.

[jiajuen900]

For a tank of this size and since this is your first attempt, I would reccomend E-tenullus or if you are more adventurous, then hair grass.

You can find most of the plants that wongce mentioned at most popular LFS. Y618 at Yishun, C328 at Clementi or Aquatic Avenue at Redhill. There are many others. You can go to the LFS Directory section of this forum to find one close to you.

[amaninus]

Hi Stanley (aka wongce),
Very informative blog u have there. Nice.

Can u share with me why java fern roots are not suppose to be in the substrate?

The HC is getting more messy when I moved the java fern root out of the substrate, so I removed all of them. I plan to add in hair grass. Are they easy to maintain? (Cos I don't see them in your list)

I read that u have T5HO lights. Does my "cute" little light suffice or I should get a T5HO also? (Do they even come in sizes for small tanks? Mine is 260mm to be exact)

Thanks again.

[amaninus]

For a tank of this size and since this is your first attempt, I would reccomend E-tenullus or if you are more adventurous, then hair grass.

You can find most of the plants that wongce mentioned at most popular LFS. Y618 at Yishun, C328 at Clementi or Aquatic Avenue at Redhill. There are many others. You can go to the LFS Directory section of this forum to find one close to you.

Thanks for replying, care to share why hair grass is more "adventurous"?

[jiajuen900]

Java Ferns need their rhizomes (the part that roots grow from) above the substrate. In some sense they can be considered 'aerial' roots and will suffocate under the substrate. If left under the substrate, the plant will eventually die off.

Hair grass, while not as difficult to grow as HC, is generally still quite a demanding plant to grow. It thrives much better in high light and CO2 injected environments.

T5HOs usually don't come in that small a size. Some PL lights do come around that size and they are quite a close substitute for T5HOs. But I think your LED light should suffice for such a set up. You just need to hook it up to a timer and set it to turn on for roughly 8hours a day.

[Xiaozhuang]

For that size of tank, a $15 Ikea desklamp with a higher wattage CFL will provide enough light to grow anything you want. Its also adjustable.... may not be as neat a setup though


really would recommend CO2 for HC... DHG might be possible without CO2; the tank above is grown low tech without CO2, but as mentioned E-tenullu, dwarf sag, crypt parva are all easier

[amaninus]

Java Ferns need their rhizomes (the part that roots grow from) above the substrate. In some sense they can be considered 'aerial' roots and will suffocate under the substrate. If left under the substrate, the plant will eventually die off.

Hair grass, while not as difficult to grow as HC, is generally still quite a demanding plant to grow. It thrives much better in high light and CO2 injected environments.

T5HOs usually don't come in that small a size. Some PL lights do come around that size and they are quite a close substitute for T5HOs. But I think your LED light should suffice for such a set up. You just need to hook it up to a timer and set it to turn on for roughly 8hours a day.

Thanks for the prompt reply. Now I have a better understanding of java ferns. There are some residue substrate stuck between the rhizomes. Must I take it out and remove the residue thoroughly?

I am very attracted by the hair grass (dwarf) but it seem like not suitable for my non co2 tank. The e tenellus and hair grass does look similar. Its easier for e tenellus to grow in the non co2 tank? What is the amount of effort to maintain the e tenellus?

I realized that most of your tanks are not covered. As I kept a betta in this tank, is there any cover that u guys buy off the shelves? Or uses any material to fabricate the cover? I am using cardboard as cover now. Light source is cut off when cover is used.

I am staying at Punggol, so I got my stuffs from seaview. Quite a big shop and I took one hour not knowing exactly what I wanted. Drove down to c328 yesterday, the human traffic in the shop is amazing. Quite squeezy to slowly decide what I needed.

I appreciate all inputs rendered thus far. This forum is really helpful to newbies.

[amaninus]

For that size of tank, a $15 Ikea desklamp with a higher wattage CFL will provide enough light to grow anything you want. Its also adjustable.... may not be as neat a setup though


really would recommend CO2 for HC... DHG might be possible without CO2; the tank above is grown low tech without CO2, but as mentioned E-tenullu, dwarf sag, crypt parva are all easier

Thanks for replying. That's a powerful lamp u got there.
The HC in my tank are removed. I guess I m to noob when I got them. It looks like I m washing vegetables before cooking. Roots and bits of the HC floating all over.

I would like to try dwarf hair grass if it can work out in non co2 tank. It gives me a calm feeling. Seaview did not have hair grass when I was there today. So I have to get it from somewhere else.

For DHG, I just break them up and spread them in to the substrate? Will they root in the substrate easily?

Thanks!

[jiajuen900]

Just to make sure I did not get the wrong point across. Hair Grass can be grown in non-co2/low-tech set ups (Xiaozhuang's tank is a great example of how nice growth of hair grass can be achieved been without co2 injection).

Most, if not all plants can grow without CO2 injection. However, some plants are much harder to grow in such conditions as it is much harder to balance the aquarium to meet the needs of such demanding plants.

To plant hair grass, you can break them into small clumps and insert into the substrate. Try to spread them out nice and even. They will root fairly easily (although their roots are usually quite shallow.) and will start spreading by sending out runners.

[jiajuen900]

To help with future plant choices and to help decide on what direction to take the tank in, you can look at this thread. It has some great tanks that have no co2 injection. Although some photos have been lost.

http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...light=Low+tech

[wongce]

Hi, most of your questions you asked me were answered by others...haha so I don't need to type so much.

Depend on your expectation of carpet plants...some people want dense carpeting similar to golf course...then you may want to invest in co2 setup ...if you just want to sit back and relax with a simple tank with some sparse carpeting ,then the plants I mentioned are ok without co2 injection.

Well,alternatively you can try to DIY CO2 using yeast and sugar... Google is your good friend(in case you ask how to DIY)

[amaninus]

Hi, most of your questions you asked me were answered by others...haha so I don't need to type so much.

Depend on your expectation of carpet plants...some people want dense carpeting similar to golf course...then you may want to invest in co2 setup ...if you just want to sit back and relax with a simple tank with some sparse carpeting ,then the plants I mentioned are ok without co2 injection.

Well,alternatively you can try to DIY CO2 using yeast and sugar... Google is your good friend(in case you ask how to DIY)

Hi,
Thanks for replying. I m not ready to go into co2 yet.
I m going to visit y618 this weekend to had a better idea. Hopefully they have something that catches my eye.

thanks for sharing.

[amaninus]

Hi all, I went y618 and got e tenellus. But after 5 days, the plant seem like dying.

What I did was to separate them into individual bunch, and slot into the substrate. Then on light for 6 to 8 hours.

Can anyone advise did I do anything wrong and what can I do to help them?

[amaninus]

More pics.

[wongce]

frankly speaking, they look like Brazilian Microsword to me ( emerge form) thus they are taller...