Questions on rescaping and replanting -pls help

[kubrich]

hie, i was thinking of redoing the plants in my planted tank as in taking out all the old ones and planting new ones,but i am going to keep my big driftwood with xmas moss in.just have a couple of questions for you guys and was hoping ya'll could help me out.

1)can i grow elatine triandra with e.tenellus? will the out grow each other and fight for space,nutrients and light?

2)i was thinking of creating a dense lookin back ground to achieve a forest/jungle like effect. what plants would you guys recomend that would give such an effect and still add in a splash of color? and hopefully not too hard to upkeep as i am still quite new to this. the drift wood would be stood vertically on the left,i was thinking of having the thick vegetation spread from there. recomendations?

3)for the plants you guys recomended,how should i plant them and estimate how they will grow? for example,should i plant a few stems together in a bunch and let them grow or plant stem by stem with some spacing between?

4)while i do my replanting do i have to remove the fishes? i currently have 8 neons,5 black neons,6 rummy nose,a iniridae pair and a honey gourami and 1 corydora,2 sae's and 3 ottos. will i need to move them out while i do the replanting? btw, i have 90+ malayan and 20 yamatos.its ok to do the planting again without moving the shrimp out right? cos tt would be a real headache.

information about my tank:
2ftX1ftX45cm
60watts of light
no base fert but have a whole pack of ocean free roots monster and some UP brand fert sticks spread around the base.
manual CO2 system.
rena iv2 filstar internal filter.

Thanx very much for any help you guys can offer[]

[kubrich]

hie, i was thinking of redoing the plants in my planted tank as in taking out all the old ones and planting new ones,but i am going to keep my big driftwood with xmas moss in.just have a couple of questions for you guys and was hoping ya'll could help me out.

1)can i grow elatine triandra with e.tenellus? will the out grow each other and fight for space,nutrients and light?

2)i was thinking of creating a dense lookin back ground to achieve a forest/jungle like effect. what plants would you guys recomend that would give such an effect and still add in a splash of color? and hopefully not too hard to upkeep as i am still quite new to this. the drift wood would be stood vertically on the left,i was thinking of having the thick vegetation spread from there. recomendations?

3)for the plants you guys recomended,how should i plant them and estimate how they will grow? for example,should i plant a few stems together in a bunch and let them grow or plant stem by stem with some spacing between?

4)while i do my replanting do i have to remove the fishes? i currently have 8 neons,5 black neons,6 rummy nose,a iniridae pair and a honey gourami and 1 corydora,2 sae's and 3 ottos. will i need to move them out while i do the replanting? btw, i have 90+ malayan and 20 yamatos.its ok to do the planting again without moving the shrimp out right? cos tt would be a real headache.

information about my tank:
2ftX1ftX45cm
60watts of light
no base fert but have a whole pack of ocean free roots monster and some UP brand fert sticks spread around the base.
manual CO2 system.
rena iv2 filstar internal filter.

Thanx very much for any help you guys can offer[]

[kubrich]

hie, i was thinking of redoing the plants in my planted tank as in taking out all the old ones and planting new ones,but i am going to keep my big driftwood with xmas moss in.just have a couple of questions for you guys and was hoping ya'll could help me out.

1)can i grow elatine triandra with e.tenellus? will the out grow each other and fight for space,nutrients and light?

2)i was thinking of creating a dense lookin back ground to achieve a forest/jungle like effect. what plants would you guys recomend that would give such an effect and still add in a splash of color? and hopefully not too hard to upkeep as i am still quite new to this. the drift wood would be stood vertically on the left,i was thinking of having the thick vegetation spread from there. recomendations?

3)for the plants you guys recomended,how should i plant them and estimate how they will grow? for example,should i plant a few stems together in a bunch and let them grow or plant stem by stem with some spacing between?

4)while i do my replanting do i have to remove the fishes? i currently have 8 neons,5 black neons,6 rummy nose,a iniridae pair and a honey gourami and 1 corydora,2 sae's and 3 ottos. will i need to move them out while i do the replanting? btw, i have 90+ malayan and 20 yamatos.its ok to do the planting again without moving the shrimp out right? cos tt would be a real headache.

information about my tank:
2ftX1ftX45cm
60watts of light
no base fert but have a whole pack of ocean free roots monster and some UP brand fert sticks spread around the base.
manual CO2 system.
rena iv2 filstar internal filter.

Thanx very much for any help you guys can offer[]

[kubrich]

hie, i was thinking of redoing the plants in my planted tank as in taking out all the old ones and planting new ones,but i am going to keep my big driftwood with xmas moss in.just have a couple of questions for you guys and was hoping ya'll could help me out.

1)can i grow elatine triandra with e.tenellus? will the out grow each other and fight for space,nutrients and light?

2)i was thinking of creating a dense lookin back ground to achieve a forest/jungle like effect. what plants would you guys recomend that would give such an effect and still add in a splash of color? and hopefully not too hard to upkeep as i am still quite new to this. the drift wood would be stood vertically on the left,i was thinking of having the thick vegetation spread from there. recomendations?

3)for the plants you guys recomended,how should i plant them and estimate how they will grow? for example,should i plant a few stems together in a bunch and let them grow or plant stem by stem with some spacing between?

4)while i do my replanting do i have to remove the fishes? i currently have 8 neons,5 black neons,6 rummy nose,a iniridae pair and a honey gourami and 1 corydora,2 sae's and 3 ottos. will i need to move them out while i do the replanting? btw, i have 90+ malayan and 20 yamatos.its ok to do the planting again without moving the shrimp out right? cos tt would be a real headache.

information about my tank:
2ftX1ftX45cm
60watts of light
no base fert but have a whole pack of ocean free roots monster and some UP brand fert sticks spread around the base.
manual CO2 system.
rena iv2 filstar internal filter.

Thanx very much for any help you guys can offer[]

[budak]

Don't mind me asking.... if you are going to take time out to rescape why not add in base fert as well? Will extend the lifespan of the tank. FOr a 2 ft tank, shouldn't take more than half a day (4-5 hours). I just did that for my 2 ft tank on Thursday evening (ctaching fish, removing plants/wood, dig up gravel, put back gravel + base fert, put back wood/plants, refill, replant, refish....

Elatine is very aggressive, while tenellus takes some time to establish itself. Anyway all the plants you have WILL compete for space, nutrients and light, so it's pretty much up to you which species to pick. I find Elatine smoothers Glosso, but maybe tenellus can cohabit since its leaves grow higher. Go ahead and try.

For jungle effect, do you want the stem plant kind of jungle (very lush if grown well) or the rosette plant kind (thicker texture but easier to maintain)? Again, pretty much up to you, but try to chose mostly greenish plants and just one species of red/brown plant for that splash of colour. TOo much reds make it look like a flowerbed.

2)i was thinking of creating a dense lookin back ground to achieve a forest/jungle like effect. what plants would you guys recomend that would give such an effect and still add in a splash of color? and hopefully not too hard to upkeep as i am still quite new to this. the drift wood would be stood vertically on the left,i was thinking of having the thick vegetation spread from there. recomendations?

For most stem plants, the thinner stem ones at least, you can usually group 2-3 stems together and plant them together. Those with thicker stems (4 mm in diamater or more) should be planted individually.

If just replanting, I don't think need to remove the fish. But again, why not redo with base fert?

[kubrich]

thanx alot for the help budak! was thinking of something lush and has texture,dun want it to be too flat,what do u mean by easier to maintain for rosette plants? i was thinking maybe get slightly faster growing species to help control algae,would tt be a gd idea? not keen on replanting with base fert cos of cash constraints and know how,i'm scared if i do add in base fert,if i dun do properly,it'll seep into the water coloumn and also scared tt excess nutrients will furthur spur algal growth. had a close brush with black brush algae (pun not intended) and really not keen on revisiting tt ordeal again.guess i will try triandra along with tenellus...thanx...hope tt one goes well. are there any specific species u think u can recomend for a newbie like me?

[budak]

For the simple reason that with rosette plants, pruning is just a matter of cutting of overly large and old leaves, while for stem plants, you have to trim each individual stem and allow it to regrow through side sprouts.

Try looking at this site for ideas: http://visual35.tripod.com/amano.html

Faster species will help control algae by competing for nutrients, but I do feel using base fert helps a great deal, as it allows the plants to absorb nutrients through their roots easily and less liquid fert is needed, and you don't have to disturb the substrate so much with adding new Root monsters. I think a JBL 1 kg bag is about $10-15 at Chan???? one bag should be adequate for a 2 ft tank (though I would prefer two).

No recommendations as my mind is deadening. Do some research on plant species at www.dennerle.com or www.tropica.com, then I will try to answer any questions from there.

[vinz]

I'm trying Sagittaria subulata with E. triandra. The E. Triandra is doing well for now. Instead of growing flat and dense (as when I plant it on bare substrate), it's 'fluffing' out more. The Sags is slower but no doubt it'll gain momentum later... I think it's going to take quite a bit of maintainance.

[vinz]

Possible plants:
- Rotala indica
- Hygrophila polysperma, Hygrophila polysperma 'Rosenervig', Hygrophila difformis
- Cabomba
The above plants are easy, but fast growers though. Hygrophila will form thick bushes.

There are many other plants you can use. Try browsing thru Tropica's plant catalog.

[loupgarou]

foreground plants:

those I like:

elatine triandra. easy to grow, propogate, prune
echinodorus quadricostatus (pretty)


those I don't like
marsilea * (bba attractor: ie: one of first plants to get bba)
glossostigma * (bba attractor)
e.tennulus * (bba attractor, runners are crazy..)
dwarf saggitaria (runs rampant, can grow too tall)
hair grass (nice to look at, once accidentally uprooted, putting it back together makes it look like earthquake)
cryptocorne parva (slow...really slow)