Required help on further aquatic plant selection!

[Aquanoob]

Hi,
I need some help in my planted tank regarding the
plants to be added/removed, and to allow the plant
to flourish.

I started my 2 feet low-tech planted tank with 1x15W light
about 2 months ago, and due to my short-sightedness
at that time, I choose to use the cheap black quartz as
the gravel, and never put in any base fertiliser.
I could have use the Gex or even the ADA soil as the gravel,
but I "thought" all gravel will be the same, which is
not the case as I discovered along the way.

I have currently 5 water plants in my tank and they are
1. Dwarf Hairgrass (Eleocharis Parvula)
2. Ludwigia Palustris
3. Green Cabomba (Cabomba Caroliniana)
4. Green Dracaena (Dracaena Deremensis)
5. African Water Fern (Bolbitis Heudelotti)

The Fauna that is in my tank now are
1. 10 Zebra Danio
2. 10 White Cloud Mountain Minnow
3. 1 Oto
4. 2 Cory
5. 6 Cherry Barb
The fauna are living well and peacefully except that the
barb will occasionally nip out the hairgrass.

My 5 water plant are not doing well in my tank now.
The Hairgrass is not spreading, although it is always
growing new stalk, but I am sure the runners have not spread out.
The Ludwigia Palustris keep growing taller, but with not
much leaves on it.
Cabomba is doing ok, but it could do much better.
The water fern is not growing at all in the last 2 months from what
I can see.
After I planted the Green Dracaena which look very much like
the 观音竹, I founded out it was not really an aquatic plant
from a book that I read. Somehow, it is growing well, and
is the most hardy in my tank.
Which plant should I take out?

I did not have any CO2 or fertiliser in my tank, but I just bought
a Seachem Flourish last week, but have not put it in yet.
Will the Seachem Flourish help?
There is one product that I saw in one LFS last week which is a base fertiliser stick which promise to turn ordinary gravel into nourish gravel,
but I wonder will it help in my case?

If possible, I would want my gravel to be filled with greens,
so should I plant more hairgrass, or try some other foreground
plant like:
1. Glosso (Glossoligma Elatinoides)
2. Nana (Anubias Nana) This is surpose to be one of most hardy
aquatic plant ever.
3. Dwarf Fountain Plant (Ophiopogon Japonicus var. kyoto)
4. Water Star Grass (Heteranthera Dubia)
or others.......
I just want my gravel to be filled with greens, but I don't have
a liking for the moss.

I would appreciate any help from the members to enable my tank
plant to flourish, and to be more appealing to my eyes. I really
regret not using Gex or ADA as gravel at the beginning, and facing
lots of issue now. A newbie like me is always going to meet such
problems, but I reallly should do better after reading so many books
before setting up the tank.

Thank you in advance.

[checkerboard]

I would suggest that you take out the Green Dracaena and eventually also Cabomba. Basically, Cabomba is a plant that requires high light to really flourish, and it grows very quickly if so, which could overwhelm your tank. If you want a low tech low maintenance tank, then you can add more hairgrass, ferns like Bolbitis and also Anubias nana. Do not add Glosso as they need more light and are relatively high maintenance compared to hairgrass.

To help with the CO2 situation, you can add Seachem Excel. You can also put root monsters to enhance the fertility of your gravel. Place your bolbitis near the outflow of your filter, it will help its growth slightly.

[Aquanoob]

Hi Checkerboard,
thank you for your reply, you are the first to reply
after my post was up for 2 days.
I have also done some reading and found that
Nana petite and Anubias nana are really the plant
that I should put in my low-tech tank.
I will also try with the dwarf fountain plant together
with the hairgrass.
In my next visit to the LFS, I will get the Seachem Excel
and the root monster which I think Ocean Free carry it.

I have much more to learn about the aquatic plants and
fauna, and will continue to read and practice, to make my
aquarium flourish.

[Shadow]

I guess that what will you get from 15W of light on 2ft tank, plants are growing slowly in low tech tank. You need to switch to hight tech if you want it to grow faster. It wont change no mater how much fertilizer and CO2 you put in, your light is limiting the plants growth.

[Aquanoob]

Shadow,
I realised that my 15W light is really a big problem,
but it is a built-in light in my 2-ft tank, and
I can't change it. But I will get indirectly sunlight on
my tank for about 2-3 hours per day, will that help?
Maybe I should get a light from Ikea and shine it on
top of the tank for few hours as well.

[StanChung]

You need about 70W. I don't think it's a good idea to use sunlight because the direction is not from the top. All your plants will grow sideways and crooked.

[Aquanoob]

I can do with more help from the expert and veterant here.
My 2-feet tank comes with the 15W built-in light, and
I know that this is definitely not enough to have a lively planted
aquarium.
What can I do to achieve the 70W requirement?
Getting a 2-feet light is ok for me, but what should I do with
the built-in light.
My tank is model AT-202 as shown in the picture below:

[Shadow]

Would you be able to take out the hood?

[StanChung]

Junk the hood- traps heat and limits your filter in out configuration and most importantly no space to put more lights. 2X36 PL would already meet your light needs.

[Aquanoob]

Thank you Shadow and StanChung for your insightful
reply, I will seriously consider taking out the hood.

Just to update on my plant situation, I took out the
African Water Fern (Bolbitis Heudelotti) last weekend,
and added 3 so-called low-tech plant, Nana petite
(Anubias barteri v. nana 'petite'), Golden Nana (Anubias nana),
and Rough Waterclover (Marsilea hirsuta). And I have
started adding Seachem Flourish into the tank.

Some questions before I go on.
I am under the impression that active carbon will
absorb both the bad substances and smell, as well
as the nutrients in the tank water. I got active carbon
in my top filter now, so will it also absorb the Seachem Flouish
that I pour in. What I am doing right now is I will switch off the
filter, add-in Seachem, then turn on the filter again after 30
minutes, is this way ok?

Next, concerning the CO2 content in the tank.
I know that Seachem Excel will address this issue,
which mainly add the essential Carbon C to the plant.
From what I read on Diana Walstad's Ecology of the Planted Aquarium,
she said that we can add Baking Soda (NAHCO3) and
Calcium Carbonate (CaCO3) which also provide the Carbon C,
is this a feasible way?
She also said that by adding Epsom Salt (MgSO4) can boost the
Magnesium Mg and Sulphur S which plants absorb.
What will all these chemical do to the fishes is my main concern?

Also, there are some slow-release CO2 & manganese, potassium
tablet in some books I read, but I don't see them yet,
are they available in LFS?

Did I ask too much?
I am still a Aquanoob

[StanChung]

Epsom salt has laxative properties for animals including man and fish.

[Shadow]

for fertilizer, you might want to read EI (Estimate Index), it should be sticky somewhere

[Aquanoob]

After "serious" consideration, I have decided to stay low-tech
and low-light for my planted tank. Therefore, the main actor of the
planted tank will be on the Anubius members, which offers a lot of
choices from what I googled.

1. Anubias nana
2. Anubias Pygmy nana - Petite nana (Got it)
3. Anubias barteri var. nana 'Gold' (Got it)
4. Anubias agustifolia 'Afzelii'
5. Anubias barteri var. augustfolia
6. Anubias congensis
7. Anubias lanceolata
8. Anubias barteri var. barteri
9. Anubias barteri 'coffeefolia'
10. Anubias gigantae
11. Anubias gilletti
12. Anubias gracilis
13. Anubias pynaertii
14. Anubias minima
15. Anubias heterophyll
16. Anubias hastfolia
17. Anubias barteri var. caladiifolia

Do anyone know where I can see all these Anubias in their full
glory before getting them for my tank?
I got my current 2 Anubias from C328, but I don't see that many variety there.
I have seen some pictures from some books and websites
of aquariums that only contain purely the Anubias members, and it still looks quite nice. I am willing to try it out.

Also, I am also looking for some low-tech and low-medium light
requirement foreground plant to fillup in my tank, and have narrowed
them to 4 choices, which one will be the "best"?
1. Elatine triandra (APP)
2. Cryptocoryne parva
3. Sagittaria subulata (Dwarf Sagittaria)
4. Echinodorus tenellus (Pygmy Chain Sword)

All those good-life, light and CO2 hungry foreground plants will
have to wait till my next, dont-know-when, tank.
No Glosso, HC, HG, HM, Riccia, and too bad, I don't have a liking for
the ferns and mosses.

[StanChung]

I don't think E. triandra is a low light plant.
C. parva is very slow[slowest IMO of all the crypts] and E. tennelus is very fast+invasive as is S. subulata

Of all the anubias on your list, I've only seen about 5-6 that's common in the hobby. The rest are not very common.

[Aquanoob]

StanChung,
that was a fast reply.
Can I know, in your opinion, is there any low-tech low-light
requirement foreground plant available?
Also, can I know which are the 5-6 kind of Anubias
that are common in the hobby, I am willing to get it
into my tank. Thanks.

From another veteran Samuelgoh's signature, he has quite a
few Anubias members, and I have pm him, but his last
activity was in April.
" Looking for any other Anubias!! Currently I have "Coffeefolia", "Nanas", "Petite", "Yellow Heart", "Hastifolia", "Lancelota" and "Golden"! Also any other low maintenance plant besides "Cryptocoryne x willisii"!"

[StanChung]

I'm not sure where you can get it in Singapore but I'm sure the merchants here can help you if you pm them or ask Samuel! haha.

Something very nice is Staurogyne sp. I see Biotopeshop is selling it. I'm sure others are too. I've tested it in low light and it grows quite well albeit slowly.

[Aquanoob]

Yes, saw that Biotope is selling the new plant, Staurogyne sp.
and have pm him for the price. I will drop-by and take a look
if I can make it.
Have pm Samuel, but his last activity was in april, so just have
to wait for him to be online again.
Thanks once again.