Need help deciding on plants to use

[tatguy]

Just finished a little scaping in a 1 feet tank.Currently waiting for water to age and while doing that, I am trying to decide on plants to use here. Any suggestions from anyone on what plants to use?

I am thinking a full hairgrass tank or maybe a mixture of glosso in front and hairgrass "flowing" down from the top, coupled with tennallus in between some of the rocks.

Substrate: Lapis with abit of crushed volcanic rock and ADA africana
Rocks: should be iwagumi rocks
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After planting, shall introduce sakuras in. And once stable changing to sulawesi shrimps.

[Mizu World]

You can go for an all Hairgrass look. Your hardscape (rocks) are small and using large leaved plants will make the overall scape look smaller.

[tatguy]

Oh thanks anymore comments? I am just afraid that full hairgrass might be plain. Is miramo moss ( the algae ball thing) a good idea? carpeting it all over the place. can it take the high Ph of the tank?

[Mizu World]

Cladophora aegagropila (Marimo Moss Ball) is easy to keep and can be kept in a high pH aquarium. However it grows very slowly so you will have to start off with everything at once. You will also have to tie them down to something once you split them for a carpet effect.

[Misery]

hi, you mentioned about using ADA Africana, this will bring down the pH level to as low as 5.5. Sulawesi on the other hand requires higher pH level, < pH 8. Unless you are going to chemically or by using medias to raise the pH, Please reconsider about keeping sulawesi shrimps in your set-up.

[tatguy]

@MIZU: will it be possible to simply poke it into the soil? and will it spread over the glass and rocks? i prefer it to just stay on the soil.
@Misery:i only used about 3 table spoons of it. I have mixed it with lapis sand before and i am going to put coral chips in my filter. The Ph was around 8.3 when i did the same thing last time

[Misery]

ah, i thought there's a large volume of africana in there
hope to see more pictures when you added the plants !

[tatguy]

sure sure. I think i will be using either japanese hairgrass at the back till nearly the edge of the rocks then spread marimo moss over at the front. or japanese hairgrass fully if miramo moss is as much of a hassle as normal algae. anyone has any idea if marimo moss will become invasive like regular algae(hair algae for example)?
I am using 2x36W PL bulbs

[tatguy]

Hmm after looking at all the posts concerning miramo moss it seems to be quite a pest if unnoticed..maybe i should use fissiden instead?

[tatguy]

Ok turns out i am quite fickle minded and bought some of the balls instead and here are some pictures
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Now can anyone tell me how do i go on to planting it?
The tear apart and tie on mesh part is ok for the front but what about all the hard to get to corners like inbetween the rocks.
Do i simply poke it into the soil and weight it down with abit of sand?
And is it a good idea to plant some hairgrass at the back of the tank? Will this algae take over? Or will the hairgrass live in harmony with the algae if i do keep check

[tatguy]

Hi planted in the marimos going to use some sakuras to test if water is safe tommorow.Do comment if I am doing the planting right as this is the first time i am using marimo for planting and i basically know nuts about it other than it is a algae which behaves like a plant
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[tatguy]

Some more pictures this is taken after the water is filtered for about 10 minutes Now..this is going to be a future sulawesi shrimp tank Ph is about 7.8(it may go up higher as this was measured after 15mins+ of setup). So any fish in mind for suggestion? I figured it might be abit plain with just shrimps and there is the mosquito problem as the water is quite still.
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I had previous experience with mini boraras and they seem to be quite easy to keep and unable to eat shrimps but i heard they are not sutiable for tanks with high Ph. Any comments on that?

[Wolfgangs246]

Hi Tatguy,

From these posts it sounds like your tank has yet to complete cycling. To avoid any unnecessary deaths, I would suggest you take the time to let the water system cycle and your beneficial bacteria (BB) establish themselves before you introduce any animals to the tank. Otherwise you will go through a 2-3 weeks where anything you put in will have a high mortality rate. If you have them, I would suggest using your ammonia/nitrate and nitrite test kits to find out how far along you are in the cycle. (FYI, I'm currently cycling a 3ft tank myself. It's been 3 weeks and I'm still getting 1-2 mg of ammonia readings.)

[tatguy]

Thanks for your concern The water in the tank is taken from my main tank which has been fully planted for over 2 years.
And the filter media I am using has been soaked in the main tank for about 4 days already and mixed with abit of the ceremic rings taken from the canister filter of the main tank also.
I also tested for all the Nitrite related chemicals NH4,NH3,NO2 etc, along with copper test and the amount seems to be very low less than 0.1 (or at least that is what the test kit says)
Just to be safe i will test the water once more and use some sakuras for testing , a few days before i put in the shrimps ( which should be on wenesday )

[tatguy]

Oh and by any chance do you have experience with marimo moss? Am i doing the planting part right? I simply place them on the soil then sprinkle some sand on it and push the sand in so it would not be visible and to weight the marimo down

[Navanod]

Very nice job with the Marimo bro, considering how hard it to to get the effect in your tank!
But marimo tends to attract alot of dirt...and you may find it hard to clean later as they're mixed into the soil

[tatguy]

Thanks it was an eye straining job poking every gain of sand into the marimo just hope it stays that way and not floating.By dirt you mean? Shrimp feces ?

[Wolfgangs246]

Glad to hear you are using old filter media and water. Wish I had that kind of foresight when I was setting up mine. LOL.

I think he means that because the Marimo 'hairs' are so fine, it tends to act like a micro-fibre cloth and pick up all kind of dirt floating in your tank. Random dirt particles, feces, left over food, etc etc. Normally you could pick up the ball and brush it off, but in this case since you've tucked it into the ground you may have to try some other method to clean it.

[tatguy]

I am a little scared because last time i started using completly tap water once and even though the tank already cycle for 1 week+ I went ahead to get 2 sulawesi for testing and they died within 3 days. So this is the second time I am going to try sulawesi and I do not want to lose anymore money LOL $12 flew away just like that because impatience.

Maybe i could use the siphon tube as a vacume cleaner, just press against it and suck bit by bit and stop the flow when changing area to suck so as to not make the marimo float. This is how i clean UG and Hairgrass