cgcaver

Hey guys, need some opinions Im moving across town in 2 weeks, and my tank is gonna fall apart anyways, so I decided to go ahead and rework it while Im at it. I am going to do a simple glosso tank almost identicle to http://www.aquabotanic.com/glossostigmaarticle.htm Ive decided to make one small change to that setup though.

Where you see the big rocks in the middle area, I want to put a fairly tall background plant in the small half-circle behind them. This will allow me to "hide" my CO2 reactor, heater, etc. Also, this will give me some faster growing plants that will help soak up excess nutrients and kinda buffer my tank some. By the way, for fish, Im planning on probably doing just a large school of Neons - about 50 or so - but not till my plants are going good.

I currently have 4 fairly large Amazon swords in another tank that I could use for the background pocket, but I was afraid they would "soak up" too much nutrients and out-compete the glosso (which is priority #1), since Swords tend to be a pretty beastly plant. I am also afraid they will shade the glosso in certain areas. As an alternative, I also have a pretty good amount of healthy Corkscrew Val that I could use to fill the pocket. This was immediately my first choice because it grows very fast and I love the look of dense Corkscrew Val. However, the only drawback is I can't seem to get mine to grow over about 4" tall. I was looking for something more along the lines of 12"-18" tall. I could use Jungal Val, but I don't think it grows near as fast, doesn't look as cool, and can get 3ft. tall easily LOL

So my question is: Should I use the Swords or the Val? If neither, what would you recommend I look into?

~ Thanks for your time y'all




P.S. Here are my vitals for all you guys who were about to ask


-Typical 55g "Walmart Special"
-3.75wpg AH Supply bright kits
-Flourite substrate w/ granite rocks
-Tanked CO2 feeding both powerhead/tube reactor & bubble ladder
-Currently no fish
-Currently no filtration
-Rio Mini powerheads for some current
-pH, kH, gH = whatever I make it (tapwater is 8.2-8.4 pH, very soft)
-PMDD dry ferts

HeyPK

I would avoid large Amazon swords, because they get really big and would shade out most of the Glosso. Most Vallisneria, other than the variety of corkscrew val that you have will also send up leaves two feet or more long, and they will also tend to shade. I am assuming that your Vallisneria is what Kasselman calls Vallisneria americana, var. biwaensis. It is the only one that seems to be short. All the others have leaves so long that they will spread across the surface and block light. Even var. biwaensis should be able to produce leaves up to 1 foot long.

A problem with Vallisneria is that it is going to send runners into your Glossostigma mat, and you will be cutting them back on a weekly basis. At least the medium to large swords do not do that. I would suggest looking for a small to medium sized sword species. Another option would be to use one of the Hygrophila corymbosa varieties. They have large leaves, are not particularly invasive, and can be pruned easily.