cholly

Getting ready to order plants for my new 15 gallon tank and I have to admit, I'm not really sure how many pots I should be buying. Going to be getting everything from Aquabotanic, and price really isn't an issue in terms of how much I should pick up. I'm just not sure what's an appropriate/adequete amount.

I have about an 8" x 12" area that I want I want to cover in HC, a 4" x 6" area where I plan to plant blyxa japonica, and a 4" x 3" area where I plan to plant ludwigia repens.

So my question is, how many of each do I need to order?

Bert H

If it will help you calculate it, typically plant stem plants so their distance from each other is equivalent to twice the length of their leaves. Also keep in mind, if this is for a new tank, you'll want to start out heavily planted with a lot of fast growers. You can switch to your 'final' plan once the tank establishes.

cholly

Thanks Bert, that helps a bit. Any idea how many pots of HC, though?

As far as fast growing stem plants just to soak up nutrients, any particular suggestions?

hoppycalif

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/f...pec=Hygrophila is very good as a fast growing stem plant. http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/f...&spec=Ludwigia is another great starter plant. Both of these are very easy to grow, look good, grow fast, and are perfect to start the tank with. But, eventually you get tired of pruning every other day and you then decide to try something else.

Robert Hudson

It depends on how you plant the HC. Its a standard two inch pot, and the HC is on average another inch bigger than the pot, so you are looking at about three square inches per pot. Some people take each pot and divide it into several little clumps and plant each clump about an inch apart and wait for it to fill in. How fast it does this will depend on how bright your light is, C02 level, and nitrate levels. A fertile substrate helps as well. Jeff Senske has planted several aquascapes with potted HC. He breaks each pot into several smallr bunches leaving some of the rockwool still attached. On one scape he describes here using I think 20 pots? You might want to ask him for details.



My favorites are Myriopyllum, egeria najas, Moneywort, Rotala indica, ludwigia repens, and any hygrophila specie. Hygro corymbosa is a large stem plant, and soaks up nitrate real quick