[blacklabel]

This is the innitial plant of a 125. 72" x 18". Pressurized CO2, soilmaster select substrate, dry ferts 3x weekly. 120 watts from t-8 flora suns, 156 watts from current t-5s with 10k/plant, or 2.2 wpg. I am new to the hobby so with no experience I dont know if i am making any mistakes. If it was your tank what would you do differently? In a few months, once I have everything down and the tank is settled and more stable, I will start getting rid of some of the weeds and add more anubias and mid/foreground. Eventually I would like it to be an Amazonian themed tank, as it has piranha in it, so please keep that in mind. My main concerns are:

Do I have enough variety in plant type/height?

Will these plants be healthy in my setup?

Should I avoid any of these plants?

Do I have too many different plants? As in, should I do fewer species with more of each? For a simpler, better divided, more natural scape, as opposed to having too much random chaos?

Just any general suggestions or comments would be appreciated. Thanks alot!



The stem plants are bunched with 8-10 stems each.

Ambulia (Limnophila indica) x3

Anacharis (Egeria najas) x3

Bacopa (Bacopa carolina) x3

Green Temple (Hygrophilia corymbosa) x3

Heteranthera Stargrass (Heteranthera zosterfolia) x3

Limnophila ‘hippuroides’ (Limnophila hippuroides) x3

Ludwigia, Broad Leaf (Ludwigia repens) x3

Rotala Indica (Rotala roundifolia) x3

Wisteria (Hygrophila difformis) x3

Wendtii, Red (Cryptocoryne wendtii) x3

Sword, Amazon Sword (Echinodorus bleheri) x3

Java Fern (Microsorium pteropus) x2

Cryptocoryne becketti x2

Retrospiralis (Cryptocoryne retrospiralis) x3

Sag, Dwarf Subulata (Sagittaria subulata)(10 plants per order) x2

Vallisneria "Dark Red Jungle Val" (sold 10 plants per order) x1

Java Moss (Vesicularia Dubyana) x2

Hornwort (Ceratophyllum demersum) x3

Hygrophila balsamica (Hygrophila balsamica) x3

Hygrophila corymbosa ‘Angustifolia’ x3

Ludwigia Peruensis (Ludwigia peruensis) x3

Mayaca (Mayaca fluviatilis) x3

Moneywort (Bacopa Monnieri) x3

Myrio, Red (Myriophyllum heterophyllum) x3

Pogostemon stellata (Eusteralis) x3

Potamogeton gayi x3

Rotala Magenta (Rotala macrandra v. 'narrow leaf') x3

Crypt, Walkerii x3

Ciliata (Cryptocoryne ciliata) x3

Balansae (Cryptocoryne crispatula) x3

Wendtii, Bronze (Cryptocoryne wendtii v. ‘Tropica’) x2

 

[Bert H]

If all those stems are 8-10 per bunch ordered, it appears you have a lot of plants. Look at the pics here to see what different levels of plantings look like. You definitely want to go heavy on the fast growers, and then go to your desired look once the tank is established.

 

[blacklabel]

Yes, it is alot of plants. I was told that for a good true "heavy" plant, I need about one stem per square inch. My tank's footprint is 1296"^2, and if all the stems I listed come with 10 stems, thats still only 570 stems. So about half what was recommended to me. Do you think I could get away with less? I certainly dont mind spending less money!

 

[ingg]

My advice would be yes, it is more than enough vegetation, but oh my lord, cut down the number of plants.

You have a million varieties, it'll end up looking like a huge mish mash jungle that nothing stands out in, if that makes sense.

Pick out say 4 or 5 stems for the back. A few bunches of each. this'd be all the hygros, rotalas, ludwigias.

If the goal is to make it grow in quickly and soak nutrients while anubias and crypts establish, then do that - this means dump the more difficult/touchy ones, like the balsamica, peruensis, hippuroides, macrandra.

Use fast easy growers that are easy to trim, and easy to remove. Anacharis is fast growing, but a nasty pervasive little weed that snaps off, floats, and regrows, for instance, and so does potamagetan gayi.

I'd rather use the wisteria if you simply want easily removable nutrient hogs, or load it up with easy to grow things like the broad leaf ludwigia, rotala indica, etc.... fast growers easy to later remove.

It sort of feels like you are buying your finish scape, and buying an initial nutrient cycle hog scape, all at once.... they don't look like they'd all fit, to me.

 

[BryceM]

I agree with ingg about the number of species. If you have a 6' long tank about 18 or 24 species would be maximum. It's not a bad idea to plant way more than you intend to keep. Chances are, not all of them will do well. Keep those that you like and do a massive thinning once things fill in a bit. I'd probably avoid some of the more sensitive species until the tank is established and growing well. They won't tolerate any algae at all and you'll only compound the problem if new plants start decaying. Pogostemon stellatus and Rotala magenta fall into this category.

BTW, we'd love to see photos of the setup!

 

[blacklabel]

I agree with ingg about the number of species. If you have a 6' long tank about 18 or 24 species would be maximum. It's not a bad idea to plant way more than you intend to keep. Chances are, not all of them will do well. Keep those that you like and do a massive thinning once things fill in a bit. I'd probably avoid some of the more sensitive species until the tank is established and growing well. They won't tolerate any algae at all and you'll only compound the problem if new plants start decaying. Pogostemon stellatus and Rotala magenta fall into this category.

BTW, we'd love to see photos of the setup!

Thanks. I have deffinately slimmed down the plants I plan on purchasing thanks to your help. Right now, I'm thinking I will go this route:

Wisteria (Hygrophila difformis) x3

Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides) Pot x3

Bacopa (Bacopa carolina) x3

Green Temple (Hygrophilia corymbosa) x3

Heteranthera Stargrass (Heteranthera zosterfolia) x3

Limnophila 'hippuroides' (Limnophila hippuroides) x3

Rotala Indica (Rotala roundifolia) x3

Frazeri (Anubias 'Frazeri') x1

Anubias Nana (Anubias barteri v. 'Nana') x1

Congensis (Anubias 'Congensis') x1

Anubias Coffeefolia (Anubias barteri v. 'Coffeefolia') x1

Anubias Barteri (Anubias barteri v. 'Round Leaf') x1

Cryptocoryne becketti x2

Amazon Sword (Echinodorus bleheri) Pot x2

Java Fern(Microsorum pterous) Pot x2

Crypt Wendtii, Red (Cryptocoryne wendtii) Pot x2

Crypt, Walkerii x1

Retrospiralis (Cryptocoryne retrospiralis) x1

Balansae (Cryptocoryne crispatula) x1

Vallisneria "Dark Red Jungle Val" (sold 10 plants per order) x2

Sword, Narrow Leaf Chain (Echinodorus tennelus)(sold 10 per order) x2

Java Moss (Vesicularia Dubyana) x2

Also, I was advised to use the narrow leaf E. Tenellus in stead of dwarf sag. Reason being it stays smaller and at a more even height. Does anyone have any comments on this? I am also looking for another foreground plant that I need help on. Micro sword? Dwarf baby tears? Clover? Blyxia japonica? Thanks for the info.