10 gallon planted tank questions

[Somefishguy]

Re: 10 gallon planted tank questions

Hello,

Tank is looking good. Where did you get the moss? I would love to get a bit for my 10 gallon also. Havent seen it in petsmart or petco.

Thanks

[eklikewhoa]

Re: 10 gallon planted tank questions

Most LFS that carry plants will have some moss....

I know Fish Gallery, Fish Ranch, Mike's tropical and City Pets has some moss in their tanks or you could meet with some of the locals which usually have lots to spare.

[Somefishguy]

Re: 10 gallon planted tank questions

Ok sounds great...

If anyone in the pasadena, deer park, la porte, or southeast houston area has some to spare i would love a little bit(from what i read a little goes a long way. Else i will call around local pet store and see if they have any.

Thanks

[sproett]

Re: 10 gallon planted tank questions

I got mine from Fish Ranch.

[Anonapersona]

Re: 10 gallon planted tank questions

I've offered to send him some, will be in tomorrows mail.

[Somefishguy]

Re: 10 gallon planted tank questions

Really appreciate it Anonapersona

[sproett]

Re: 10 gallon planted tank questions

Okay, I'm replacing most of my plants, I don't like the way my tank looks.  I'm taking the large rock out but leaving the driftwood in.  I'm thinking of getting rotala rotunda and hygrophila difformis for the background, some fava fern or some sort of anubias to attach to parts of the drifwood and taking that crazy moss out.  For the foreground I'm leaving the dwarf grass in but adding either marsilea gradrifolia or micranthemum umbrosum.  Does this sound like it will look good?  Also, should I get a mid-sized plant, like crypt wendtii, to place between the background and foreground and add contrast?  I want something clean looking, with just a few varieties of plants. Right now it looks like a hodgepodge of plants, I hate it!  

Also, I want to add some plants to my oscar tanks.  I'm thinking of hydrocotyle leucocephala or something similar that will shoot up leaves to mask some of the lighting.  Will this work?  If not, I'll just buy lots of hornwort and/or anacharis and leave them as floating plants.  I figure the addition of plants will also help with nitrates.  

Sorry if some of the scientific names aren't spelled right, I tried to be accurate but I can't read my own handwriting at times.

[eklikewhoa]

Re: 10 gallon planted tank questions

Umbrosum is a stem plant and delicate at that so it would look better in the back of the tank and it will need good water column ferts or it will just melt away and die.

Where are you finding Marsilea quadrifolia? If you are leaving the dwarf grass I would go with more of it to fill the foreground so it looks more uniformed and not jumbled together with all the other different plants.


What moss do you have? If you plan on getting rid of it we could trade.....I have lots of stems and could probably spare some ferns.

I am gearing up for a trim here shortly if not this weekend the next.

[sproett]

Re: 10 gallon planted tank questions

Hmmm...I'll pass on the umbrosum then.  I thought it was a foreground plant.  I was doing my research on that one late last night so I'll attribute that to sleepiness  
I haven't found marsilea quadrifolia yet.  I just like the way it looks and was hoping to be able to locate it.  Is it hard to find in good condition?  Now I just have to decide if I should keep the grass or transplant it to another tank.  
I have java moss but was planning to stick what I have in my oscar tanks.  I'm trying to do everything to help keep the nitrates down.  I'm going to put a bit in my puffer tank and see how it does there too.  
I was planning on doing an online order, I have a toddler and she limits my traveling.  I usually have to plan on my husband going with me or keeping her so I can concentrate on the task at hand.  Plus, I LOVE shopping online!  
Hopefully I can get it looking good so I can post a pic in the planted tank picture thread.

[eklikewhoa]

Re: 10 gallon planted tank questions

Water changes is what is going to help you with the nitrates.....the slow growing moss is probably going to do little for that problem. Not too sure how  the oscar is going to take to the plants though.

[Mzungu]

Re: 10 gallon planted tank questions

I can't find the driftwood in your pictures...is it in there?

I was thinking that after you plant the rotala (do you mean rotundifolia? If so, stores usually sell it as rotala indica) and hygrophila then decide whether you want a crypt in there or not. Rotala can grow really, really fast and you might want to spread that around, instead, who knows? Or you could use the driftwood and anubias/ferns as a mid ground thing.

I'm thinking your oscar might love to play with the plants...but he probably won't let them stay where they are. I think you'd be best off with hornwort and/or anacharis, like you said, because they grow quickly and don't really care where they are in the aquarium.

[sproett]

Re: 10 gallon planted tank questions

I do lots of water changes, try to keep the nitrates below 10ppm but I think plants can help a little.  Plus they are pretty, reduce light like oscars like, etc.  I just took all the moss from my planted tank and divided it up and wrapped it around two pieces of driftwood that float.  It looks cool and once the oscars get used to it I think they'll have fun bouncing it around.  I know oscars love to uproot plants but I may still give it a try if I can find some inexpensive ones and I can pot them.  If it doesn't work then I'll chalk it up to experience.  Or stick with anacharis and/or hornwort.

The driftwood isn't in those pictures, I thought I had posted some with it but I guess not.  I had originally took some of the moss from the rock and put it on the driftwood.  I'd show you a picture but it is a wreck right now.  I kicked up so much stuff getting all that moss out.  Plus I tried to remove the hair algae by hand and didn't realize it would float all around the tank.  My fish must be terribly angry with me for messing up their home.  

I did notice when I was messing things up that my grass has started to spread-wahoo!  I think for now I'll stick with it, I can always change it out later.  I like the big bushy look of the rotala and the hygrophila and I think with some sort of plant attached to the driftwood it'll look really nice.  Thanks for the tip that rotala is sold under different names, I was having trouble finding it online last night but did see the rotala indica.  

If my water ever settles I'll post a pic of the driftwood.  My water is all yellow from the tannins but I like that effect.

[sproett]

Re: 10 gallon planted tank questions

I did some work on my tank over the weekend.  

10G
26W-lights on 12 hrs/day
flourite substrate
liquid ferts-once a week
flourish excel instead of CO2-every other day

Fish:
1 white cloud
~20 white cloud fry
3 guppies
3 amano shrimp

Plants:
rotala indica
hygrophila difformis
java fern
dwarf hair grass
1 unindentified grass of sorts

[Mzungu]

Re: 10 gallon planted tank questions

Cool! I love that driftwood, very nice!