Care of Easy Plants

[TheH]

I wanted some easy plants for my 10 gallon freshwater with gravel, no fertilizer, and no CO2. Obviously, I'm not expecting much of a planted tank. I purchased some Monde Grass and some kind of broad leaf anubias, I think. They're not doing too hot. The leaves on the anubias are becoming transparent. Can anyone advise me on what I might be doing wrong?

When I put them in my tank, I removed the steel wool around their roots and I think the way in which I did it caused considerable damage. Are you supposed to remove this steel wool?

I'm keeping two dwarf puffers, two otocinclus catfish, and three sidthimunki loaches in there. Everything is under 1", the dwarf puffers are even smaller. I'm feeding 1/4 cube bloodworms and a single algae wafer a day.

The bulb I'm using for light is 13 watt (60-watt equivalent) 12 hours a day. The filter is Fluval 2 Plus and the heater is set to 78F, Marineland Visitherm 50 Watt.

[TheH]

Sorry, it's actually a fluval 3 plus.

[eklikewhoa]

Mondo grass is terrestrial plant.
The Rock Wool can be left on or removed but better if removed and minimizing the root damage is best.
13w bulb is 13w bulb... now what it "looks" like which has zero effect over a tank of water... also I am guessing that is the spiral bulb in a BS hood so you lose about half of the actual light from restrike and well... just not shining into the tank.

How long have the plants been in the tank?
Are you sure that plant is Anubias?
Pretty sure the plant is suffering from nutrient difficieny... but if it's not even an aquatic plant then you got nothing to worry about.

[TheH]

Thanks ek, so you think a bulb upgrade will suffice? I am using a spiral bulb in a desk lamp. I can't do too much here at my college place. I don't really want to start with fertilizer, my understanding was that there were some plants that were hardy enough to show moderate growth in gravel without fertilizer & CO2.

I think I probably have the plant species wrong. The one I thought was anubias looks more like Radican Sword of Brazilian Sword from LiveAquaria. The grass I'm not sure about. I've had both for two weeks now, I picked them up from Fish Gallery.

I asked them for easy plants. Perhaps I should call it quits with these two and get some new ones with better lighting?

[Astex]

I've grown java fern in tanks through benign neglect for years and they always seem to get bigger. Also, try the plant bulbs from Walmart. I forget what they really are, but I had them blooming in a 10g with a standard light.

I always had slightly higher fish loads in these tanks, but now have no critters in my 10g and the plants are still alive, but not multiplying like they are in my 55g.

HTH.

[eklikewhoa]

Go with Ferns, Anubias, Moss, etc.

Got any cool macro? I got probably a softball clump of java fern I would trade.

[rage]

You need to get low light plants, there is a list from somewhere. A good soil substrate helps, like eco-complete. If you don't add CO2 then don't remove it by using a filter like a Fluval 3 plus either. That thing is way too strong for a 10G. The strong circulation of water allows whatever CO2 you do have to escape to the air.

I have a 10 G with soil substrate and a basic 17 W light, no fert, no CO2, and it is doing pretty well. It was doing better when I had no filter (I had no fish in it before). I now have a little HOB.

My other planted tank is a 26G, I had a 17, 20 w bulb and it did ok but not growing much. When I upgraded to a 40W bulb, it performed much, much better. It also did better before I added a sponge filter.

[TheH]

ek: Sorry man I'm in College Station I won't be back until Spring Break to trade anything.

Astex, Rage: Thanks, I will try upgrading my bulb. So you think I'm understocked with this filter?

[rage]

I don't think you understocked. If anything, you overstocked. You get away with it because you are using a powerful filter.
The trouble is doing so has side effect: losing your CO2.
Nothing is ever perfect. :)

[TheH]

Okay, I switched to a 26 Watt bulb. Let's see if there is any difference, or rather if the difference is sufficient.