Plant suggestions?

[Boyam]

Heres my tank layout, awaiting plants and discus.

its a rectangular 90 gallon with a 200gal wet dry. co2 w/ ph meter holding 6.5 ph.

what am i looking for? a plant expert to give me a well balanced assortment of plant suggestions because not all plants absorb the same nutrient and amount of nutrients as far as i know :roll:

the idea is to have the large bushy plants in the left side and get smaller as we go right.

[ILLUSN]

How much light will you have?

[Boyam]

Right now i have this:

coralife single linear strip
compact fluorescent fixture
48 inch / 130 watt (2-65 watt lamps)

[ILLUSN]

Thats only 1.8w/gal which limits your plant choices, bushy plants go for hydrophilla species, for some height some val would look good tucked up in a corner or run across the back as they stay thin.

anubias and java fern will be fine for your wood if you have co2 you could even add a little bolbitus to make it more of a feature.

[Boyam]

sigh, i was told the light would be more than enough to grow swords well. guess thats what i get for listening to a salesman.

[Boyam]

what would i need for sufficient growth?

[Boyam]

Oh btw the tank is 48x18x24 inches. so with the lighting i have what do i need?

[ILLUSN]

amazons will grow ok, devils eye will grow ok, if you want to grow high light plants you'll need 3-4w/gal so for your 90gal you'll need 360w, to grow moderate light plants 2.5w/gal will be fine (225w)

[Boyam]

Thanks... i had no idea; seems i have ran into a prob. going to see if they will allow me to return this and purchase a hole new set up with 360w min. sigh running out of money!

[Boyam]

Forgot about this post nearly.

i did buy a double coralife hood. its 65w x4. so i just bought a few plants and they have been in there for 3 days with co2.

i got these from aquariumplants.com

# 1 of : CLOVER, FOUR LEAF (Marsilea quadrifolia)
$3.49 Shipped
# 1 of : Crinum, "Onion Plant" (Crinum thaianum)(large)
$3.99 Shipped
# 1 of : Crypt, Walkerii
$1.99 Shipped
# 3 of : Dwarf Baby Tears (Hemianthus callitrichoides)(potted)
$10.47 Shipped
# 1 of : Java Fern (Microsorium pteropus)
$3.89 Shipped
# 2 of : Nana (Anubias barteri v. ‘Nana’)
$9.98 Shipped
# 1 of : Sword, Amazon Compacta (Echinodorus bleheri 'compacta')
$2.49 Shipped
# 1 of : Sword, Amazon Sword (Echinodorus bleheri)
$2.39 Shipped
# 1 of : Sword, Ruffle (Echinodorus martii)
$2.39 Shipped
# 2 of : Wisteria (Hygrophila difformis)
$6.78 Shipped

now im worried i may run into a algae problem because the plants weren't as large as i expected. and they will need time to grow; as far as i know wisteria is the only quick grower that sucks up tons of "bad stuff" lol. in fact a lot of the plants are bruised and have decaying leafs from the 2 day shipping 8*(

i just hope they all start recovering and growing.. quick!

[ILLUSN]

Sword, Ruffle (Echinodorus martii)
Amazon Sword (Echinodorus bleheri)
both of these will get to bout 2foot in height and 1.5-2 foot across if you let them, but thats a great list of plants for any tanks, cant wait to see the pics.

[Boyam]

its embarrassing looking atm :(

[barramundi]

Hi Boyam,

Mate don't worry how it looks now as with good lighting and CO2 you will be supprised how quick your plants will grow.I have just set mine back up(you can see it in photo album) and i feel the same but the plants are already growing.Make sure you remove any decaying leafs and If your concerned about algae put a few more fast growers in then take them out when the other plants have grown.
Hope to see a photo of that nice selection you have.

John

[Heiko Bleher]

Hi,

this is Heiko Bleher and I just saw this before Christmas eve in Italy (I know you all had is already) and my suggestions is:

try to keep it simple with plants, E. bleheri (=bleherae) and/martii, best very large ones, is definitely good, but I would not place plants from other continents, they have no idea what it is, like Crinum, Anubias etc.

I just also today received from a German fellow the message below:
http://www.diskustop.de/Forum/viewtopic.php?p=5853#5853
and he asked me for advice, and I told him to create some shade (with floating plants, a Philodendron growing into the aquarium (its roots will do it automatically if placed near), or some driftwood coming into it from the outside (as in nature).

He has as plants only Microsorium, which I particulary think also is not perfect, but ok.

Have a look in the web at "Heiko's Lesson" the most prized decorated discus aquarium in the US (of all times), done by Jeff Senske and named in my honor because I gave him the advice of how to do it.

All the best, have still peaceful holidays and a fantastic new yewar,

always

Heiko Bleher
www.aquapress-bleher.com
www.aqua-aquapress.com