# Good pico plants?



## mmelnick (Mar 5, 2010)

What are some good plants for a 2.5 gal pico tank? Something that won't get to be too big for a small tank.

Any suggestions or pics of a successful setup would be appreciated. I want a really full looking tank, and have yet to find even a photo of a full tank of this size.


----------



## MissMTS (Oct 8, 2008)

I'm looking for some good plants for my 2.5 as well. I'm interested to see what people recommend. What lighting are you using over your 2.5?


----------



## mmelnick (Mar 5, 2010)

I'm probably going with an LED setup. They easilly have the most PAR per watt. A good LED setup can rival even metal halid lighting.


----------



## chicken (Aug 22, 2007)

Plants I have used in a 2.5 gallon: Hemianthus callitrichoides, Hemianthus micranthemoides, Anubias nana 'petite', Ludwigia arcuata, Pogostemon helferi, Mayaca fluviatilis, Rotala rotundifolia, Eleocharis parvula, Eleocharis sp. 'belem', Hottonia palustris, Eriocaulon (type 2 ??) and some rotala I can't recall :icon_redf.


----------



## mmelnick (Mar 5, 2010)

Awesome tanks. Are those yours?

If so can you provide a little bit of info on your setups?

And thanks for the list too, that really helps!


----------



## chicken (Aug 22, 2007)

Yes, they're my tanks.  Only the third one is still running, and it looks a bit different now. 

All three tanks used Amazonia substrate, Catalina pc fixture (2 x 13 watts), red sea nano filter (same thing as azoo palm filter), diy co2, and a little bit of dosing with Seachem products. The tank that is still running is not being dosed currently, and I've discontinued the co2. This was both due to laziness and because I wanted to see just how much neglect the tank could take.  It's doing OK, but looked better when I gave it more care. The shrimp are happy, though. 

Here's a somewhat crappy pic I took of it the other day.


----------



## mmelnick (Mar 5, 2010)

Thanks for the info! Your tank still looks great without doing any upkeep on it.

What were you doing for DIY CO2? Just a single 2 liter bottle? What recipe? Etc...


----------



## chicken (Aug 22, 2007)

I used a 500ml bottle, with 1/2c. sugar, 1/8t. yeast, and 1/8t. baking soda, and filled it with warm water about 3/4 full. I fed the tube into the filter intake. I tried a nano diffuser in one tank for awhile, which worked well (until I broke the darned thing cleaning it :icon_redf ).


----------



## mmelnick (Mar 5, 2010)

chicken said:


> I used a 500ml bottle, with 1/2c. sugar, 1/8t. yeast, and 1/8t. baking soda, and filled it with warm water about 3/4 full. I fed the tube into the filter intake. I tried a nano diffuser in one tank for awhile, which worked well (until I broke the darned thing cleaning it :icon_redf ).


Awesome. Thanks again for the info! 

Anyone else with some input?


----------



## chicken (Aug 22, 2007)

Glad to help!

You might want to browse the threads or post some questions in the Planted Nano Tanks section of the forum --lots of good info there.


----------



## becks17 (Dec 21, 2009)

I have a 2 gal! Feel free to look at my tank and let me know what you think 

As far as what I'd recommend, carpet plants obviously work i.e. HC, UG, glosso, etc. Small stem plants give it good full look. I recommend HM as it can grow really thick. Umm, the narrow leaf rotala can grow at a small size via cuttings and it'll give you that red color. As you can see the Egria densa can get out of control in a small tank. I'm actually trying a bunch of different plants at the moment, no pics though :icon_conf
Got my hands on some "ambulia" and I think it'll come in great. 4-5 small stalks via cuttings placed together looks really nice. Kinda like super small pine trees, but bright green.


----------



## becks17 (Dec 21, 2009)

Oh Fissidens is a great moss to use too. You can stuff it into the rocks or tie it to some driftwood and it gives a nice bushy shrub effect when it grows out.


----------



## Robert H (Apr 3, 2003)

Becks, I would love to take a look at your tank. Where is it?


----------



## chicken (Aug 22, 2007)

Robert H said:


> Becks, I would love to take a look at your tank. Where is it?


Click on View User Tanks under the name and avatar.

Beautiful cube tank, becks 17!


----------



## becks17 (Dec 21, 2009)

Thanks chicken! =]
There's some more here http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/members/becks17-albums-8-cube-nano.html
Good example of the problems with fast growing plants...


----------

