# My planted tank



## Coursair (Apr 16, 2011)

Anubias don't get planted usually. At least don't bury the rhizome(the thick horizontal root) or it will rot. You can tie it to a rock or driftwood or only bury the small roots. 

The cloudiness should dissipate.


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## stupidface (Jun 20, 2011)

Coursair said:


> Anubias don't get planted usually. At least don't bury the rhizome(the thick horizontal root) or it will rot. You can tie it to a rock or driftwood or only bury the small roots.
> 
> The cloudiness should dissipate.












this is a picture of the whole tank.

Heres a closeup of the live plants









Are they ok how they are?


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## kamikazi (Sep 3, 2010)

I'm gonna guess that the 3rd one in the middle is not a true aquatic. Alot of pet stores are notorious for selling plants that are not truly aquatic they will survive for a time in the tank but die. Example I know of are mondo grass and bamboo. I'm not sure what you have their, its not either of those thats for sure, but it just doesn't look aquatic to me.


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## kamikazi (Sep 3, 2010)

I like your stump by the way, looks like it has a nice cave for a future fish to call home


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## aretreesfree (Jun 19, 2011)

true, the one in the middle isn't a true aquatic plant. i work at petco, and regularly have to point out all the true aqua plants for customers. i hate those "aquatic combos". they do fine for a while but start to totally melt eventually.


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## stupidface (Jun 20, 2011)

Ok, will these grow though? Under my lighting conditions. I don't need fertilizers do I?
How long will it be until I can trim them and plant the trimmings?


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## kamikazi (Sep 3, 2010)

the crypt you could go ahead and spread the plantlets out some. The anubias will take some time before you can plant more of it, the rhizome has to grow and start another plant, then you can cut that part of the rhizome off for a second plant.

crypts spread by send out a root or runner where a new plant will sprout some times new plants will sprout inches away from the mother plant. 

No clue about the one in the middle.

As far as your light goes, the crypt and anubias are lower light plants and should be fine. As someone else suggest some sort of fertilizer under the sand next to the plant would help.


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## stupidface (Jun 20, 2011)

Ok, so the crypt.... I should try to separate it a bit? Also how deep should it be in the sand


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## demosthenes (Aug 23, 2008)

the one in the middle is a Dracaena, i believe D. sanderiana, but im not sure. its not an aquatic plant, and it will die pretty quickly underwater. my grandmother actually grows them in a dry pot in her living room. i have no idea why so many stores rip people off like that.

any pice of a plant that has both roots and leaves can be separated out from the rest and planted as an individual. you'll see that your great big cryptocoryne isnt a great big cryptocoryne, but a whole bunch of much smaller individuals. you can spread them out a lot from where they are now - it look likes you have at least twenty individuals. anubias can be split up similarly, but i wouldnt recommend it. you can cut the rhizome into as many pieces as you want, but as long as each piece has a leaf on it, it *should* still grow. the fewer the leaves, the smaller any new growth will be, so i would advise not chopping up anubias into pieces with less than 5 or 6 leaves.

the dracaena will not branch, and you cannot cut it into any pieces that will survive. get it out of your aquarium and find a nice new big red ceramic home for it! 

as for the airstones, etc, you don't need them. air stones are for when you have big fish in small tanks, or when you want more O2 in the water for some reason. in fact, you want less O2 and more CO2 in the water, so the air pumps are actually making it harder for your plants to 'breathe,' so i would also turn those off.

as for the cloudiness, its just part of setting up a new tank. it should go away in a few more days, or a week or two if you have a really dusty substrate. anyway, don't worry about it. 

as for fertilizers, you won't need any water column fertilizers. those are for stem plants that take a lot of nutrients out of the water. crypts mostly take nutrients in with their roots, so you may need a root-fertilizer eventually. these can often be found in the form of "root-tabs" or various sticks or tablets you put in the sand underneath the plants. they should be fine for a while though, so i wouldnt worry about it. fertilizers are usually for "high-tech" tanks with multiples of the amount of light that you have over your tank.

for now, you should stick to plants that need very little light, like anubias, java ferns, and crypts. here is a website called Plant Geek that will show you all of the fake aquatic plants like Dracaena that will die, rot, and pollute your tank, and the low-light plants like anubias and java fern that you will be able to keep without any problem. its a handy resource!


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## stupidface (Jun 20, 2011)

Ok, So I separated the crypt. Heres how it looks
Anubia is in back right corner
I moved the non-aquatic plant across to the other side of the tank


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

I think you have crypt v wendtii

Some java fern would good in there too. Then some rocks around them. Windelov version is my favorite


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## stupidface (Jun 20, 2011)

Ya that looks like them, any suggestions on the tank?


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## kamikazi (Sep 3, 2010)

More plants! haha  

Crypt looks alot better spread out! If you want different colors in the tank there are several variations of crypts of varying colors.


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## stupidface (Jun 20, 2011)

Nah, I just like green


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## stupidface (Jun 20, 2011)

Any suggestions on fish?


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## stupidface (Jun 20, 2011)

should I be adding Co2?


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## stupidface (Jun 20, 2011)

Could I possibly add some dwarf hairgrass??


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## stupidface (Jun 20, 2011)

or maybe java moss?


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## kamikazi (Sep 3, 2010)

stupidface said:


> Any suggestions on fish?


at this point your options are pretty open, look through fish profiles and decide which ones you like and will fit your tank. with the size of your tank a community tank with small fish would work. 

You could get a couple angel fish a school of tetras and a small school of cory cats. You could do live bearers like guppies. 
You could do dwarf cichlids, tetras cory cats. A small pleco could work (like bristle nose pleco) lots of choices....



stupidface said:


> should I be adding Co2?


 although im not an expert im gonna guess you have low to medium light, CO2 becomes a big requirement with high light. You can try to run it without CO2 and see how things go, just dont expect spectacular growth.



stupidface said:


> Could I possibly add some dwarf hairgrass??


You can try dwarf hairgrass but im not sure how well it will do. my feeling is there are so many variables that can effect how plants do, if there is a plant you like get one, try it if it dies hoepfully you only lost a few dollars. if it works, great get more. 



stupidface said:


> or maybe java moss?


java moss would grow, you could tie it to you stump and have it grow over the fake plants on the stump.


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## sevenyearnight (May 1, 2011)

I'd take that non aquatic plant out and put it in a pot. It's just going to turn into sludge and pollute your water. It's a nice plant in a pot though


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## stupidface (Jun 20, 2011)

Just an update, I have had my tank set up now for 5 days. The tank has cleared up nicely. I leave the light on over 12 hours a day. I have seen little to no plant growth, and absolutely no algae whatsoever.


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

stupidface said:


> Could I possibly add some dwarf hairgrass??


No you don't have enough light for it but could get Sagittaria subulata. Things might grow more if you dose with Seachem Excel or Cidex (@ 3.4%). Cidex is $15 on Ebay with free shipment. To mix up 100 ml of Excel strength, use 44 ml of Cidex (@ 3.4%) and add 56 ml of water. That will give you 100 ml of Excel strength (1.5% concentration) Glut.1 teaspoon = 5 ml and 1Tbs=15 ml


stupidface said:


> Any suggestions on fish?


I think some tiger barbs or cory's would look good. The cory's will school and swim up and down.


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## stupidface (Jun 20, 2011)

Anything I should be doing for the tank? Water is nice and clear and light is on 12 hrs a day


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## firefiend (Sep 3, 2009)

Looking good. Just wanted to re-confirm what others have said regarding the Dracaena. It is not a true aquatic but you can keep it in tanks as long as the "bamboo" part is the only part submerged. The leaf shoots will rot if they are submerged.

I've kept Dracaena in several betta tanks with only the stalk submerged for several years and the are flourishing, even got to propagate it. They don't do better than they would in a pot (have several of those as well) but they don't do worse either.


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## BlazednSleepy (Aug 21, 2010)

I'm gonna be honest.

I don't like it at all. The tank needs a nice piece of driftwood and lots more plants. Anubius, crypts, moss etc. 

This just looks like you tossed in a few plants. And the center piece is just ugly.

Again this my opinion.


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## stupidface (Jun 20, 2011)

BlazednSleepy said:


> I'm gonna be honest.
> 
> I don't like it at all. The tank needs a nice piece of driftwood and lots more plants. Anubius, crypts, moss etc.
> 
> ...


Well I did just throw a few plants in, I am on a budget. I will slowly add plants


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## SeasonedNewbie (Jul 3, 2011)

Hey - It's looking good. And, everyone has different tastes in terms of aesthetics. Don't let anyone make you second guess your game plan. 

BTW - you can get stems like Wisteria and Moneywort pretty cheap at most PetSmart stores. They are like 6-8 stems for $2.99. Those don't require anything extra in terms of light, CO2 or ferts. You can just plant the individual stems where you want them and they root REALLY easily.


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## AirstoND (Jun 17, 2011)

*Try this*

Go for a floating plant setup. use a mesh grid (similar to DIY betta tank divider) and use it to keep Daecena? stem submerged. how about a water hyacinth or red tiger lily in the background and move your current setup forward a bit?

If you go liquid dosing route with sandy substrate, you'll probably need to invest in a pwrhead/circulating pump


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## stupidface (Jun 20, 2011)

Ok guys, just an update, I rearranged my tank. Got a nice big piece of driftwood and took out that [censored][censored][censored][censored]ty looking center piece I had before. Will post pics tomorrow. Waiting for water to clear up, it is a little cloudy since I just rearranged


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