eiginh

Hi all

I have a 10g tank with a Wendtii Crypt, Wisteria, Moneywort, Amazon Sword, Umbrella Plant, and what seems to be a dying Super Red Dandria...(i think) What are the best plants to help with Nitrates and require low wattage since I am limited to only 1.5wpg?

Beth1965

I have some water sprite (might be one word) in low light and it does well. Java fern and anubia do well in low light as well. I'll have to see what your umbrella plant is-I haven't heard of it. Got a pic of it?? Or the Red Dandria?
Take a look at aquabid.com
Beth

eiginh

The pics are located in this thread. Cycling tank. I think the Red Dandria is actually Red Myrio. The Umbrella Plant I bought at PetCo and there might be a high possibility it might not be aquatic but I wanted to take a chance b/c the plant seems like a great addition to the tank. The umbrella is to the right of the crypt plant. The Red Myrio is the dead brown plant to the left.

Nate McFin

You are correct about the Umbrella plant. The Wisteria is a good one to help with nitrates.
Do you have nitrates in your tap water? The reason I ask is because some Nitrates are required to keep plants alive. Over 20 PPM is bad for fish but 0 ppm would be bad for plants.
With 1.5 the other plants (sword,crypt,moneywort and wisteria should all do fine)
Though the sword will quickly outgrow the tank. I have one in a 20 gallon that now (after 4 months) takes up 1/2 the tank.

harpua2002

The "red myrio" looks a lot like rotala indica to me, but I can't really tell from the pics. If so, it is aquatic, but is a medium light plant and as such would need more light to survive.

If you're looking for plants to reduce nitrate, I agree with Nate that wisteria is good for soaking it up. However, a lot of the other plants that you'll be able to keep in a low light tank are slow growers and will have a negligible effect on nitrate.

eiginh

I'm not sure if my tap water has nitrates but I did test for ammonia and it is 1.5 ppm. I will test later when I get home. As for the umbrella plant, I guess I can return it since I bought it this weekend or exchange for Java Fern. I also found a moss plant called Christmas Moss that is able to grow on the tank walls, it looks pretty neat and much better looking than java moss. Do you guys recommend any other plants than the ones I have? Thank you!

Nate McFin

Just depends on what you like.
Anubias,Xmas Moss,java moss, anacharis,different varieties of crypts, would all do fine.
I see you have fish in the tank with 1.5 ppm ammonia. Are you doing water changes everyday at this point?

eiginh

It's at .25 now and I did a %10-%15 water change last Saturday b/c I was freaking out from the nitrate spike, then I read some review doing a water change might get rid of the free floating bacteria from SuperBac. So I added another dose yesterday.

enthusiast

may i suggest mosses? they all grow great, fast and easily. Java & most other ferns also do well in low light. They can look really cool & carpet the bottom if you'd like them to even

Beeker

I have Wisteria, Anubias, Java Fern, and anachris. Those are the easiest and best for that wattage of light. I did have a Sword in my 20 but I had to get rid of it. It took over the whole tank!

eiginh

thanks for all the tips!

I think I'm pretty much well stocked with plants... So far I have amazon sword, anarchis, wisteria, moneywort, wendtii crypt, and hygro. Oh and of course the umbrella plant which is almost completely eaten by the mystery snail. I am also waiting on some Christmas moss, I hope those will fill out the walls.

eiginh

I forgot to completely give you full details. I used this product called SuperBac which has live nitrifying bacteria similar to Tetra SafeStart and it's suppose to cycle the tank in a week. Mine became two weeks b/c stupid me decided to replace the original driftwood with a smaller piece and slowed down the cycling process. The water parameters are now ammonia 0, nitrite 0, and I need to buy a nitrate tester.

If you want to see some pics It's in the members viewing section, those are old pics though and I will update pics later tonight or tomorrow.

eiginh

For the plants listed in my 10g, do I need co2 in there b/c I'm using a bubble wand? Or everything is fine the way it is?

Thanks in advance.

enthusiast

with regular water changes i would say additional co2 wouldnt be needed

Nate McFin

At 1.5 watts per gallon it wouldn't be needed. Adding Flourish Excel every other day as a source of Carbon wouldn't hurt if they look a little rough. Otherwise just light ferts to keep them happy.

eiginh

I have carbon in my filter, its a p. bio wheel 150. Does that work the same as Flourish Excel and Fertz are the white tablets that are available for purchases at pet stores right?

Nate McFin

Carbon in your filter is not the same as Excel. Excel is a liquid that you put into the water. The filter Carbon will have no affect on your plants.
With regards to fertilizers-
They come in many forms. They do have root tabs though the only ones I would use are API or Seachem. These are for root feeding plants such as Crypts and swords.
Then there are liquid based. Like Flourish from Seachem. (NOT to be confused with Flourish Excel as Excel is a different product all together!) There is also liquid forms of individual fertilizers- Potassium,Iron,and other trace elements.
These can also be bought in powdered form.
I am going to throw up a link to help describe things as it is a very large subject to cover in a single post. Keep in mind that you wont have to go all out and it doesn't have to be as intimidating as it sounds. The liquid ferts and root tabs work just fine for those of us who dont have "high tech" tanks with Co2 and high output lighting. Try plants without fertilizers at first and you may find your fish waste is good enough to fertilize!
http://www.seachem.com/Library/Articles.html#Flourish

eiginh

Cool, I'll buy some Flourish Excel over the weekend. I hope it isn't expensive at Petco!

Thank you Nate!