Any plant tips?

I am starting my 1st planted tank, and want to know if you have any tips, not so much on the equipment, but for the planting of it, maintenance, etc. Thanks. I don't have Co2 and I know the japan does best with Co2, but if it doesn't spread, I will slowly build up a carpet by buying them. If it helps these are the plants I am getting:
Mystery Crypt plant
Hornwort
Crypt wendtii green
Anubias barteri
Java moss
Marimo moss ball
Anubias nana petite
Hydrocotyle Japan
Bucephlandra Buce Godzilla
Crypt parva
Giant duckweed
Anubias coin leaf
Anacharis elodea

But I would still like advice in just general planted tanks, not just these plants.

 

Ok, so all thee plants are ordered! Can't wait to finally get aquatic plants!

 

So, I am going to be scaping it when I put the plants in. And I'm adding some more substrate. And I here sand isn't very good for rooted plants, I got some play sand, but I also have a ton of pebbles (And I mean a ton) from an old aquascape, they are .5 inches to 1.5 inches long and quite thin, though some are rounded. Would I be able to use those and then fill the cracks and the top with sand, and would that be any better than just sand substrate?

 

Better to use coarse sand such as pool filter sand. It's cheap.

 

I got like a 50 lbs bag of play sand for less than 10 dollars, because I already had play sand substrate. But I though pool filter sand was like the finest sand?

 

I got like a 50 lbs bag of play sand for less than 10 dollars, because I already had play sand substrate. But I though pool filter sand was like the finest sand?

No it's coarser than play sand to allow water to filter through it. Very good for planting.

 

No it's coarser than play sand to allow water to filter through it. Very good for planting.

Hmm, didn't know that, I thought it was the other way around lol. But since I already have the play sand, and pool filter sand wouldn't match my current substrate. Will just play sand work for rooted plants, or would it help to mix it with small pebbles?

 

Hmm, didn't know that, I thought it was the other way around lol. But since I already have the play sand, and pool filter sand wouldn't match my current substrate. Will just play sand work for rooted plants, or would it help to mix it with small pebbles?

I don't have experience with play sand and planting in it. Perhaps someone who has can comment. Not sure that pebbles would help. I have planted in very fine iron sand and it works ok but it's on top of quartz sand and there's lots of MTS in it.

 

Will just play sand work for rooted plants, or would it help to mix it with small pebbles?

Like GlennO said, pebbles generally won't help the plants. But, adding a few won't hurt either.

I have grown plants in play sand. It works just fine for most plants. It doesn't have any nutrients in it though. To make sure your plants get what they need you'll either need to dose in the water column more heavily and/or add root tabs. Personally, I prefer using root tabs with lean water column dosing in a tank like yours.

 

I will be using Jobe's houseplant spikes (Tested in aquariums and are safe) and thrive c. But thank you Mudminnow I just didn't know if something bad could happen to the roots in sand as I've heard from a few people.

 

I will be using Jobe's houseplant spikes (Tested in aquariums and are safe) and thrive c. But thank you Mudminnow I just didn't know if something bad could happen to the roots in sand as I've heard from a few people.

I see. Well, in my experience, play sand can develop little black pockets that smell like rotten eggs when you disturb it. This is preventable by having lots of healthy plants (the roots aerate the sand), having animals like MTS snails that move the sand around, and regular maintenance. By regular maintenance, I mean stirring the sand and siphoning over the sand when you do water changes. Moving the siphon in little circles over the sand makes little tornadoes that allow the siphon to suck up the mulm and such off the sand. I also like to siphon up the top layer of sand when I do water changes from time to time. Sand is cheap, so sprinkling a little fresh sand back on top after I do this keeps it looking nice and doesn't break the bank.

 

Hey, I got my plants and I need to know which is which, they didn't come marked. Here they are.

 

#1 looks like C. parva.

#2 & #3 are tougher to tell, but I would guess #2 is C. lutea or C. wendtii and #3 is C. wendtii.

 

Here is my scape before plants, before I fill it up, do you guys think it'll hold, it's a 55g. And at the deepest point is 4 and a half but on average it's about 4 inches. And on the lower part about an in inch.
Megaanemp Betta'sAnonymous jake37 coralbandit
Sorry for referencing all of you but I have 45 minute to plant and fill my 55 gg.

 

I'd be concerned your sand in the steeper part of the slope might not stay put. Water currents, fish, and gravity might cause some sand to slide down. If it were me, I'd add more rocks (probably smaller ones) on the steeper parts or try to smooth out the grade a bit--just in case.

 

I will later, but for now, will it hold.
Also how do you get plants out of cotton wool.

 

I will later, but for now, will it hold.
Also how do you get plants out of cotton wool.

For stem plants you can apparently just cut the cotton off then the stems will grow back. What types of plants do you have?

 

Crypt and anubias, sorry I meant rock wool.

 

Why don't you glue them to rocks so you can move them around if you want to rescape/change things a little.

 

I meant how to get it out of the rock wool, but I just watched a girl talks fish video and I did it, thank you for helping though. I will post a pic of the final thing tomorrow.

 

Sorry, I forgot I am at my dad's for the weekend and I won't be at my mom's house till Sunday. I'll post it on Sunday.

 

Where is a cheap place to get plant clips.

 

Where is a cheap place to get plant clips.

Marcus Fish tanks. Cheap shipping and plants. Good quality too

 

Haha, that's where I got my plants from, they really do have cheap plants.

 

Haha, that's where I got my plants from, they really do have cheap plants.

LOL, whoops. I cant really think of any other place, maybe someone else can help

 

Oh no, I just checked their prices they are better than all the other places. Thank you, I just thought it was funny since I got my plants there and you were suggesting for cheap plants there too haha.

 

maybe ebay?

 

Yeah, they're similar.

 

My

Where is a cheap place to get plant clips.

I ordered from Liquid Creations and really liked it— especially good if looking for variety all the plants I got were brown submersed and free of algae and snails. I also enjoyed Pets Warehouse which gives a ton of plants for cheap with free shipping when ordering $30 or more, however most were grown emersed and a few came with algae but I prefer it for certain things like ordering large amounts of a particular plant rather than by the stem. Both I found were far cheaper than eBay.

 

My

I ordered from Liquid Creations and really liked it— especially good if looking for variety all the plants I got were brown submersed and free of algae and snails. I also enjoyed Pets Warehouse which gives a ton of plants for cheap with free shipping when ordering $30 or more, however most were grown emersed and a few came with algae but I prefer it for certain things like ordering large amounts of a particular plant rather than by the stem. Both I found were far cheaper than eBay.

I mean weights to hold them down. Thank you anyway.

 

Have any of you planted hornwort in the sand, I've heard it can be done, though isn't recommended.

 

Have any of you planted hornwort in the sand, I've heard it can be done, though isn't recommended.

I have it in my sand. Grows super well. I had one in the sand and Ive had to cut it 3 times so I replanted them and now I have 4 of them with about a week and halfs time

 

Have any of you planted hornwort in the sand, I've heard it can be done, though isn't recommended.

I don't have it in sand, but it's doing fine in gravel. I've heard it works for some and not for others.

 

Have any of you planted hornwort in the sand, I've heard it can be done, though isn't recommended.

I'm pretty sure Foo the Flowerhorn grow some in one of his tank and it is in gravel so I think sand will work out great.

 

So everything its doing okay, except for the guppy grass, that all died.

 

So everything its doing okay, except for the guppy grass, that all died.

Do you have soft water? It really seems to prefer fairly hard water.

 

I don't have a gh/kh test kit. Sorry, I've been meaning to get one but whenever I ask to go to the fish store my mom's response is "I'm tired, maybe later. I just want to get home" and I live a half hour away from my lfs or petsmart.
Hey, I'm new at the whole rhizome thing and don't really know where to cut, and I feel like this is big enough to be cut to propogate, but it would be helpful if like you would like circle where I could propogate it and see what it looks like irl and do it on the anubias nana petite too. here's some pics:

 

Can anyone help?

 

Can anyone help?

Idk tbh but Ive had mines break on accident in half and it grew both still fine. I would wait till someone with more info then me tho

 

Cut at a leaf node and make sure each section has 3-5 leaves. That's about it. I'm on my computer right now, so I don't really know how to circle the area.

 

What is a leaf node.