Ideas for more rhizome plants

[BettagoSplenda]

Hi Fishlorians,

I nearly fish-less cycled a 20 gallon fresh water tank. I am planning to keep one Betta Splendens fish and maybe one snail or other algae eater (not quiet sure yet). I am hoping to keep the tank substrate-less. So need some ideas for plants. I added one Anubias Bateri with the rhizome attached to a rock and two Spider plants (Chlorophytum Varigatum) with roots in water and crowns above water. I like to keep to easy, low tech plants that are available at my local pet store.
Ideas?! Suggestions?! Will be greatly appreciated!

Pictures attached.

 

[ProudPapa]

Maybe Java moss, or one of the other mosses (or susswassertang)? Or floating plants?

 

[Mudminnow]

Other easy rhizome plants include:

• Bolbitis heudelotii
• Java Ferns
• Bucephalandas

 

[BettagoSplenda]

Maybe Java moss, or one of the other mosses (or susswassertang)? Or floating plants?

Does Java Moss require an substrate? Kinda of a total newbie to planted aquarium!

Other easy rhizome plants include:

• Bolbitis heudelotii
• Java Ferns
• Bucephalandas

Cool, thank you will add them to my list and look for them at my LFS. Ferms are great, as my famous younger sister wrote a award nominated book on Ferns! I learned two new plant possibilities today!

 

[ProudPapa]

Does Java Moss require an substrate? Kinda of a total newbie to planted aquarium!

It does not.

 

[BettagoSplenda]

It does not.

Rescued some of the worst looking moss ever from that pet store that rimes with Costco...

Does Java Moss require an substrate? Kinda of a total newbie to planted aquarium!


Cool, thank you will add them to my list and look for them at my LFS. Ferms are great, as my famous younger sister wrote a award nominated book on Ferns! I learned two new plant possibilities today!

Okay found two of the three! Wrangled the rhizomes to a rock and a "glass cave" (tinted drinking glass). Will update y'all on their growth.

 

[SheepAquatics]

Whats your lighting setup? Do you use a fertelizer? For me ferts always make my plants look from meh to really good. Not always needed but usually helps.

 

[BettagoSplenda]

Whats your lighting setup? Do you use a fertelizer? For me ferts always make my plants look from meh to really good. Not always needed but usually helps.

The browning of the Java moss came as is from the Petco. I am hoping with proper care my moss rescue will survive and be green and healthy.

Lighting:
Currently I have a direct-from-China-TEMU LED light with a "Su (v/w) itior" branding. Currently, my light settings are that it comes on at 10am at 20% strength white light and then it turns to blue light at 20% at 7:30pm. I turn it off when I go to bed around 11pm or midnight. I have the 18 inch model but the LED is actually 17 inches or 43.18 cm. According to the advertisement it produces light at 6500K Kelvin.

Fertilizer:
I was thinking Seachem Flourish, when I had my last aquarium 4 years ago that was what I used to fertilize my plants. Is that still a good product?

Future Escape and Jump Residents:
My near future issue is that once I have my plants growing strong, and I decide to add a Nerite snail and then a Betta Splendens to the tank, I will need to switch to the cover that came with aquarium. There is a LED intergrated into the cover. Top Fin states it as a "bright white light". Very informative. The actual tag on light states: 12V, LED: 10W manufactured by Intertek in Vietnam. Will this under the hood light be enough? Funny enough, it is the same length as the Su (v/w) itior branded light. So if the LEDs that came with lid ever goes out, I probably fit the Su (v/w) itior in its place.

Hope that answers your questions.

 

[NoRoom4Shoebox]

Because you will not have a lot of fish in the tank to create certain nutriants that fertilize plants, I suggest you try an all in one fertilizer like easy green.

 

[SheepAquatics]

The browning of the Java moss came as is from the Petco. I am hoping with proper care my moss rescue will survive and be green and healthy.

Lighting:
Currently I have a direct-from-China-TEMU LED light with a "Su (v/w) itior" branding. Currently, my light settings are that it comes on at 10am at 20% strength white light and then it turns to blue light at 20% at 7:30pm. I turn it off when I go to bed around 11pm or midnight. I have the 18 inch model but the LED is actually 17 inches or 43.18 cm. According to the advertisement it produces light at 6500K Kelvin.

Fertilizer:
I was thinking Seachem Flourish, when I had my last aquarium 4 years ago that was what I used to fertilize my plants. Is that still a good product?

Future Escape and Jump Residents:
My near future issue is that once I have my plants growing strong, and I decide to add a Nerite snail and then a Betta Splendens to the tank, I will need to switch to the cover that came with aquarium. There is a LED intergrated into the cover. Top Fin states it as a "bright white light". Very informative. The actual tag on light states: 12V, LED: 10W manufactured by Intertek in Vietnam. Will this under the hood light be enough? Funny enough, it is the same length as the Su (v/w) itior branded light. So if the LEDs that came with lid ever goes out, I probably fit the Su (v/w) itior in its place.

Hope that answers your questions.

Flourish is better than nothing. A step up is what was mentioned something all in one like easy green. Even better is some dry fertilizer of some sort.

I like the green leaf aquarium ferts if your in the US. Theres a lot of others by now. Dry fertilizers will last almost forever if you have only a few planted tanks so they are most cost affective and work just as well. All easy green and other commercial products are companies that took different elements(salts/ trace metals) and mixed them together and diluted them into a bottle. They slapped a label on it and hiked up the price.

I like to buy a dosing bottle and add the dry ferts into that. Use a dosing calculator(rotala butterfly)and mix ferts with water based on the volume of the dosing bottle you are using. You can just mix them in a cup in some tank water tho, say after a water change.

For dry ferts i like to get the big three macro nutrients like nitrate, phosphate and potassium. All the companies usually make a micro nutrient mixture so buying only one is necessary. I have heard people have success in more heavily stocked tanks with just adding potassium rather than bothering with all the others. I like to add them all so I know the plants have access to everything.

Some people dont use ferts at all tho. You can get away with it with a lot of the hard to kill plants usually. When I add some fertilizers I always see a big difference. Faster more robust and healthier growth. Im sure you will too.

 

[ProudPapa]

I agree that one of the complete fertilizers would be a better option than Flourish. I would also like to add that, while Easy Green (from Aquarium Co-op) is a good suggestion, it's my understanding that the type of iron it contains is only compatible with low pH tanks. If yours is high then one of the fertilizers from NilocG might work better for you.

 

[BettagoSplenda]

Because you will not have a lot of fish in the tank to create certain nutrients that fertilize plants, I suggest you try an all in one fertilizer like easy green.

Ordered and on its way! Great suggestion. I also bought Seachem Flourisha and Excel and will use those along with Easy GreenI follow their youtube channel

Flourish is better than nothing. A step up is what was mentioned something all in one like easy green. Even better is some dry fertilizer of some sort.

Yup, I noticed that Flourish was missing the three macro nutrients. My tap water comes with about 10 ppm of nitrate, but adding phosphate and potassium will be great.

I like the green leaf aquarium ferts if your in the US. Theres a lot of others by now. Dry fertilizers will last almost forever if you have only a few planted tanks so they are most cost affective and work just as well. All easy green and other commercial products are companies that took different elements(salts/ trace metals) and mixed them together and diluted them into a bottle. They slapped a label on it and hiked up the price.

I am in the USA. Thanks for introducing me to Green Leaf Aquarium! This is a great source. My tap water KH is a 1-2 dKH with PH of 6.8. I saw that GLA also has KH/GH reminirizer, this will be great for me to bring the KH/GH of my de-chlorinated tap water up to my tank's parameters before adding it during water changes.

I like to buy a dosing bottle and add the dry ferts into that. Use a dosing calculator(rotala butterfly)and mix ferts with water based on the volume of the dosing bottle you are using. You can just mix them in a cup in some tank water tho, say after a water change.

For dry ferts i like to get the big three macro nutrients like nitrate, phosphate and potassium. All the companies usually make a micro nutrient mixture so buying only one is necessary. I have heard people have success in more heavily stocked tanks with just adding potassium rather than bothering with all the others. I like to add them all so I know the plants have access to everything.

This is a great suggestion. I think I will move to try fertilizers because it seems to be a more controlled process and also more frugal. I just ordered Simple Green, and so I will try that first. Use up Seachem Flourish, Excel and Simple Green first and shift to dry fertilizers as the next step in my new journey into planted tanks. This is a great reply!

Some people dont use ferts at all tho. You can get away with it with a lot of the hard to kill plants usually. When I add some fertilizers I always see a big difference. Faster more robust and healthier growth. Im sure you will too.

I already see new growth just from adding Flourish and Excel. I am only adding hard to kill plants right now. But I like to learn and use basic highschool chemistry!

I agree that one of the complete fertilizers would be a better option than Flourish. I would also like to add that, while Easy Green (from Aquarium Co-op) is a good suggestion, it's my understanding that the type of iron it contains is only compatible with low pH tanks. If yours is high then one of the fertilizers from NilocG might work better for you.

Thank you for introducing me to NilocG. Will put their low tech tank fertilizer on my shopping list. I just ordered Easy Green, so will give that a go first. My tank's current PH is 7.6. My source tap water's PH stays around 6.8. During my initial cycling of my tank, I had to add in baking soda to raise the KH/GH, PH of my tank so that the cycle would not stall. So it will actually be very hard for me to have a high PH tank.

Other easy rhizome plants include:

• Bolbitis heudelotii
• Java Ferns
• Bucephalandas

Got my hands on Bucephalandra Brownie and Bacopa Carolinaina yesterday! I guess my LFS is stocking based on my purchases. So 5/4!

 

[SheepAquatics]

Ordered and on its way! Great suggestion. I also bought Seachem Flourisha and Excel and will use those along with Easy GreenI follow their youtube channel


Yup, I noticed that Flourish was missing the three macro nutrients. My tap water comes with about 10 ppm of nitrate, but adding phosphate and potassium will be great.

I am in the USA. Thanks for introducing me to Green Leaf Aquarium! This is a great source. My tap water KH is a 1-2 dKH with PH of 6.8. I saw that GLA also has KH/GH reminirizer, this will be great for me to bring the KH/GH of my de-chlorinated tap water up to my tank's parameters before adding it during water changes.


This is a great suggestion. I think I will move to try fertilizers because it seems to be a more controlled process and also more frugal. I just ordered Simple Green, and so I will try that first. Use up Seachem Flourish, Excel and Simple Green first and shift to dry fertilizers as the next step in my new journey into planted tanks. This is a great reply!

I already see new growth just from adding Flourish and Excel. I am only adding hard to kill plants right now. But I like to learn and use basic highschool chemistry!


Thank you for introducing me to NilocG. Will put their low tech tank fertilizer on my shopping list. I just ordered Easy Green, so will give that a go first. My tank's current PH is 7.6. My source tap water's PH stays around 6.8. During my initial cycling of my tank, I had to add in baking soda to raise the KH/GH, PH of my tank so that the cycle would not stall. So it will actually be very hard for me to have a high PH tank.


Got my hands on Bucephalandra Brownie and Bacopa Carolinaina yesterday! I guess my LFS is stocking based on my purchases. So 5/4!

Wow your going all in, you might be getting a co2 system before long at this pace. If you need a place to find deals on fish related items and fish and plants I learned whatnot live selling platform is a good place to snag some deals. They have an app and a website.

 

[BettagoSplenda]

SheepAquatics , thanks but I am just starting out and I've learned to go slow and be patient but a video on making your own CO2 using yeast looked...tempting...very tempting (I bought a lot of yeast before the pandemic shortage and they are just sitting there in big jar). Also tempting will be the expressions on my concierge's and building management's faces as I get my large CO2 canister delivered... Alas, Just Flourshi-Excel for now!

In the voice of Sméagol: "Filthy little black Top Fin strings!"

Plants update:
After a week and half of caring for my plants, I realized from a youtube video that there were nearly invisible black strings binding my Windløv Java Fern and Bolbitis Heudelotii or is it Bolbitis Heteroclita Difformis?! So after some careful cutting, they are unbound.

I moved my Bacopa Caroliniana to its own loft, so that it can take advantage of the stronger light. It's doubled in size in a week and half. When it quadruples, I will propagate by cutting its stems.

The roots of my Anubias Bateri increased in their length, and looks happy with slighly larger leaves. My betta Sky hides underneath it regularly.

The Windøv Java Fern is a lot happier being spaced apart and the rizhom is shooting out new leaves, sideways.

Bolbitis Heudelotii turned out to be just many tiny plants bound to look like one bigger one. Looking deshelved but I moved them to the shade and right below the water below the HOB so it could get the most current in the tank. Looking at on-line leaf comparisions, I am thinking what I have is actually Bolbitis Heteroclita Difformis? Confirmation?

Bucephalandra Browne is happy and very small and pale roots are starting to extend from the rhizomes.

I placed almost all of the java moss inbetween two plastic-grid frames and they make up the loft. This was to make water changes easier and also get them more light and water flow. If they take to the grid frames they will make a nice carpet for my tank.

NoRoom4Shoebox I am dosing weekly with 2 ml of Easy Green, and the plants are growing faster. After a water change, I dosed yesterday and today my nitrate was up to 40 ppm. My betta is doing fine I've read several sources that says not to worry, but I am going to decrease my normal weekly dose to 0.5 ml of Easy Green to keep my nitrate around 10-20 ppm.

SheepAquatics I noticed tiny green algae forming on some of my oyster shells and my betta does not like my light at full 100% strength, he hides in the shade. So I turned down the maximum lighting during the day to 60% of light fixture's maximum.

Thanks to everyone in helping me with my first planted tank!