I’m Actually Going To Try To Aquascape!

Hello! I was looking at my bettas tank today (it is a 10 gallon aquarium, he lives alone) and I realized it had horribly unrealistic plastic plants, and I am sick of it! 99.9998% of the plants I try to grow die. It makes me mad, because I spend a lot of money on them!

So I am going to ditch the plastic plants, and really try a planted tank! Last time I did this, all of my plants were dead in 2 weeks.

So I am asking the people of fishlore for help! What are the easiest, and I mean easiest plants to grow? How do you grow them? I have a large reading light. How many watts do I need for plants?

I found some amazing driftwood in a lake near my house, that I have started to treat (Boil and soak)!

 

The easiest plant for me so far would be anubias. Basically attach and forget. They are slow growers, so just be patient.

Other than that, other easy plants are maybe java fern and various mosses. For moss just attach them of stones and driftwood and they'll grow into bushes that attach themselves to the hardscape

 

People always say java ferns but those things have always died on me for no apparent reason. Although like you, I have a certain talent for killing plants.

It's really best to ignore the watts-per-gallon thing. If you're going for more demanding plants than anubias, you'll want full-spectrum lighting, somewhere around the 5500-6500K range. Anubias is a low light plant though, so it probably should do fine with what you got.

 

Hygro, Wisteria, Rotala, Crypts, Amazon swords, Anubias, Java moss, Java ferns, etc.

99.9998% of the plants I try to grow die. It makes me mad, because I spend a lot of money on them

Use ferts. Generally I find that whenever people experience plant death with easier plants in low tech tanks (low lighting, non-CO2 injected), it's usually associated with either no use of ferts at all or incomplete nutrition (e.g. using only a micro fert).

There's a sticky guide to ferts that can be useful.

 

Hygro, Wisteria, Rotala, Crypts, Amazon swords, Anubias, Java moss, Java ferns, etc.



Use ferts. Generally I find that whenever people experience plant death with easier plants in low tech tanks (low lighting, non-CO2 injected), it's usually associated with either no use of ferts at all or incomplete nutrition (e.g. using only a micro fert).

There's a sticky guide to ferts that can be useful.

I read the sticky guide to ferts! Some of it didn’t make sense, but it definitely helped!

What is your guys favorite all in one fert?

Does amazon sword need more than a reading light to grow? With a good fert?

I will definitely do some Anubias. Anyone know any really good ten gallon lights? For growing plants?

 

I’m also a plant killer. My banana plant lost its bananas! Crypts are a no. The amazon swords are doing well. My anubias nana petites are fine. Wisteria is dying. Have about 3 inches of it left. Java moss melted. I just did a substrate change. On one end I used the eco Complete. Stuck the swords in there along with what’s left of the crypts. I need lighting really bad. My Nicrew light died. Just a few months old too. I’ll be interested in what you get growing. Good luck!

 

What is your guys favorite fert?

Definitely NilocG Thrive: lasts a long time, it's cheap, and it has a guaranteed analysis of its nutrient composition. Most of the all-in-one ferts that I've seen people mention don't provide that information and because of this, you can never be sure if you're providing the right level of macros and micros.

Does need more than a reading light to grow? With a good fert?

I will definitely do some Anubias. Anyone know any really good ten gallon ? For growing plants?

I'll leave that to others who live in the US: my knowledge of lighting options outside of Aus is very poor I'm afraid!

 

Water Wisteria (at least for me) is indestructible I can't kill it, it just keeps growing

 

Great!

My plan so far is anubias, water wisteria (that floats, right?), Java moss, amazon sword and maybe I will try Java fern.

I think I will get a really good light. Anyone recommend any brands?

I will try and use Niloc G Thrive.

 

Wisteria is (in my case) better planted, btw, I have a ton of it, I have heard that people can sell things on here, so if you want to buy any contact me

 

Great! Light recommendations?

 

Despite having no fertilizers what so ever, a very thin layer of sand (less than half an inch in most places) and just the lighting that came with the tank, java fern, anubias, crypts, water lettuce and salvinia have all managed to survive. All of these have grown and I have managed to split the java fern, anubias and crypts so I hage more plants. The majority of my plants have been bought with no research at all so I guess I've just been lucky. I've got a few other plants but I'm not sure what they're called.

 

Okay! I figure I will get the plants, and if they start dieing, I will invest in a good light. Thanks everyone!

 

I'm a noob too and I've had really good luck with the Wisteria. Just stuck it in the gravel and in just 2 months it has pretty much doubled in size. I use the NilocG Thrive brand all-in-one fert. A little goes a long way. I've begun also using Flourish Iron once a week as some of my plants are allegedly needing it. Allegedly. Personally I think the plant companies are in cahoots with the fert companies but that's just my own conspiracy theory.

 

Something to keep in mind when planting heavy root feeding plants like Amazon Swords or any sword plants is very important is to avoid putting the plant deep into the substrate. Leave the crown above the substrate or you'll be subjagated to crown rot. The crown is between where the root grows from the bottom and the stem/leaves grows from the top.
It took me two years to recongize my beginner mistake to understand why my Amazon swords do good at first, then leaves die away. Picture below for an example on how to properly plant Amazon Swords.

 

Thanks! Does anyone know any plants that can thrive in cold water, with VERY minimal light?

I have a 110 gallon stock tank in my garage, it has 2 goldfish in it. What are some plants I can either weigh down with rocks or float them. I will have a very small light source.

I don’t care if my goldfish nibble on them, but I don’t want them to eat all of it, so preferably a plant goldfish don’t find tasty!

 

Horn wort for you're goldfish tank

 

Horn wort for you're goldfish tank

I am going for a low-clutter look for the tank. So I don’t really want anything floating. Does Hornwort float? Or can I plant it in my thin layer of sand?

 

Ive done fake aqua scapes.... Not to bad but somehow always ends up looking not natural of course. How did fake plants and rocks turn out to look like New York City... I don't know. Lol good luck to you, same with me I could only grow Anubis and everything else well RIP.