Help "choosing plants/setting up" first planted tank 2.5g

[AirSong]

I'm starting my first tank. I found a very nice glass 2.5g one that I plan to buy sometime next week.

My priority in the new tank are my betta and marimo (claudophora aegopropila) who are currently sharing a tank a little over 1g.

I'll probably add some riccia for the carpet and either elodea crispa or elodea/egeria densa in the back. I'm aiming for a low light aquarium so that the plants don't overgrow the tank too quickly, though I'm aware I will probably have to do some clipping more often than not.

My question is, are the plants I'm choosing ok with the marimo or will they steal too many nutrients from it? destroy it if it rolls around? the marimo is my favorite aquatic plant/algae and I don't want the rest to kill it off. Should I choose something else? if so, what do you suggest?

With such a small tank I'm also guessing adding CO2 will be unnecessary?

Honestly, besides what I've read around, I don't know the first thing about planted tanks, so any help or tips, would be a huge help.

[wendyjo]

OK the first question that comes to my mind is this: is this little tank cycled? If you don't know what that means (and no offense if you do) then you need to read up on the nitrogen cycle (google it). If the tank is not cycled and you don't plan to cycle it then that means that you will need to do 100% water changes on it. So actual planted plants are not going to work, as you would be disturbing their root system each week when you changed out all the water and cleaned out the tank and gravel. If this is the case then you could use superglue to attach java fern to the decor and peices of driftwood or rocks. This will still give you alot of the benefits of a planted tank as well as the beauty.

If the tank is cycled then the plants you use will depend on your lighting. I would still stick with lowlight plants such as java fern and java moss. There are some swords that will do "OK" in lower light situations, but they may get too tall for that sized tank.

[AirSong]

I do have plans to cycle it. I'm getting the tank brand new in a few days to start work on that, I don't want to do complete water changes all the time. However since the weather is so hot in here I will have to add more water once or twice a week because it tends to evaporate.

[Hilde]

CYCLE FISHLESS
I went to an Ace Hardware store and bought the Ace brand ammonia. The ingredients should be only contains ammonia and water.
Then added plants and after 2 weeks added fish. Results were no algae.


This is some info I collected.


I think, from observing Hoppy's UGF low light setup, that marsilea minuta would be better for ground cover.

[AirSong]

Fishless?

I was planning on using Rex's Method and as far as I'm aware do need some fish. Isn't going fishless harder?

I did consider marsilea minuta, but unfortunately it is impossible to get in my country T-T .

BTW, things I have right now.

2.5 gallon tank:


It came with the light fixture and bulb that has the following stats:


is this too strong? weak? should I get something else?

and I bought a bag of "Azoo Plant Grower Bed" which was the only thing available here, which I hope is at least semi-decent.

Will these ones be ok for my needs or should I get something else?

BTW,in case you're curious, what are to be the main residents of said tank :

[wendyjo]

Fishless is much easier cause you don't have to worry about killing anyone. You don't have to do water changes or monitor the parameters as often. Just use plain non-sudsing ammonia (or you can use fish food which will rot and produce ammonia) and let the tank cycle. Check your params a few times a week to see how it's coming along. Once it's done do a large water change and add fish. Much eaiser than testing daily and doing water changes, and no fish gets harmed.

[SleepySin]

I, too, have a 2.5g for my betta, Captain Bouble. He has a Coralife Mini-Aqualight above his tank with 2 9W 6700K bulbs. So to respond to the question about the light, no 11W isn't too much. Just make sure the spectrum of the bulb isn't meant for marine setups. I've had various types of plants going in and out of Captain's tank and none have burnt up under the lights.

I honestly don't know too much about ideal marimo ball conditions from personal experience but in my larger 30g tank, the riccia carpet is barely hanging in there with a T5 HO 39W+21W fixture (2wpg). I'm thinking that it may be a good idea to move my riccia into the 2.5g since it has lots of concentrated bright light..

I found that plants which require lesser light are much easier to start off with. If you can refrain from shifting plants around too much, cryptocorynes add interest to the tank. Anubias are also a good choice for low-light setups. The good thing about using lower light plants is that you know that your lack-of-sufficient-light isn't the issue if something goes wrong. In my case, the low-light plants that are notorious for being slow-growers did pretty well with the bright light.

[AirSong]

Is there any way to know the spectrum with the info above? That's all that came with the bulb, it glows a very bright white but that's all I know about it. No other info came with it nor the tank.

[Axelrodi202]

The light seems good. And a simple way to cycle the tank is just put in plants and leave it idle for two weeks. Snails from the plants and the plants themselves provide a bio-load. No, the marimo wouldn't harm other plants. You would be better off with letting the riccia float. Bettas like it for their bubblenest.

[AirSong]

Originally Posted by Axelrodi202

The light seems good. And a simple way to cycle the tank is just put in plants and leave it idle for two weeks. Snails from the plants and the plants themselves provide a bio-load. No, the marimo wouldn't harm other plants. You would be better off with letting the riccia float. Bettas like it for their bubblenest.

So what should I use for the carpet then?

Only things available here are riccia, java moss, taiwan moss and spiky moss... maybe hairgrass, I'll have to search for that one later. I'm just worried the mosses will take up a lot of space in the small tank, riccia always seems more "compact".

And actually I'm not worried about the marimo hurting the other plants, I'm more worried about the other plants hurting the marimo since it is my favorite aquatic plant. I'm looking for marimo friendly flora .

[lauraleellbp]

Any of the mosses you could make work. I think riccia always ends up making a mess. Chain swords would work.

I believe there are some Marselia sp. native to Mexico? You might try hunting some up on your own!

[wendyjo]

What about dwarf sag for a carpet?

[AirSong]

Dwarf sag? is that the same as "Sagina Subulata"? because if it is I can get seeds, but not the grown plant D: .

Ok, other things I found around here that I might be able to use:

Glossostigma elatinoides, which I think requires high light?
Hemianthus callitrichoides, I know nothing about this one, researching now.
Lilaleopsis... I don't know what kind though, it is only listed as that >.>
Eleocharis acicularis, dwarf hairgrass (?), I found some !
Eleocharis vivipara, this needs high light too, right?

Still no marsilea though, no one here seems to have it

[brion0]

Glosso, an hairgrass look good in nano tanks. You should check out the Nano forum, to get some ideas.

[Hilde]

For some strange reason I can get the sags to grow. Thus using xmass moss as ground cover. I just used a few rocks to keep it down. Eventually going to glue it with super glue to some metal screen so that I can put it in breeding tank temporarily.