As the title suggests, I am starting a 40 gallon low tech tank (36" L x 12" W X 20" H) and I want some help on picking out plants as well as quantities to get started. I have black sand and will be adding some dark grey slate like rocks and perhaps some pieces of wood. I want to create a carpet effect. I like Glossostigma but have heard mixed things for low tech. I am open to anything but am not really big on some of the mossy kinds of plants. For background etc. I'm open to suggestions; the hardier the better!
No plans on adding fish but someday maybe some schooling ones like tetras.
I want to get some plants established and then ill see. Maybe some neon tetras or some other schooling fish
I think I'm going to get glosso for sure. Anubis and swords seem to be easy ones too. I really liked sunset hygro but it looks like it's difficult to get unless you have a local connection. Anything similar? I like the bright pink!
You could start a WTB (Want To Buy) thread in the WTB/RAOK section and see if anyone would sell you that Sunset Hygro. I've bought 3 fish (juvniles) and 3 types of plants from members on this site and EVERY SINGLE ONE has been great, just awesome.
Also watch the RAOK (Random Acts of Kindness) threads, a lot of people will share plants with you for the cost of shipping. The people here are wonderful
I purchased one plant from one of the big box stores in the gel and it's doing fine. The rest of the plants I've purchased from members, swords, anubias, java fern, and more, and it's all looking good. If anything it came in better than it is now. But that's my fault!
Here it is. Not a whole lot going on yet although I have added some black sand. I used black sand in a previous salt water tank but the fish made it pretty nasty looking; hoping it stays clean!
I have everything ready but the plants! Not sure on the lighting (4 bulbs @ 39w ea); my current setup is pretty overkill from what I've read so I might take out one of the bulbs and just run 3. I have an LED light just for effects that I was going to run in the evening to give it a nice glow. 2 200 GPH filters and a heater are on the side.
If you want a low tech carpet using glosso,I would say success rate is good with dirt. Using plain sand/gravel, I rarely see good carpets (not counting larger, easier stuff like dwarf sag) compared to the number of failures.
I never have any luck with glosso in low light. Maybe that is just me. Dwarf Sag grows like a weed and needs very little in the way of care. I think it is a great plant to start with.
I just think there is a big difference between 5 gallons and 40. I find I can do lots of things in a small tank that I just can't do in a larger tank. I guess the par values just drop off quickly or something. Plus there is the fact that ambient light just penetrates a small tank more.
Oh yes, PAR drops off quite fast unless you're using stronger penetration lighting. Also surface area to volume falls off as tanks get larger, the plant mass ratio is higher in smaller tanks - less algae issues. Of course the trade offs as well - larger tanks are more stable, etc.
Excel is an excellent option IMO. I use it exclusively in my lower light tanks, and for spot killing algae in my higher light tanks. It just gives me a headache every time I have to buy a jug of it at the store.
Do you think it would allow glosso to grow well? I dont mind the cost or having to dose daily or every other day but I just want it to look nice and green there are so many gorgeous tanks on this site and I want to add my own!
I dont mind dwarf sag. It seems like its ridiculously easy to grow and has a nice grassy look to it. I just like the glosso more because of the bright color and leafiness
In my opinion dwarf sag would work for sure, but I haven't seen many good examples of low tech glosso carpets with just a sand + excel combi. If sand + excel grew glosso, every low tech tank here would have a carpet.
Great! Thanks for all of the replies. I'll do some more research and hopefully get started soon.
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