Joined
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1,515 Posts
Welcome to the hobby!
To address a few of your questions:
Most of those plants will do fine with low light, but the Ludwigia will not redden up too much. It may get a bit of a bronze'ish hue, but it won't be red.
Dosing the water column is fine for most plants, but your swords will really benefit from root tabs. They can be grown in inert substrate, but they really thrive with root feeding.
For dosing, your tank is small enough that you can get away with liquid fertilizers from Seachem. You would need Comprehensive, Trace, Nitrogen, and Phosphorus. The cheaper way would be to mix your own Micros and Macros with a package from GLA or Nilocg. I know it seems like overkill for your small tank, but it will still save you money in the long run. For a dosing regiments, you can choose to go either EI (half doses because of the low light and no CO2), or PPS pro.
I'm going to add in some info you didn't ask about, but is important for everyone with their first planted tank. The biggest thing you need to know, is that water changes are pretty much a fact of life. Get used to it, because they are essential to a well functioning planted tank.
Secondly, proper tank husbandry goes a long way. You can easily find a reason to get your hands wet every single day, plucking out dying leaves, trimming plants, etc. This also keeps you better in touch with your plants, and what they need. You'll catch the beginnings of algae sooner, you'll see a plant growing weird and look up deficiencies, etc...
Lastly, without CO2 your lighting will be a challenge. If you see plants growing slowly, or not at all, don't just jump into a better light, or more hours. Remembers that you have an environment suited to growing plants, and algae are plants. Low tech, low light tanks are often just as difficult to manage as high tech, high lighting tanks with CO2.
Can you share what light you're using, and how many hours per day it's on?
To address a few of your questions:
Most of those plants will do fine with low light, but the Ludwigia will not redden up too much. It may get a bit of a bronze'ish hue, but it won't be red.
Dosing the water column is fine for most plants, but your swords will really benefit from root tabs. They can be grown in inert substrate, but they really thrive with root feeding.
For dosing, your tank is small enough that you can get away with liquid fertilizers from Seachem. You would need Comprehensive, Trace, Nitrogen, and Phosphorus. The cheaper way would be to mix your own Micros and Macros with a package from GLA or Nilocg. I know it seems like overkill for your small tank, but it will still save you money in the long run. For a dosing regiments, you can choose to go either EI (half doses because of the low light and no CO2), or PPS pro.
I'm going to add in some info you didn't ask about, but is important for everyone with their first planted tank. The biggest thing you need to know, is that water changes are pretty much a fact of life. Get used to it, because they are essential to a well functioning planted tank.
Secondly, proper tank husbandry goes a long way. You can easily find a reason to get your hands wet every single day, plucking out dying leaves, trimming plants, etc. This also keeps you better in touch with your plants, and what they need. You'll catch the beginnings of algae sooner, you'll see a plant growing weird and look up deficiencies, etc...
Lastly, without CO2 your lighting will be a challenge. If you see plants growing slowly, or not at all, don't just jump into a better light, or more hours. Remembers that you have an environment suited to growing plants, and algae are plants. Low tech, low light tanks are often just as difficult to manage as high tech, high lighting tanks with CO2.
Can you share what light you're using, and how many hours per day it's on?
