[Judeamarco]

Hello,

I recently was able to snag some plate glass for free.

4 pieces of 6mm that are 8" x 32".

2 pieces of 10mm that are 12" x 30".

So obviously, it's gonna be quite a shallow and long tank. I was thinking maybe a 8" height x 30" width x 12" deep aquarium which is roughly 12 gallons. It will be heated and filtered and dosed with liquid CO2 and root tabs but not lighted. It will have instead indirect sunlight as its light source since it's close to the window. It will get some direct sunlight for a few hours when the sun is setting.

Now my question is what plants are suitable for this type of application? I'm hoping for some of the plants to poke out of the surface of the water or look good from above as well. I was thinking:

Ludwigia
Rotala
Anubias
Vallisneria
Crypts(??)
Water Sprite
Java Moss(just for the shrimps really)
Duckweed(will control it to not cover the entire tank.

Thing is, I'm looking as well for a good carpeting plant. I'm really worried about the lighting of it. CO2 and ferts are easy enough.

Any help please...?

The fauna by the way is going to be a colony of RCS, a school of ember tetra, hopefully a docile betta, and an MTS colony.

 

[theatermusic87]

You can do without the moss if that's your preference, I find that finer leaved plants work as a substitute. Things like myrio, cabomba, etc

 

[loach guy]

I have a 20 gallon natural light tank. It has an inert sand substrate. This tank was my first experiment with live plants. I also had a shrimp tank that was natural light right next to it. The plant that has done the best is guppy grass. Shrimp love this stuff and it's much easier to manage than Java Moss. You can grow it thick or thin, float it, tie it, plant it. It's one of my favorite plants because it's so easy to grow, and it's so versatile. Oh yeah, and I never dosed ferts in those tanks. Anubias will do well. Just mind where you place it. I recently started up a 10 gallon tank with a bunch of crypts. I had some let over, so I am experimenting with them in the 20. I have had them for about 3 weeks now, and the crypts in the 20 are doing really well. In fact, that was the only tank I haven't had crypt melt in yet. A carpet plant you might want to try is crypt parva. I would skip the duckweed and use a larger floating plant like red root floater or frogbit. Keep in mind through that your tank is so shallow, that you would need to keep these trimmed. I also put some pennywort in that 20 gallon and it seems to be doing really well. Your betta might like that. You could always use that as your floater too. Vals may be too tall for what you are looking for.

 

[Judeamarco]

I'll check out the guppy grass if my LFS has them in store. Browsing the internet, I still haven't found a definitive answer if indirect sunlight/direct sunlight will be enough to grow more demanding plants. My cabomba in the main tank is doing well but it's under some pretty high light so I'm not sure about that! I had crypt parva before and let me tell you those things do not propagate enough to make a carpet in a lifetime haha! But good call in the red root floaters, my LFS are giving those away for free!

Once the tank cures, I'll post some photos!

 

[RWaters]

Browsing the internet, I still haven't found a definitive answer if indirect sunlight/direct sunlight will be enough to grow more demanding plants.

I know what you mean, but I found this funny. You're looking on the internet to see if sunlight grows plants! :icon_lol::icon_lol::icon_lol:

 

[theatermusic87]

I'll check out the guppy grass if my LFS has them in store. Browsing the internet, I still haven't found a definitive answer if indirect sunlight/direct sunlight will be enough to grow more demanding plants. My cabomba in the main tank is doing well but it's under some pretty high light so I'm not sure about that! I had crypt parva before and let me tell you those things do not propagate enough to make a carpet in a lifetime haha! But good call in the red root floaters, my LFS are giving those away for free!

Once the tank cures, I'll post some photos!

I have done cabomba in a moderately lot tank and it's been growing well. It's only been there for about 3 weeks but the growth was actuallt a lot faster than I was expecting. For specs is a 3 gallon tank with a finnex fugeray clip on light, so 12 -14 inches deep with 4 watts of led, indirect light should be fine

 

[AquaAurora]

Water sprite grows like a beast, you'd be thinning it out constantly in such a shallow tank to keep it from smothering out other plants.

 

[Benboone]

Bump. I would just follow this post but the website is being difficult. I have a similar tank I'm working on and unsure about what plants to use. I have been thinking of grasses, anubias and java fern. My tank will have pretty high flow. My post is here if you are interested in checking it out.

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/22-planted-nano-tanks/1026673-nano-river-tank-48x9x5-10-gal.html

 

[Judeamarco]

I have recently put the tank in hiatus because my local guy who cuts glass currently is injured and I ruined a sheet of the glass by trying it myself. Good call in the high flow though, I'll follow your thread definitely! If planted doesnt work, I could always start with my multies cichlid idea!