[Gafi]

I'm basically concerned about under or overstocking a planted tank with plants. I am running Pressurized CO2, about 4.1 WPG of light (T5HO bulbs) and fertilizing with macro and micro nutrients.....my question is....how densly do I plant the tank, knowing that the plants will eventually grow in size...I feel that sometimes the plants seem to close together (2-3 inches from each other) just not sure what to do! Any suggestions?

 

[Axelrodi202]

There's no worry about overstocking plants. The only worries about dense planting are that some of the lower leaves may not get as much light, but this isn't too bad if you ask me since you usually don't see them anyways. Also, there's this thing called allelopathy which is basically chemical warfare between plants, but it doesn't happen too often and when it does usually only results in only one or a few species of plants not being able to grow well.

 

[jart]

If you let the plants get extremely crowded, your water circulation can suffer, which can create problems with CO2 delivery to the plants.

 

[Gafi]

so is there like a rule or?

 

[Axelrodi202]

There's no rule really. Just use your own judgement. Look at people's tanks on this forum for ideas.

 

[Gafi]

most of them are full grown haha

 

[Axelrodi202]

Dense planting is fine. Just don't let the plants get too tall to the point where they are shading other plants (unintentionally) or could be blocking the water flow.

 

[Gafi]

hmm ok...perhaps I should upload a picture...is there a way to do that after I started the thread?

 

[Gafi]

nevermind here are 3 pics...thoughts.....additions?

 

[10gallonplanted]

Dude you can put waaay more plants in there! I like it when you can't see the substrate in the back.

 

[Gafi]

ohhh hahah any suggestions?

 

[10gallonplanted]

Get some crypts to cover the bases of the stem plants, they are my favorite mid-ground plant.

 

[Gafi]

ok cool anything else for background?

 

[shrimpNewbie]

waterflow is imperative in keeping the substrate and tank in general clean, a extremely dense yet manicured tank is a great balance, I totally agree, you could use alot more plants, personally i love that sword and would plant them all over the back corner and side of one side of the tank and start tiering down, however swords tend to reproduce like crazy via runners for me, and I'm sure it would be no different for you, so trimming every few days is pretty much a must, so go crazy and add more, just remember trimming is a good thing, and make sure there are no dead spots in flow because un eaten food or dead leaves will find it and stay there, the heavier your plant load the harder it will be to clean those areas without damage, i tore down two tanks because of this and it was a big lesson learned, however i love lush dense plantings, just even it out by adding a power head to get dead spots, and trim to where the plants are low, besides your background if you want them tall, which amazon swords look amazing like that, also if you can get one add a tiger lotus in front of the sword about 2-4 inches away for a nice red contrast =] another plant that grows fairly large and will require trimming to keep looking great


also a good background for that tank besides the swords in a corner would be blyxa A, or jungle val or even a giant hairgrass wall