- Messages
- 15
- Location
- Santa Barbara, CA
Hi all, I'm starting to decorate my new tank while it cycles, and I'd like some advice on plants... I haven't gotten kH/gH tests yet, but the website for the local water comission says that our water is extremely hard, with gobs of calcium carbonate (high kH?). I've heard that some plants won't fare so well in the "liquid rock" that we call water.
I have a ~75gal tank that is 24" deep. Right now I just have a shoplight type setup with 2 40W bulbs (one daylight and one plant/aquarium, i believe both are GE bulbs, from Home Depot and Kmart respectively). Eventually i want to rip out the shoplight and replace it with a custom job that has 3 or 4 bulbs, but for the moment I've just got the two (and the money for light refits will likely get spent on fish instead, so it might be awhile before the lights get changed).
I suspect that this qualifies as "low" light, since I have just barely over 1W/gal, and a tall tank to boot.
I have no plans to supplement CO2 in this tank. The primary dwellers will be dwarf tanganyikans -- I will probably only plant one corner heavily, and perhaps a few plants along the back. I want to leave plenty of open water and sand for the cyprichromis and shell dwellers respectively.
The substrate is a fine gravel/course sand. I could build a terrace and have gravel in the corner if my plants would prefer that.
Now that I've bored you all talking about my tank, does anyone have plant suggestions?
I have a ~75gal tank that is 24" deep. Right now I just have a shoplight type setup with 2 40W bulbs (one daylight and one plant/aquarium, i believe both are GE bulbs, from Home Depot and Kmart respectively). Eventually i want to rip out the shoplight and replace it with a custom job that has 3 or 4 bulbs, but for the moment I've just got the two (and the money for light refits will likely get spent on fish instead, so it might be awhile before the lights get changed).
I suspect that this qualifies as "low" light, since I have just barely over 1W/gal, and a tall tank to boot.
I have no plans to supplement CO2 in this tank. The primary dwellers will be dwarf tanganyikans -- I will probably only plant one corner heavily, and perhaps a few plants along the back. I want to leave plenty of open water and sand for the cyprichromis and shell dwellers respectively.
The substrate is a fine gravel/course sand. I could build a terrace and have gravel in the corner if my plants would prefer that.
Now that I've bored you all talking about my tank, does anyone have plant suggestions?