plants for SAP?

[kelsi.nikoel]

What are some good hardy plants to keep in a SAP tank?

[marksrush]

Well, in my freshwater tank, I grow bacopa, banana plants, dwarf onion, java fern, and dwarf val, and some sort of sword (I think) with red leaves, all of which are doing quite well. Sure, there are a few neat little round holes in a few leaves here and there, but not enough to do any real damage. With proper lighting, you really have tons of choices.

[Myaj]

How many watts per gallon? That's the main thing that determines what plant species you'll be able to keep.

[kelsi.nikoel]

Right now I have 3/4 of a watt per gall

[puffertt77]

I've planted about 130 plants in my tank and there must be 30 or more plant spieces in there and they're all doing great

I never even thought about the lighting but I've just had a look and it's a Classica Tropical Sunlight by Arcadia, it's 42inches/1052mm in length, 26mm round and is 38 watts

I've got a 4ft x 1.5 ft x 1.5ft tank

I've always been told that you don't really have to worry about plants in Freshwater Tropical Tanks only Marine where you have to have special bulbs

ps I have a SAP and a Mbu

[kelsi.nikoel]

What about things like fluorescent lighting vs. incandescent lighting, CO2, and substrate?
My tank is pretty much empty right now, except gravel and rocks, so Im looking for all kinds of plants: background plants, forground plants, carpet grass/plants, floating plants, plants plants plants lol
Im interested in mosses and ferns cuz they seem low maintenance.

[puffertt77]

What about things like fluorescent lighting vs. incandescent lighting, CO2, and substrate?
My tank is pretty much empty right now, except gravel and rocks, so Im looking for all kinds of plants: background plants, forground plants, carpet grass/plants, floating plants, plants plants plants lol
Im interested in mosses and ferns cuz they seem low maintenance.

Hey Kelsi.nikoel

I posted what's below to another person that wanted to get a load of plants so I've just copied and pasted it here so you can have the same info (I take it you're from USA), I have gravel in my tank by the way. The plants that are floating at the top are just normal plants that you plant but I left them floating because my Simese Fighter and my guppies love hanging out in them and exploring them

I've just bought 125 plants off of Ebay.co.uk and filled my 55UKgallon Tank (see tank below)

planted-tank-full-final-high-1400.jpg

planted-tank-left-final-just-high.jpg

planted-tank-right-final-just-high.jpg

tank-side-high2.jpg

(Sorry should've wiped front of tank also cameraphone pix are crap)

I've had a look on Ebay.com (USA) and have found a few links for you, I'm not sure how much of a bargain these offers are as I don't know how much plants are in your lfs

The first one is a package of plants which should fill a 20gallon tank, it costs $26 INC P&P. Maybe you could get 2? check out their shop as they do 5 different packages (see link below)
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 2759.l1259


The 2nd one is for 20 plastic plants and is $54 INC P&P, Seems a bit expensive to me but maybe it's not in the USA (see link below)
http://cgi.ebay.com/20-assorted-plastic ... |294%3A200

In this third one they've got 3 different deals as follows:-
12 plants $33 inc p&p
30 PLANTS $57 inc p&p
50 plants $89 inc p&p
(see link below)
http://cgi.ebay.com/12-Assorted-Aquariu ... m153.l1262

Personally I think the more plants the better, when I first squeesed 125 plants in my tank they looked a bit to packed in/overcrowded but after a day the plants hjad relaxed and the fishes had been swimming all round and through them

Trust me it's more fun watching your puffer curiously exploring a well planted tank than just watching them in the open

Hope this has helped you out

Puffertt77

[Myaj]

Low light plants (less than 2 watts per gallon) are any of the javas (java moss, java fern), anubias (bartoli, nana, etc) and several types of crypts. If you can find najas grass, that will grow like crazy too, but make a mess. Same thing with duckweed, it spreads like crazy, sucks up the nutrients, but once you have it in a tank it can be impossible to get rid of it. And it likes to plug up your filter intake and blocks light to the other plants.