Foreground Nano

[swapnils]

Hi Guys,
I have 12x7x9 (LXBXH) tank lying around and want to make it only foreground planted tank with some rocks without filter fish etc.

1) What will be light requirement for plants like HC, glosso or Hairgrass.
2) Which of the above plant are best suited with excel dosing?
3) Which plant of the above will look better. I have never got a forground carpet so this is my dream

Thanks in advance,
Avadhoot.

 

[Mooner]

IMO, the Hair Grass will get taller and tend to hide things(rocks) but it can be mowed like a lawn. Where as HC and Glosso can be full grown can be kept much shorter and cleaner looking. Again just MO. I have all these and have seen no ill effect from using Excel. This is so small that you could try all three over time with ease.

 

[VaughnH]

This is a perfect tank for starting the carpet plant emersed, then adding the water after it has grown to be a carpet. See http://www.barrreport.com/articles/3361-new-methoid-make-nice-rug-hc-before-you-add-water.html for details about how to do it.

 

[tedr108]

Hoppy's (VaughnH's) suggestion of starting emersed is an excellent idea.

HC has the smallest leaves and stays the lowest. I think that would be a better fit for this tank and would try that one first. Of course, HC is tougher to grow than the other two.

Now, if it were me, I would put HC front center, hairgrass in one back corner & glosso in the other. When I decided which one I liked best, I might pull the other two. Or, I might leave hairgrass or glosso in the back half and keep the HC in the front.

 

[swapnils]

Thanks for the replies guys. Now can you please help me out with lighting?

Is 3x11 watts PLL 6500K lighting enough for glosso. If its enough for glosso then rest two will have no problem. Out if 3 can i fix 10,000K 11 watts PLL or a CFL will do?

Planning laterite with river sand as of now or will get Amazonia II if pocket permits.

Also is Azoo Plant solid Iron fertilizer good enough to use?

 

[swapnils]

Help me out please.

 

[VaughnH]

For that small a tank I find it very hard to guess whether or not a specific light arrangement will be adequate. But, I think the 33 watts of fluorescent light will be enough. Having a good concentration of CO2 in the water will likely be necessary for either glosso or HC to do very well.

 

[tedr108]

Swapnils:

A 12 x 7 x 9 tank should be about 8 gallons, right? That's 4 watts per gallon -- that should be enough, leaning more toward too much.

There are so many factors that go into a tank that nobody can really give you a right answer about this. We do not know whether you are using CO2 or not, what type of fertilizer you are using, fish load, etc, etc. All of these factors affect your lighting requirements and your lighting affects all of these factors. In the Articles forum here, several different types of tanks are discussed: CO2, non-CO2, high light, low light, fertilizing routines. By the time you read through these articles and decide what type of tank you want, you will probably be able to answer your own question better than we can.

 

[VaughnH]

No, that is about 3 gallons, maybe 3 1/4 gallons. Watts per gallon mean nothing with that size tank. I had a 27 watt PC light over a 2 1/2 gallon tank, and it grew plants like a low light tank, and looked like one. But, that was a desk lamp, with no reflector to speak of. Now I have that same light, installed in a hood I made, with a reflector behind the bulb, over a 10 gallon tank, and it looks like a bit more than low light. Here is where a simple measurement with a PAR meter would help a lot.

 

[swapnils]

No, that is about 3 gallons, maybe 3 1/4 gallons. Watts per gallon mean nothing with that size tank.

Thats why i asked this question about lighting so that people who have grown glosso in these kind of setups could help me out.

Finally ordered ADA Amazonia 3L bag.

Hood still in making and already got 3 x 11 watts 6500K PLL lighting.

This tank will have no filter & fish. This is just a setup for carpeting plants. First will try glosso then HG and finally HC.