Coop plant order assistance

[Guppysnail]

I want these

im afraid they may not grow here’s why:

- i do not ever use fertilizer or root tabs in my aquariums ever.  If a plant needs something I remove it to a cup on my windowsill with equilibrium and easy green I keep nitrate below 20 and am not willing to go higher. Plants are filter media to me I am a terrible aquascaper anyway  🤣

-if all plants need I will add 1/8 dose of equilibrium only into tank 

-no co2

- I allow nothing to root in substrate…I recently went bare bottom on the 4 I want this for the fifth it will be suction cupped to a wall. The four I do have flat planters with gravel that they will sit on top of gravel (see pictures) but those get vacuumed out regularly 

hard water 7.4-7.6 ph all tanks I use hygger lights full power 8 hrs 50% power 3 more hours but keep the red and blue off at all times. Algae never grows that way. Brown diatom comes even after years because of my sourcevwater which is about 10-15 nitrate sometimes 20-25 hate those times. Temp 77-78
 

things that readily grow for me hornwort Brazilian pennywort wisteria Asian fern super red ludwiga repens cardinal swords anubias Java fern moneywort lemon bacopa(sometimes)

things that don’t red root floaters frogbit duckweed (yup what I don’t kill my kids eat) sprite tries but hates me bacopa Carolina mint Charlie 

I am asking because I am not willing to change things for a plant but this will be a large order and I  don’t want to waste money on things that won’t do well

Thank you in advance to all you aquascaping plant superstars (I am not🤣)

here are the planters that plants sit on top of

Edited September 16, 2021 by Guppysnail

[Tihshho]

Pogostemon Stellatus should be fine as it can be grown floating. Is there any reason why you don't want to dose something like Easy Green or use fert tabs? Without a constant nutrient source the plants will basically be starving once they have depleated what's in the water column and whatever has built up in the small bits of substrate. 

[GameCzar]

We have scarlet temple and dwarf lilies, low light, no CO2, we do use Easy Green if the nitrates are below 10ish.  They are both doing well, although the lily is definitely thriving more than the temple. 

[Guppysnail]

On 9/16/2021 at 7:27 PM, Tihshho said:

Pogostemon Stellatus should be fine as it can be grown floating. Is there any reason why you don't want to dose something like Easy Green or use fert tabs? Without a constant nutrient source the plants will basically be starving once they have depleated what's in the water column and whatever has built up in the small bits of substrate. 

Yes. I have extremely high waste producers, I am way overstocked on all tanks always am I love it 😁. My source water reads like liquid fertilizer to begin with. I won’t drink or cook with it. Huge local issue. I truly feel adding things in the water column harms fish in the long run or is at least not good for them. All the plants I listed do great for years this way so I’m ok if no others grow. 

On 9/16/2021 at 7:29 PM, GameCzar said:

We have scarlet temple and dwarf lilies, low light, no CO2, we do use Easy Green if the nitrates are below 10ish.  They are both doing well, although the lily is definitely thriving more than the temple. 

Great. Yeah my source water is rarely as low as 10 🤮

[Tihshho]

The lily is going to be a heavy feeder once it starts to grow and it will need a place for the roots to anchor. Without supplemental feeding, long term success might not be great with them, but without knowing the specifics about a full water chemistry break down I can't say one way or the other. 

How often are you doing water changes? Depending on how much water is changed, even with organics in the source water, the levels might be fluctuating a bit much for some of the other species outside what you currently have. Plants that show red generally need a decent and reliable source of iron to keep up with that coloration, and that's usually outside of what can be provided from a water source as well as other trace minerals that are not found in equilibrium, but again without a breakdown I can't say this will be your case for sure. 

In terms of staying bare bottom, I understand the convenience for it, I do the same, but I would recommend some deeper pots rather than saucers for planting to assist in healthy root growth for non epiphytic species (Java Moss, Anubias.)

In terms of the additives being toxic, you're more than welcome to believe what you want, but I doubt anything being provided by ACO would be considered toxic if dosed to the recommended levels. 

[Guppysnail]

On 9/16/2021 at 7:40 PM, Tihshho said:

The lily is going to be a heavy feeder once it starts to grow and it will need a place for the roots to anchor. Without supplemental feeding, long term success might not be great with them, but without knowing the specifics about a full water chemistry break down I can't say one way or the other. 

How often are you doing water changes? Depending on how much water is changed, even with organics in the source water, the levels might be fluctuating a bit much for some of the other species outside what you currently have. Plants that show red generally need a decent and reliable source of iron to keep up with that coloration, and that's usually outside of what can be provided from a water source as well as other trace minerals that are not found in equilibrium, but again without a breakdown I can't say this will be your case for sure. 

In terms of staying bare bottom, I understand the convenience for it, I do the same, but I would recommend some deeper pots rather than saucers for planting to assist in healthy root growth for non epiphytic species (Java Moss, Anubias.)

In terms of the additives being toxic, you're more than welcome to believe what you want, but I doubt anything being provided by ACO would be considered toxic if dosed to the recommended levels. 

I do minimum 10% daily with vac. All my tanks have tons of various fry so usually alot more and 1-2 50%/week my water is nasty with iron. My super red lugwiga stays red my cardinals I float at the surface stay purple.  I don’t think the fertz are toxic just not good for or provide anything beneficial to the fish. I am definitely a fish girl not a plant girl 🤣 Plants are pretty but again are just a further method to purify water for me. That’s why I hesitated to spend this amount on them. Usually an lfs 1 hour from me carries an entire room of plants submerged for 2-3$ Firba huge bunch but they don’t have these. Plants that die I just replace no love lost…I’m heartless when it comes to plants

[Keeg]

As a heads up, you dont need to do a large order of the octopus plants. It literally only took a month for mine (one pot from co-op) to grow so much and so fast that I had to trim. Then growth became exponential because when you cut, three grow from the cut like a hydra dragon.