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I've been researching plants for a possible 55g in the future.  I currently only have a 10g with silk plants for a betta. 

I wanted to experiment with some plants in my 10g first.  But I had a question... 

My nitrates have never gone above 10. If I'm wanting plants, do I need prolong water changes to get the nitrates higher so the plants have some food?   Or am I  not understanding this properly? 

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If you have an inert substrate you can use root tabs for any root feeders and easy green liquid for any water column feeders.  Then just watch for any specific micro-nutrient deficiencies.   Of course you could use any brand of tab and liquid but hey why not easy green if it is available to you.  As for prolonging time between water changes, yes you can do that but you will eventually see those micro-nutrient deficiencies I mentioned.

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I assume the water column feeders are the ones that don't need to be in the ground? Like anubias, Java moss?   Floating ones are obvious. 

For the tall plants, what do you do if the leaves are taller than the water level and you don't like that?   I've read for some if you trim the ends, it kills the whole leaf.  

 

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I advise against root tabs. You do not need them. Water column dosing is all that required. Master that first. Root tabs are an uncontrolled release of nutrients and make navigating problems more difficult. You will want a good fertilizer, where you will dose to target ppm's. Easy Green, Seachem Flourish, Nilocg Thrive and ADA are all good easy fertilizers. However, they are expensive. I always recommend dry fertilizers. Easy to use and dirt cheap.

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For a low tech tank, apart from the plants already mentioned, Hornwort is a versatile easy plant.  (And cheap!) You can float it or keep it in the bunch you buy it in.  It grows fast and fills in your scape nicely. You can cut it and shape it and it bushes out and keeps on growing.

Also valisinaria  is also a fast growing medium to TALL plant once it gets established.  I cut the length on it when it gets out of hand and have had no die off. Val takes in nutrients from the column and from the substrate.  I put root tabs when I remember but it keeps on growing.  Otherwise I do use Easy Green to feed the column feeders.

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1 minute ago, Lifeisgood said:

For a low tech tank, apart from the plants already mentioned, Hornwort is a versatile easy plant.  (And cheap!) You can float it or keep it in the bunch you buy it in.  It grows fast and fills in your scape nicely. You can cut it and shape it and it bushes out and keeps on growing.

Also valisinaria  is also a fast growing medium to TALL plant once it gets established.  I cut the length on it when it gets out of hand and have had no die off. Val takes in nutrients from the column and from the substrate.  I put root tabs when I remember but it keeps on growing.  Otherwise I do use Easy Green to feed the column feeders.

I'm considering vallisneria to experiment in my 10g betta tank.  I assume if I see a shoot going somewhere I don't want it to go, I just cut it before it grows? 

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The runners often go under the substrate and then pop up where they want to.  I just take my machete (scissors) when the jungle goes where I don’t want it and take them out.  Last time I took a good five gallon bucket of it out of my 55.  I have pool filter sand substrate and two types of Val.  Jungle Val is the tallest so I try to keep it behind the driftwood.   I also have Italian Val and that is shorter.  It is on the far left of the tank.  

D3C36B2E-2550-418B-81B3-031445B3FD99.jpeg

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4 hours ago, Gideyon said:

I'm considering vallisneria to experiment in my 10g betta tank.  I assume if I see a shoot going somewhere I don't want it to go, I just cut it before it grows? 

In my experience Val grows tall enough to float on top of a standard 75 gallon tank (I have leaves reach from one side to the other so 2 ft tall then 4 feet long).  I also tried dwarf sagittaria, it grew to the top of my 20 long, a few leaves are twice that long.  I moved some to the 75 and it reached the top quickly but hasn't gotten much longer.  I have trimmed both to be about 1-2 inches under the surface.  The newly cut ends usually suffer some shock, dead mushy ends, and such but I've never lost a plant, only occasional entire leaves.  I'm going to try micro sword next because I really wanted 3-4 inch tall wavy grass in the front of the tank.  As @Lifeisgood said, Val runners try to go where they want, if you don't stay on top of it, then when you pull up one that got away and had time to develop roots, you make a BIG mess.  Plants are fun, good luck.

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58 minutes ago, Gideyon said:

I guess if I go on vacation for a week, I could come back to a jungle.   

It's a low maintenance plant but high maintenance of you don't want a lot of it.  

It’s not terribly fast at multiplying though.  I have a lot going on at my house. So every few months I will get around to cutting things back and it is manageable.  Always cut the runners with a scissor before pulling it up to reduce mess.  As I have it in pool filter substrate, the mess isn’t too bad.

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1 hour ago, Gideyon said:

I'll be trying it in coarse gravel at first.  I assume that'll be ok. 

With starting Val in sand or gravel, I would recommend putting some root tabs in as well as using easy green.  It can take a while for Val  to adjust to your tank and start growing.  The wait is worth it though.

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28 minutes ago, Lifeisgood said:

I used to worry about snails.  Now I invite them in.  They are great at keeping plants and hardscape algae free.

If a snail escaped the tank, my wife will not be happy.  And I've heard of some daring the outerworld. 

Plus, I share @Irene's dislike for snails.  If it weren't a display tank, maybe. Or if I ever got to the point of having a puffer fish.   But I really don't want to see those things crawling on my glass.  

Are there other options of algae eaters that aren't plecos or snails that don't produce a lot of waste?   I may just have to rely on a paper towel. 

 

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11 hours ago, Gideyon said:

If a snail escaped the tank, my wife will not be happy.  And I've heard of some daring the outerworld. 

Plus, I share @Irene's dislike for snails.  If it weren't a display tank, maybe. Or if I ever got to the point of having a puffer fish.   But I really don't want to see those things crawling on my glass.  

Are there other options of algae eaters that aren't plecos or snails that don't produce a lot of waste?   I may just have to rely on a paper towel. 

 

An algae eater I just love is the otocinclus - they are small, reasonably priced and amazingly not shy once they adjust to your tank.  They seem to do a good job of cleaning plants and glass.  I don't love snails, but I find they reproduce fast & readily in the tanks I am overfeeding to grow out fry and they die back to almost zero in the tanks that are well balanced (no excess food) so I don't worry about them anymore, if I see an increase in population I reduce my feeding schedule a bit.  Val does great in coarse gravel and pea gravel in my tanks and I only give it root tabs if it happens to be near a plant like amazon sword that I feed on purpose.  My val & anubias tank has never had a root tab, only easy green, and the val has nearly engulfed the 29 gallon tank, funny thing is the anubias has kind of been lifted by the val and is flowering, floating in the val in the middle of the tank.  Have fun!

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