Plants for Aquariums?

[blessedfamily]

I have a 10 gallon fish tank with 4 fish in it..was wondering if I could put pond plants in it? If so what would I use to plant them in as I have a gravel bottom. I am WAY better at taking care of my outside pond This 10 gallon keeps getting algae on the front and I keep the light off most of the time grrrr..Thanks in advance.

 

[don't ask]

good question and though i am not positive of the answer i have a question. are you keeping a reflector light on top of the aquarium? if so you may need to stick with aquarium type plants that like to stay totally submerged. i have an aquarium in my basement that doesn't get sunlight at all and i get algae buildup and just figure i have to use one of those scrubby things and clean the glass every so often. if your tank gets direct or even indirect sunlight i think you're going to have an algae issue. if you wanted to use other lighting and keep it elevated above the tank then i think your choices of plants may be numerous as you can elevate them in the water and lower them as they get taller. am thinking most of the plants you may like should work well in a gravel bed but you may need anchors to hold them down or lots of gravel on top of the roots to keep from floating. again i am no expert but think what i have mentioned above can work.

 

[j.w]

When I had my aquarium I had a Plecostomus algae eating fish in there an he kept my glass clean.

I also used this instead of regular gravel as the plants grow wonderfully in it: Flourite -

http://www.vickisaqu...m/fluorite.html

Flourite® is a specially fracted, stable porous clay gravel for the natural planted aquarium. Its appearance is best suited to planted aquaria, but may be used in any aquarium environment. Flourite® is most effective when used alone as an integral substrate bed, but it may be mixed with other gravels. Gravel modifiers such as laterite are not necessary and unlike competing products, Flourite® never has to be replaced. It remains effective for the life of the aquarium. Flourite® is not chemically coated or treated and will not alter the pH of the water.
Although pre-washed, it may be rinsed before use to remove residual dust. Dust can also be minimized by filling aquarium slowly and dispersing water so that the Flourite® bed is not disturbed. Slight initial cloudiness is normal and will clear rapidly.

I had good luck w/ these:

Anubius stuck on driftwood

Java Fern (Microsorium pteropus)

Sword Ferns



Dwarf (Sagittaria subulata)


Riccia Fluitans - this is a great plant for floating on the top of the water.

Sorry couldn't post a photo of the Riccia as I reached my limit they said.

 

[HSJami]

For many years I kept an aquarium in the house and tried dozens of different plants. None of them were every more than minimally successful. Against all my principles, I finally resorted to plastic plants. When algae developed, I'd scrape it off the glass, take out the plants and soak them in bleach, and, after thoroughly washing the bleach off, put them back in the tank. Even plastic looks better than dying plants. Finally, I gave up on aquaria all together, and now I just spend my energy on my pond where algae is natural and plants thrive in the sunlight and fish poo.

 

[blessedfamily]

Thanks everyone, I'm thinking about getting a Plecostomus to try and then after that I am going to give up and build a bigger pond lol..Thanks!

 

[don't ask]

That's the spirit!

 

[Fishtanker]

If you're very interested in keeping plants in aquariums, take a good look at planted tanks. They are exactly what you're looking for. Riparium and pauladriums might be more suitable for marginal pond plants (probably a bit too big), but Planted tanks are possibly one of the greatest inventions ever. (Also how fish were able to be originally kept without daily water changes for O2). In one of my tanks I use straight gravel (plus about a year and a half's worth of mulm) supplemented by root tabs, and in my other, I use garden soil topped with gravel. Flourite is amazing, but can be very messy and cause a lot of water clouding.

Easy plants:
Vals (tiger, jungle, corckscrew, american, italian, ect)
Crypts (slow growing, but hard to kill)
Moss (java and christmas seem to be easiest)
Ludwigia repens
java fern
anubias
amazon sword (gets HUGE)

and my favorite:
dwarf water lillies!
Yes, you can keep very small lillies in a tank!
As for the pleco, keep in mind they can grow to 24" long, so expect to keep it in the pond when it gets larger than 4" so it can grow to its full potential. You will also want a LOT of filtration power, as plecos are poop machines

Here's some pics of my current planted tanks:
gravel + root tabs

capped soil

With planted tanks, lighting is important, and is usually the deciding factor in what plants you can keep (or try to keep). Try to have at least 1-2 watts per gallon (divide the wattage of the bulb by the gallons of the tank) to grow the widest variety. Also, ferts like root tabs will make your plants happy. There is a third component for having a great planted tank that tends to have significantly less algae; co2. Plants can only grow to the maximum amount of the thing there is least of. Fortunately you don't need to mess with co2 until you start getting in the 2+ watts per gallon levels

 

[addy1]

very nice looking tanks, thanks for the info

 

[climbingspider]

Planted tanks are actually pretty easy once they are up and running. The most important consideration is using a high intensity bulb. Your goal is for the plants to outcompete the algae but they can only do that with sufficient light (more intensity is better than more time). Plecos are okay, but you should get Otocinclus for a 10 gal tank or be sure that you buy a small species of pleco - the typical petsmart species gets huge!

I've grown emergent plants in freshwater tanks and it works great. You can also root Pothos in the tank and have it trail on the outside to help compete with the algae.

 

[j.w]

I did that w/ some Pothos plant and it grew beautifully and it's roots were sucking up the nutrients like crazy!

 

[Shdwdrgn]

PLEASE DO NOT BUY A COMMON PLECO! What the pet store will fail to mention is that the plecos they sell will get up to 24" in length... obviously NOT a good choice for a 10-gallon aquarium! Something we have found, which are a little harder to find but ARE sold occasionally by petsmart/petco is an albino bristlenose pleco (not the same thing as an albino pleco). These guys are great algae cleaners, have a nice bright pinkish-orange color, and will only get to about 5" when full grown. The otocinclus that Climbingspider pointed out are also a great choice, and are compatible with the bristlenose plecos.

With that said, the next thing you need to look at is the light for growing live plants. We have been using 6500k bulbs (sold as a 'daylight' bulb at walmart and Lowes for cheap). If your hood takes the screw-in type of bulbs, walmart sells a small 10W CFL bulb (looks like a corkscrew) in the 6500k spectrum that works great. This spectrum of bulb does wonders for plant growth in our aquariums. As Fishtanker said, you want to try to get close to 2W per gallon of tank (that's fluorescent watts, not that 'same as' wattage where they compare to the light from a regular bulb).

Plants -- I will agree with the crypts and the ludwigia. Both are nice plants for a smaller tank, and with good lighting you'll get some great greens and reds out of them. The java moss is a fast grower and can be used for great landscaping in the tank, but will easily take over if you don't keep it trimmed back (we just trimmed back a ball from our 80-gal that could easily fill a 10-gal... I threw it out in my pond, and the fish love it). There are a lot of varieties of dwarf grasses that will grow great - they propagate by sending out runners, but it can take some time for them to fill in. We also have some type of dwarf water lily that has these fantastic dark-red leaves... wish I knew the name of it.

My wife swears by the flourite... these days any new tank we set up has some in it. She puts down a thin layer of gravel, then the layer of flourite, then another layer of gravel on top. The plant roots get into the flourite and grow like crazy.

You might also want to consider filtration... The smaller your tank, the more important heavy filtration becomes. We generally buy filters for double the tank capacity listed on the boxes, and go from there. Depending on the type of fish you have, you may be ok with the basic air-driven foam filters, but if your fish have a high waste load, try to find a filter that has carbon packets and some kind of media to provide biological filtration.

 

[blessedfamily]

Shdwdrgn- Thanks for all the information about the plecos and plants. My MIL bought this tank for the kids for Christmas because they just had to have one lol....we had a 55gallon tank 2 years ago with Cichilds and I finally sold it because I was the only one taking care of it(it was supposed to the the hubbys tank). I really find I do not enjoy this 10 gallon tank but thought maybe if I could pretty it up I might. I just bought a new filter system for it because the one that came with it broke and I did actually buy bigger. I will be looking into some plants and a new little pleco. Thanks again.