free fw plants

[SoCalBoo]

I need to trim the plants on my FW tank. If anyone wants plants, let me know:

Riccia
Frogsbit (great floating plant with nice hanging roots)
Java Moss
Anacharis (a few are 24" long)
Vals (straight type, although I may have a few corkscrews soon)
water sprite

Just PM me if you want anything. I live in Rancho Penasquitos....just tell me the day you are coming over, and i'll put your order outside for pickup.

Not asking anything in return. Just remember me when I *finally* get my reef tank set up and need frags!

Paul

[AlabasterEskies]

Already have to rid yourself of riccia! I told you the stuff grows like mad

I did sink some of mine and I am liking the look. just to give you an idea of how else you can use it. it seems to grow a bit slower underwater as well.

~jen

[ChouDawg]

How are the care/lighting req for Riccia, vals, and water sprite? never kept those three. I have Java Fern, Java Moss, Anacharis and Amazon Swords in my FWP tank right now. Do you dose CO2?

[SoCalBoo]

How are the care/lighting req for Riccia, vals, and water sprite? never kept those three. I have Java Fern, Java Moss, Anacharis and Amazon Swords in my FWP tank right now. Do you dose CO2?

Maybe jen (alabastereskies) will chime in as well with her opinion.

Not to be sarcastic, but look it up. Google them, wetwebmedia, livequaria.com, decent sources of info.

The plants you have are definately low input (light and co2), with slight exception for sword.

In short, all will survive with low light and no co2. Anacharis is probably the most adaptable to those conditions. Riccia will be most touchy with inadequate light. All with work with no Co2

Generally, most plants will grow faster and often have a 'brighter' or 'richer' color if you dose with CO2. I have three FW tanks, and only one of them has CO2.

Frogsbit and riccia - as floating plants, they are pulling most if not all of their CO2 from the air, not the water. So dosing isn't an issue. Frogsbit is a quick grower, but does better in bigger tanks. In my 10g, it is lazy. In my 120, it is going nuts. The riccia is also a stout grower IF there is a good amount of light and you start off with a good amount of it. If not, it does fine, but pretty slow. It certainly hasn't perished in my low light tanks, just grows slow, but still has really nice green hue (riccia is one of those rare plants that almost looks florescent).

Anacharis tends to grow faster than just about any other non-floating plant (only one faster is hornwort). With more light/co2, it will grow faster. I believe (don't feel like doing the research, but am pretty certain), that anacharis uses bicarbonates from the water, and not carbon from co2, to get its necessary building blocks. It grows very well without co2.

Vals are very quick growers, and do fine with medium low light to high level of light. They don't need co2, and they actually grow slower in my co2 tank than my non co2 tank. They may be one of those rare plants that don't like co2 dosing. They are a great plant for putting in front of your pump/filter return, because they are thin and long, and kind of sway in the flow. They are better suited for taller tanks IMO.

[Shells]

PMed U

[AlabasterEskies]

I would agree with what Paul said... mostly it is going to depend on How much light you have and they type of substrate. Val pulls its nutrients from the roots. It grows best in a rich deep plant substrate, but it will grow in others.

The ricca was originally in a tank not running co2. it does need lots of light to do the best but can get away with less.

Likely you will be okay, you can always get some and see, the ricca is the most touchy of all those so I would watch for signs of it starting to disintegrate.

[AlabasterEskies]

Vals are very quick growers, and do fine with medium low light to high level of light. They don't need co2, and they actually grow slower in my co2 tank than my non co2 tank. They may be one of those rare plants that don't like co2 dosing. They are a great plant for putting in front of your pump/filter return, because they are thin and long, and kind of sway in the flow. They are better suited for taller tanks IMO.

Paul, I was wondering in your CO2 tank is it growing taller/thicker then in your non co2?

I was thinking that my 5g (no co2) has val in it and it spreads quickly but it is only growing 8" tall and very thin. when in my 120 w/ co2 it grows 4+ feet long and thick but doesn't spread as fast (which is relative because I have 4+ new shoots since I trimmer a couple weeks back)

[sucker_fish]

socalboo you got PM, interested in pieces of all going into a 110 gal planted freshwater tank. substrate is fluorite, lots of light (36" pc 96 watt and 48" dual pc 65 watt) and co2 system.

[SoCalBoo]

Paul, I was wondering in your CO2 tank is it growing taller/thicker then in your non co2?

I was thinking that my 5g (no co2) has val in it and it spreads quickly but it is only growing 8" tall and very thin. when in my 120 w/ co2 it grows 4+ feet long and thick but doesn't spread as fast (which is relative because I have 4+ new shoots since I trimmer a couple weeks back)

Jen, that was exactly what I was try to get across - for whatever reason, the vals in my 10 gal (no co2) grow much quicker, broader and greener than in my 120 (with co2). So it is the opposite of your experience. In the 120, they grow laterally pretty quick, and there are a TON of new clumps, but they don't grow very quickly. The substrate in my 10 gal is plain garden soil with sand on top, and in the 120 is a blend of ecocomplete, laterite/pond soil and sand. I didn't do any nutrient analysis or anything on the substrate, but I am pretty sure the 120 soil is 'better'.

[SoCalBoo]

Everyone has pms waiting for them.

[ChouDawg]

Thanks for all the great info guys, I did do some digging on my own, figured I'd get a better answer from people that are currently keeping them. My 10g only has a 15w fluorescent over the top so I dont think the Riccia would do well, even though I really like it. I already have Anacharis going crazy over the tank. I'm dosing with Brightwell Aquatics Multi Supplement. Just started a few days ago.

[SoCalBoo]

I've got the same set up in my 10g (15w t8 set up). riccia is doing fine. it grows real slow, but it survives and doesn't 'melt'.

gosh, i'd say hold off on dosing anything until you know how your tank is performing naturally. I don't dose a darn thing in my 10g...I am probably guilty of ignoring it more than anything else, and it still looks darn good and in many aspects is my most sucessful tank.

[ChouDawg]

Wow really? Great, I might have to give the Riccia a shot then, I really like how it looks. Do you have vals or sprite going in your 10g as well? No CO2 on the 10g right?

I had a few leaves on my amazon swords turning brown starting at the tips and my crypts one hole leaf turned yellow and fell off so I went to the LFS. Was diagnosed with supplement deficiency so I went with a good multi-supplement. So far no more browning in the past 4-5 days.

[SoCalBoo]

This is just my opinion/philosophy: I keep plants that fit the system and don't try to make the system fit the plants (exception - co2).

crypts are kind of finicky and require decent inputs. I'd be interested to know if the crypt survives or thrives in your tank. You'll find that a lot of plants will 'hang on' in low/medium input systems and just not grow, but not die either. the problem comes with algae, snails and/or plant eating fish...if the plant isn't growing, it can't regenerate and will perish, eventually. anubias are a great example of this.

with dosing, you've got to really get yourself a good drop based testing kit to test what you are dosing (if you don't have one). the same as with a reef system - you better know what your levels are before and after dosing to know if you are dosing appropriately. if you mix a little tap h2o with ro water, you should get enough trace minerals and alkalinity to stabilize the water. co2 dosing is always then an option, *maybe* iron, but I just never see the need to dose iron and my plants grow pretty well (admittedly, my iron levels come out pretty low on my test kit).

I usually just a get a ton of different species that I think might do well, throw them in and see what works and what doesn't.

One thing that impacts plants is a chemical process called alleopathy. Basically, it is believed that certain plants put off certain chemicals that are toxic in some respect to other plants. There are published studies that show certain plants can massively inhibit the growth of other plants (while those other plants do just fine without the suspect plant in the tank). The theory is somewhat controversial in the aquarium world, but there are some solid studies in its favor. There is some thought that frogsbit and hyacinth have negative impact on most algae.

Regarding vals, see my response to jen (alabastereskies) a few above this response. my vals in by 10g are going nuts. they take a while to settle in, but once they do, they do very, very well. based upon my experience with vals tanks both with and without co2 dosing, i actually think that vals might be one of those species that do NOT like co2 dosing. if you pick up a val, i'll give you one from each tank, and you can see the difference.

regarding watersprite, does fine in my 10g and in my 8g shrimp tank. It has grown into the substrate on my 120g, and is kind of a cool looking - like baby's tears, but a big bigger leaf. Like riccia, watersprite can get an almost florescent green hue to it under good conditions. watersprite is really very durable and tolerant - much like anacharis.

You picked a good, quick grower in anacharis. keep it trimmed so the strands don't branch out and it grows straight upward like a tree. Had kind of bamboo forest look. make sure you bury the cuttings back into substrate, as they will root very easily and grow a new plant. doesn't usually take much more than a few weeks to get a good forest going. also, you can get a small piece of mopani wood and drill a bunch of 1/4" holes in it, and then feed the anacharis through the holes. as long as you pull a few leaves through, they will anchor it and it won't slip back through the holes. move the wood a little every week or so to keep the roots from holding to the substrate. use it as a moveable forest, and you can redo the look of your aquarium within a matter or seconds without disturbing the substrate, or even move it to another tank.

[ChouDawg]

Dang, that was a really long response, ton of great info in there. If you dont mind, I'd love to give the Riccia, Water Sprite a shot, I think I'll hold off on the Vals since I already have the anacharis as a good upward growing background plant.

My crypts are actually doing really well, I have them planted towards the front of the tank, on the left and right side. They have definitely grown and the smallest one is sprouting all these tiny leaflets that are coming up out of the substrate.

I do have 3 Otocinclus and a few ghost shrimp, even with 8 hour light period daily I have zero algae growth. Probably a result of the otos and all the plants. Plus low bioload as well.

I'm in Rancho Bernardo so whenever is best for you I'd like it pickup a few clippings from you. Thanks Again