# Please read!!!!!!!!!!!!Planted tank Pics....



## lillyandquigly (Nov 24, 2011)

So please post pictures of heavily planted tanks!(Plants don't have to be live)


----------



## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

Here is my 55gal NPT soil based heavy planted








A few more








One of the 2gal








A 5gal








The 75gal








One of the 10gal spawning tanks








Another 10gal








Another 10gal








A 2gal








One of the 20gal









More pic of my soil based NPT in my album too


----------



## lillyandquigly (Nov 24, 2011)

whoa! Thanks, I'm going to be putting some plants into my tank soon and this is awesome thanks!


----------



## Pilot00 (Jul 24, 2012)

I cant believe it when i see such tanks. How do you keep em clean already? I couldnt find the heart to even start looking should i needed to check something in there.

Awesome water jungles though. You must be very dedicated and proud.


----------



## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Plants are the greatest water cleaners you can have  I came home after 6 weeks to find the tank squeaky clean. The snails must have cleared off any unsightly parts of the plants. And in turn their waste products fed the plants  the plants took all the nutrients out of the water and made it crystal clear


----------



## lillyandquigly (Nov 24, 2011)

wow that's amazing!


----------



## lelei (Apr 30, 2012)

lillyandquigly said:


> wow that's amazing!


Wow yea.. Absolutely Amazing.. my eyes popped and my mouth dropped..:shock::shock::shock::shock::shock::shock: I couldn't even imagine a 75 gallon :shock::shock::shock:


----------



## lelei (Apr 30, 2012)

@OFL..what kinds of plants are in the 75G I love how they look.. Very tropical..ahhh


----------



## MSG (May 8, 2012)

OFL, that's the evidence I needed to see. Beautiful looking tanks. 

That's the type of environment I think most fish originate from in the wild.

I don't see any reddish type plants. Are the red leaf varieties, that hard to grow/keep alive?


----------



## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

Thank you...

Its not that you can't keep red plants alive it is more due to low to moderate light that can cause the red to fade. Using higher light and injecting CO2 is generally needed to keep reds, purple colored plants that color. With that said, it hard to tell by the pic but in person the tank have a lot more color contrast-the Crypts are a dark bronze color and the Rotala has a pink and gold hue and all different shade of green.

Since these are mature natural planted soil based tanks-they don't need water changes the way non-soil tanks or tanks with or without plants. The soil is alive and then along with the active plant growth-then with the fish, snails and shrimp...Make the soil based NPT as near a complete ecosystem that can be created in a closed system. Everything has a job of sorts....Its a balance.....

Water changes on the large tanks-are 3-4 times a year at most. The 10gal and under do not have filters and are used for spawning so they get more water changes than are needed-water changes are done for fry growth. The 1-3gal tanks get maybe 6 water changes a year-this depends on what I am doing with them.
Since all my tanks are open top for better light penetration to plants-I do have to top off with water on a weekly basis.
Proper lights, color temp, age of bulbs, photoperiod, light penetration are the driving force behind successful planted tanks-without the proper color temp the plants can't photosynthesize. 

I don't add any ferts or inject CO2-the tank creates all this on its own from the byproducts produced by the livestock and decomp.

Plants:
Najas indica (naja grass)
Cabomba caroliniana(green)
C. piauhyensis (red)
Vallisneria americana-var Biwanesis
V. gigntea (get over 5ft)
V. spiralis
Sagittaria subulata
S. platyphylla
Ludwigia natans
Rotala indica
Cryptocryne walkeri
Crypt-bronze
C. wendtii
Echinodorus bleheri (amazon sword)
E. ozelot
E. tenellus (chain sword)
Hygrophila dfformis (westeria)
H. corymbosa (giant hygro)
H, siamensis (thin leaf)
Nymphaes stellata (red lily)
Aponogeton ulvaceus
Microsorium pteropus (java fern)
Pistia stratiotes (water lettuce)
Limnobium laevigatum (frogbit)
Lemna minor (duckweed)
Vesicularia dubyana (java moss)


----------



## lelei (Apr 30, 2012)

@OFL, how many fish in the 75 gallon? I am so AWWED by that tank, it's gorgeous..


----------



## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

That can vary by the season and what I am working with.....usually it will have about 30 or so adult Bettas-but they are all outside right now and then 30-50 or so fancy guppies and 10-20 or so long fin albino plecos juvies growing out and TMTC red cherry shrimp and common snails-pond, ramshorn and trumpet.

The stocking changes on a fairly regular basis depending on what I need it for at the time. Right this very minute it has about 30 LFAPleco juvies growing out and a bunch of guppies...I made the mistake in adding some Flagfish to grow out and they tore the guppies to pieces-usually these would already be gone so I could use it for all of this summers Betta fry like I normally do this time of year-but they gotta stay outside for another 2 weeks since I have the 55gal full of Angelfish. I do a lot of rotation and moving around...lol.....


----------



## misty1477 (Jun 22, 2012)

SUPER DUPER W O W !!!!! Your tanks are AWESOME !!!

You must have the Happiest Fishies in the world.

Hmmmm.....if I put live plants in my Betta's tank, my Cats would eat the Plants. I had houseplants that I loved and the Kittehs thought it was a salad bar :lol: No more live plants for me.

My Kittehs drink water out of my tank all the time, even though they have fresh well water-filled bowls for themselves. I guess they like "fish-flavored" water better :roll: My Sparkle sometimes swims right up near their tongues and kind of just hangs out when they are drinking....kittehs don't even know that a fish resides in the tank....silly kittehs :lol:

Again ... I must complement you on the awesomeness of your tanks :yourock:


----------

