question about plants!!!

[Discus master]

Never had plants this will be my first time with real plants. I have a 55 gallon discus tank with lots of branch like drift wood and a couple of larger pecies laying on the bottom. Well I wanted somethig simple and easy to work with I was wanting to put some Java fern and java moss on my drift wood pecies and I know how to attach them now but was wonder what I need to do to make them safe to put in the tank?

I heard someone mention a bleach water solution dip, but not sure how this is done or how much to use. I know theres no qt time with plants and I wanted to be able to add the plants tonight after I buy them. Not sure about how many to buy eiher, will Java fern grow out or just up ward I heard ten inches I have two 12 inch pices laying flat I want to place the moss and ferns on. The Java moss does not grow high but will spread out is this correct. Any advice would be nice and helpful thanks in advance.

[colinlp]

If it was me I would use PP to kill off any undesirables but there was a long thread a few months ago about the subject which is well worth a read.

Java fern will/can spread to be a large plant given the right conditions (lots of CO2 and nutrients). Java moss will grow upwards and outwards and needs a lot of trimming to keep it in check. Both are great plants as are Anubias, all living on sticks and happy in discus conditions

[Discus master]

If it was me I would use PP to kill off any undesirables but there was a long thread a few months ago about the subject which is well worth a read.

Java fern will/can spread to be a large plant given the right conditions (lots of CO2 and nutrients). Java moss will grow upwards and outwards and needs a lot of trimming to keep it in check. Both are great plants as are Anubias, all living on sticks and happy in discus conditions

Java moss grows upwards? I was told not, hmm how tall will the java moss grow? and will it spread out?

I was told the Java Fern would not grow out only up, I bought three of each how high would you think the java fern would grow and how much do you think it would spread out?

Lastly is there any plants I can throw on the surface of the water? to replace my fake floating vines, this acts as shade and some hidding areas for the discus?

One more my 55 gallon is four feet long I have coralife dual tube T5 fixture that is 36 inches long it rest on the back of the aquarium only an inch from the waters surface. I have a colormax bulb in the one tube and a 10,000K in the other will this work not work any sugestions? The one with the color max came with a actinic bulb in it that I took out because I am not grwoing coral frags obviously, but I did want a light the would render the best color to view my discus colors the best way I could and now I still want to do that but also need to make sure the plants will do well also.

I was told that the Java Fern/Moss are two non- demanding plants that should do fine in my set up but who knows now if they were wrong about everything else ha ha ha, hence the reson i am an SD member;)

I heard duck weed would be good for the surface but I wonder how water chnages work with a floating plant like this i often change 80% of the water every other day so will it just go up and down with the water level no problems.?????

Sorry for all of the questions but i am very curious and new to plants and now that I have them in my tank it really looks cool I like the look so much I could see my self going with a well planted discus tank some day but for now just want to start small and these plants are a reall nice accent touch. Thank you all in advance for anything you can help me with here.

[colinlp]

Java moss grows upwards? I was told not, hmm how tall will the java moss grow? and will it spread out?
OK maybe a bad explanation, it actually thickens but it can get quite thick an be a holding place for decaying stuff and local ammonia spikes so it needs trimming to keep it in check.



I was told the Java Fern would not grow out only up, I bought three of each how high would you think the java fern would grow and how much do you think it would spread out?
It will spread sideways but slowly without CO2 and added ferts, on the UKAPS forum there is a JF in a discus tank that is massive but that was a high tech tank (a member called tonser if you want to look for it)



Lastly is there any plants I can throw on the surface of the water? to replace my fake floating vines, this acts as shade and some hidding areas for the discus?
Salvinia natans is a good choice, it is happy at higher temperatures and close to bright lights. They are great for sucking up nitrate and every other nutrient out of the water which is good for the fish.


One more my 55 gallon is four feet long I have coralife dual tube T5 fixture that is 36 inches long it rest on the back of the aquarium only an inch from the waters surface. I have a colormax bulb in the one tube and a 10,000K in the other will this work not work any sugestions? The one with the color max came with a actinic bulb in it that I took out because I am not grwoing coral frags obviously, but I did want a light the would render the best color to view my discus colors the best way I could and now I still want to do that but also need to make sure the plants will do well also.
My own favourite are Aquamedic standard T5s but check out this site (http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/lighting.htm) for a look of how different tubes look


I was told that the Java Fern/Moss are two non- demanding plants that should do fine in my set up but who knows now if they were wrong about everything else ha ha ha, hence the reson i am an SD member;)
That's right, there aren't many easier plant to grow out there


I heard duck weed would be good for the surface but I wonder how water chnages work with a floating plant like this i often change 80% of the water every other day so will it just go up and down with the water level no problems.?????
They are just lots of tiny single leaves and will go up and down but I hate them personally but if you want shade and a very very easy plant then go for it, just be prepared to have to shovel it out on a regular basis

[Discus master]

Thank you so much for your explaniations on everything I really apreciate it this is exactly what I was hoping for, I wanted something I did not have to worry about to much but the plants do look very nice in there what a diferance some plants and a bit of moss did for my look I may one day decide and go for a more dramatic planted look but for now I just wanted some accent plants and thats what it did for me. I kept the little rubber band that was raped around each bundle of java fern I bought three total I plced it onto a long pice of sunken driftwood I hope it is alright I lef the rubber band around it and that it will still grow if I need to snip it one day I will it was so much easier tighing the plants done when kept bundled up like they were I hope it does not affect their growth none.

The moss I kept pretty thick to begin with and used fishin line to hold it all down, do you know about how long it will take for the roots of both the fern and the moss will take before I can loose the fishing line?

And I do not mind the duck weed thing I just want it for the ends of the tank for some shade and what not I do not mind scopping some of it out from time time, I am hoping there is enouh plants in there to at least help maintain water chemistry not that i am relying on it for that but if it does anything for my water chemistry thats a plus in my book i just want so acen and it did give me that I put enough of it in that it dosnt look stupid like one lonely plant al by it self I think theres a good mount of it,enough to look nice any ways It all only cost me around 20$ for everything so I may add the duck weed and take out the floating vines I have then everything in there will be all natural,

thanks for all your help it really does help sounds like I did my home work and I am on track with everything. Also do you know of another easy plant I maybe able to put in a small ceramic pot becuase my pool filter sand substrate is only like a half inch deep, something tall that will hide my intake tube a bit it also has a prefilter sponge on it so it kind of sticks out and on the other end I have a sponge filter hydro V I would like to try and hide a bit an sugestions with that?????

Oh and thank for all the info thus far and any future info you may provide.

I know you said these plants are easy to maintain but supose I wanted to give them a treat every now and again what type of "miracle grow" product would you recomend adding evry so often just to give the plants a bit of a boost? and obviously something that will not mess with my BIO filter or the discus them selves? thanks again for taking the time out to help me out here.