Adding Plants to my Discus Tank

[Lido]

Ok, so i've decided i want to add some plants to my discus tank. I will outline what i currently have and what i'd like to do, if it's possible, and hope you guys could give me some advice.

I have a 75 gallon long that is 48' long x 20' tall x 18' deep. (inches)

Fine grain sand as my bottom cover.

Filter is a Marine Land C-360 Cannister filter with mechanical and chemical filtration media

Light is a WavePoint HO t5 4 bulb 48' inch fixture with 2 daylight spectrum and two actinic bulbs

Stock List:
3 2-3 inch Blue Turquoise
2 3 inch Green Spotted Reds
1 4 inch Red Turquoise
3 2 inch melons
1 3 inch cobalt
1 2.5 inch blue and red leopard discus

6 Cardinal Tetras
3 Cory Cats
1 zebra pleco
1 bristlenose pleco

I know, i know, i am pretty fully stocked, maybe even a bit too many fish when they all grow out. I have a 45 gallon that I may transfer some into or if any pair up i will use that tank for them.

What i am trying to accomplish:

I am looking to make a simple planted tank. I don't want to have to run Co2 or have to trim and prune plants everyday. I want something that is relatively easy maintenance but still looks really nice and fits the biotype for the discus tank. I am going to add in some driftwood pieces to emulate to "mangrove" sort of look that discus naturally live and hide in but i need some suggestions on setting up my tank for success. I don't want my plants to work against me in keeping my water at the correct parameters for the fish. ANY suggestions or help in this would be fantastic.

I want to get a nice looking simple to maintain ground cover type plant to give a nice green effect on the bottom. Even something that grows patchy or in clumps would be great, self propagating would be even better. i don't want to have to buy 3903483984 grass type plants and cover it myself.

I want some nice tall plants that provide a nice visual effect.

and maybe something that grow around parts of the driftwood, like a vine type (if that is possible)

PLEASE offer some advice, i have read some of the forum sticky's on here and done some research myself but if i could get the advice straight from my new friends here on simply discus that would be even better.


oh and all while doing this i don't want to harm or disturb my fish too much!!!! :)

[Lido]

the biggest question I'd like answered for someone who doesn't have time to give an aquatic plant class is, What is a good ground cover type plant that grows well in a sandy substrate without C02

[Trubble]

http://i1364.photobucket.com/albums/r734/mnaramore/IMG_20131012_172231_385_zpsa3c10c41.jpg
We have Anubias Nada both in the sand substrate of our big tank and attached to driftwood in nooks and crannies. We also have Amazon Swords of varying sizes, some Valisneria for height, and a couple water lilies.

Hope this gives you a couple ideas. Good luck.

[Lido]

http://i1364.photobucket.com/albums/r734/mnaramore/IMG_20131012_172231_385_zpsa3c10c41.jpg
We have Anubias Nada both in the sand substrate of our big tank and attached to driftwood in nooks and crannies. We also have Amazon Swords of varying sizes, some Valisneria for height, and a couple water lilies.

Hope this gives you a couple ideas. Good luck.

You have a beautiful tank and beautiful fish. Thanks for the help.

[Demosthenes]

First off, take out all of your chemical filtration. Chemical filtration removes all of the nutrients that the plants need to grow.

Next, replace those actinic bulbs with something in the 5,000-6,500k range. The 2 10k bulbs that you have will keep your fish looking nice, and the pinker bulbs will help the plants grow. The actinic bulbs you're running now are useless for plants. With 4 48 inch T5HO bulbs you'll have 216 watts of light, divided by 75 gallons, gives you 2.88 watts/gallon.

With that light and some ferts you can play around with growing a variety of different plants. Your sand substrate will actually be very easy to work with, but it doesn't contribute any nutrients so you'll probably want to pick up some root tabs for any faster growing plants. Get some Excel and some generic liquid plant fertilizer and you're good to go.

Plants are a lot of trial and error. I wouldn't bother sitting down and trying to plan out all of the specific plants you want, because once you actually get them in your tank, odds are you'll have to scrap half of them. I would start out picking up a big variety of plants and try to figure out which ones work for you in your setup. A lot of hobbiests will sell big batches of clippings and prunings from their tanks for very reasonable prices. Check out plantedtank.net forum for listings. "Starter Kits" like that are great because you get to try a bunch of different plants for a relatively small investment.

That being said, there are some plants that are easier and some that you should probably stay away from. Swords, Crypts, Java ferns, Java moss, Lotus, and Anubias are all easy, low-light plants that will grow in just about any tank. Glossostigma on the other hand is a high-light plant that will just give you a headache. If you do a basic search of any plants you are considering and it tells you it's a high or very high light plant, just don't bother.

[Lido]

Wow, thanks. That was great information. I will look for some starter kits on that website and change my bulbs. Thanks for the info