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L# Freshwater Aquaria
 L# Planted Aquaria
  L# 5g hex tank
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Subscribe5g hex tank
sham
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Ultimate Fish Guru
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Registered: 21-Apr-2004
female usa
What to do with my new tank...
It's 1' tall and about the same width and the largest bulb I can fit is a 15w screw in cf. The filter is perfect for floating plants since the water doesn't fall down but flows straight out toward the front of the tank then slowly swirls down around the front and back to the intake which is really deep. Even some of the salvinia caught in the flow floated back up before it reached the intake. Along with the small amount of surface movement it also makes a great tank for breeding sparkling gouramis whenever I manage to get a pair/trio out of the 8 in the 20g.
Since the tank is so tall and viewed from almost every side I was thinking of doing floating plants to grow down from the top instead of tall plants growing from the bottom to block the view. I was also considering doing a sand tank with driftwood, lava rock, anubias, mosses, and whatever else I come up with. With gouramis spawning at the top I can add mts to stir up the sand and be a cleanup crew without the snails eating the eggs.

Any floating plant suggestions or other bottom plants?
Any different setup ideas that might work? This is probably going to be the most viewed tank in the house since it sits in the living room. The apartment isn't big so I practically had to devote a whole room to the 90g. The only reason to go in the room is to see the tank so it actually doesn't get looked at as much.
Post InfoPosted 26-Jan-2006 11:45Profile PM Edit Report 
Hoa dude_dude
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Mega Fish
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male australia
I have a banana plant in my 5g.. Its cute & its pretty low maint
Post InfoPosted 26-Jan-2006 11:45Profile Homepage MSN PM Edit Delete Report 
kitten
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Meow?
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female usa
When my banana plant was in its glory day, the underwater leaves were 4-5" across and the floating lily pads were 3-4" across. It made a big statement in my 20g long, I think it would eventually overgrow a five.

Floating plants might be a cool idea. If nothing else, lemme pull out my article on plants for small tanks.

[link=small tank plants article]http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/forums/General%20Freshwater/57142.html" style="COLOR: #00A0AE[/link]

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~
Post InfoPosted 26-Jan-2006 11:45Profile Homepage AIM MSN Yahoo PM Edit Delete Report 
Hoa dude_dude
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male australia
Kitten, When I leave my lights off for awile the leaves start growing bigger, maybe you didnt have such good lighting
Post InfoPosted 26-Jan-2006 11:45Profile Homepage MSN PM Edit Delete Report 
illustrae
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female usa
there are some large salvinia-type plants with feathery roots that hang a few inches into the water that look nice and the little sparklers would love it. there are even some red varieties. They multiply very quickly, though, so you'll probably be taking half of them out every two weeks or so.

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...
Post InfoPosted 26-Jan-2006 11:45Profile AIM PM Edit Delete Report 
bensaf
 
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male ireland
Riccia is a greateasy floating plant that will form thick mats on the surface. Fish Love it.


Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.
Post InfoPosted 26-Jan-2006 11:45Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
sham
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female usa
Would marsilea crenata handle sand well? So far it's proven to be a hardy plant with a sturdy root structure. I can plant it along the 2 panes in the back that don't get looked through and with the growth pattern I've had under equivalent light it should get high enough for the leaves to be visible around any rocks or driftwood. It's also slow growing enough that it shouldn't take over the small tank if it grows in the sand.
I know I have a 2" anubias in the 90g but I forget what it is or where I put that tiny plant. I had it in my 55g attached to a cave and it barely grew in a year while the barteri tripled in size. Since I couldn't get it to grow I wasn't too concerned about it and just stuck it in some random place I thought it might survive. Then I have a few bits of xmas and weeping moss that are too small to be worth stapling on my moss wall.
For floating plants I'm still not sure. All the pics online show them from the top and I'm not going to be looking down into the tank. I might just order a small amount of several different ones and see what works.
Post InfoPosted 26-Jan-2006 11:45Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
kitten
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female usa
Heh... dude... this plant was in my brightest tank, with the most wpg of any of my tanks. The leaves were vibrantly green with a gorgeous red pattern to them. It was a big ol' plant. I was so sad when it died after I rearranged the tank.

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~
Post InfoPosted 26-Jan-2006 11:45Profile Homepage AIM MSN Yahoo PM Edit Delete Report 
sham
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female usa
I used to have 2 banana plants but they never grew. Then one day they just died.
Post InfoPosted 26-Jan-2006 11:45Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
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