Plants for 5.5 gal

[Psylk87]

Hello,

I am pretty new to planted tanks and wnat to convert my current 5.5 gallon betta tank to live planted tank.

Can I get soem recomendations on what would work best in a 5.5 gallon?

Thank you in advance!

[sandybottom]

what are you using for lighting and substrate?what do you hope to accomplish?

[Psylk87]

For light I bought a Zoo MEd Ultra Sun 6500k/ 10 wat/ 5".

Substrate is currently just aquarium gravel. (I am open to changing that to soil and sand cap if I can get the right pointers)

As far as whatI want to accomplish I really just want a nice looking tank that will keep the Betta happy and can act as a teaching tank.

[eatmice2010]

well there's water sprite and different grasses, there's alot more im just having a brain fart

[sandybottom]

is that a spiral cfl? good low light plants include ....all types of java fern, a variety of different mosses,anubias,red tiger lotus,flame sword,star grass,pennywort,almost all of the crypt family, apongeton crispus,water onion. if you want more options pm me.

[Psylk87]

It is this light

http://www.petguys.com/zoo-med-ultra...mpaign=PetGuys

Thank you for the recs. I will look into them. Is there soemthign specific I should search for as far as "crypt family" and how many varieties are there of java fern? Any specific mosses that would work?

[sandybottom]

there are a few varieties of java fern. regular,narrow leaf and windelov. any of these will work. the moss family is pretty big. christmas,willow,java moss,singapopre,taiwan,and flame moss all should work. and the crypts...wendtii,willisi,becketti,lutea,petchii,af finis. and a bunch more. remember that any plants you may get can go through an acclimation period. they may look like they are dying. especially the crypts,they may get crypt melt. they will seem totally dead. then they will grow again.

[Psylk87]

Oh good to know! I am sure I would have bulled them out if they looked sickly.

What fertalizer do you recommend? And if I am going to change the substrate si there a certian soil to look for? Also is a sand cap or gravel cap better in the long run?

[sandybottom]

i make my own ferts. i use red clay with a few pearls of osmocote. i roll them into balls and stick them in the substrate under my plants. heavy root feeders and red plants especially like the extra iron. i am pretty sure api plant tabs last quite a bit longer than the others, if you go that way. if you have a well stocked tank, you won't really have to use ferts very often. you may have to dose micro-nutrients if you only have one fish.i believe nutrafin makes one and seachem makes flourish. as far as substrate i use layers of gravel,eco complete and sand. another way is with flourite or osmocote, organic soil and either a sand or gravel cap. i have used both and prefer the sand. both for aesthetic and convenience of upkeep. once you get used to using sand. it really is faster and easier to clean.