LEDs

[lilyth88]

i will browse the classifieds here. maybe someone will take pity on me and sell me a package of low, light, easy plants so i don't have to make any decisions. will snails or shrimp do okay with gravel?

[tekkguy]

Petsmart is ridiculous on their prices, and Petco is notorious for selling non-aquatic plants as aquatic like a previous poster said. Some of their plants are $10 - $12 that you can buy for literally a buck or two online.

The package that acidcitydweller posted that you responded to yesterday is a good deal. PandaBetta here on the forum seems to have some good options also.

[Otterfun]

Originally Posted by lilyth88

i was under the impression that snails poop a lot. is this an issue in a 3 gallon?

yes, you will be like a maid vacuuming after them at least twice a week.

[lilyth88]

Originally Posted by Otterfun

yes, you will be like a maid vacuuming after them at least twice a week.

do i need them if i go the gravel route? would shrimp be better?

[tekkguy]

Originally Posted by lilyth88

do i need them if i go the gravel route? would shrimp be better?

You don't need shrimp or snails. They can be helpful clean-up crews, but they can also be pests (the snails can be pests, the shrimp aren't pesty). Mystery snails / apple snails are much larger than pond snails and they're the ones that generate all of the mess.

[Otterfun]

Originally Posted by lilyth88

do i need them if i go the gravel route? would shrimp be better?

Mystery Snail is not picky with substrate when pooping.
shrimps have poop too but not as much, id' say the regularity is almost the same as a fish or snail.

it's up to you whatever substrate you choose, gravel, glass marbles, soil, no substrate, you still have to vacuum or at least pick up the poop with a turkey baster. incidentally, my boss told me that you can keep the vacuumed water & waste and use it as fertilizers for your garden or other plants, he said they are really good ferts.

[lilyth88]

Originally Posted by Otterfun

Mystery Snail is not picky with substrate when pooping.
shrimps have poop too but not as much, id' say the regularity is almost the same as a fish or snail.

it's up to you whatever substrate you choose, gravel, glass marbles, soil, no substrate, you still have to vacuum or at least pick up the poop with a turkey baster. incidentally, my boss told me that you can keep the vacuumed water & waste and use it as fertilizers for your garden or other plants, he said they are really good ferts.

never thought of using it like that. maybe I'll add it to my compost.

[InfiniteGlory]

I have been growing my plants in black betta sand that I purchased from Petsmart. The plants I listed in my other post are doing fine in it.

With my snails I do a once a week cleaning just to stay on top of the mess. The snails I have are listed in my signature.

p.s. Recently I noticed that one of my swords wasn't growing as fast as the other. The only difference is my floating betta log is always on that side of the tank. So I moved it in hopes that the other plant will grow. I still plan on adding in more 6500K LED's for more and better light. I will post a picture later tonight

[InfiniteGlory]

Here is a pic of my tank. the sword plant on the left is noticeably smaller then the one on the right due to my floating betta log blocking the light. I am going to add in more led's for more coverage and better light penetration. You can see that my tank sits near a window and that my HOB filter blocks the middle of the tank. So more light is needed to balance it all out