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Parents interfering, advice please

1056 Views 8 Replies 7 Participants Last post by  Molinious, 
Molinious
My mother came round the other day, saw i had a stand for the new setup and asked me what plants are going into it.

Fair enough question BUT after i told her she then said " but there all green you should get some more interesting colours!"

So just to please my interfering mother i would like suggestions on some foreground, midground and background plants that arent "just green"

I have looked for myself with a supplier that i ue but cant decide.

Water perameters are ph 7.5 kh 10 gh 16
Substrate is a potting soil with sand cap
Hardscape, seiryu stone and bog wood
water temp 73-76C
Lighting 4 x 54w t5(2 marine white, 1 marine blue, 1 tropical pink all around 14000k
Tank size 48 x 21 x 24

Thanks in advance
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JDM
Molinious said:
Lighting 4 x 54w t5(2 marine white, 1 marine blue, 1 tropical pink all around 14000k

Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
ALL the lights are 14000k? I think that it may limit your options. Between 5,000 and 7,000k is ideal for freshwater plants.

Once the lighting is determined to be OK you can get some reds in there, I have a dwarf lily that has some red (picture attached), started with a red ludwigia (it was actually some African plant but I've forgotten the name). You need fairly high light levels to sustain any colours as they tend to go green in the new growth otherwise. Something about needing more chlorophyll, and it being the green colouring, in order to provide more photosynthesis.

It's usually the fish that provide the colours though, I'd just consider that it is supposed to be green.

Jeff.

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KPainter
Unless your mother is paying for the plants I don't see why it matters.
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AbbeysDad
You might ask mom politely to look outside. With the exception of flowers, most of the grass, plants and leaves are all green. The decor is merely the canvas....it's that rocks, wood (real or imitation) and FISH that will pop the colours.

Footnote: when it comes to fish color (and otherwise), make sure you read labels and feed your fish well with foods that minimize grain starches.
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Agent13
Well... Maybe I can point out an issue .. may be a fluke but I feel it isn't. I wanted more colors in my plants... ordered a ton of plants witha handful of plants that were colorful. dispersed the colorful ones throughout 3 or 4 of my aquariums. Almost none of them survived the fish. It seemed the color of them made the fish want to eat them. I may have like 2 or so left that survived but that is about 10% of what I did have. However most of the green ones were and still are nibbled on...they were not really "eaten". Plus why does your mom rattle you so much. I can't recal listening to my mom well...um .. ever lol.
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Z
Molinious said:
My mother came round the other day, saw i had a stand for the new setup and asked me what plants are going into it.

Fair enough question BUT after i told her she then said " but there all green you should get some more interesting colours!"

So just to please my interfering mother i would like suggestions on some foreground, midground and background plants that arent "just green"

I have looked for myself with a supplier that i ue but cant decide.

Water perameters are ph 7.5 kh 10 gh 16
Substrate is a potting soil with sand cap
Hardscape, seiryu stone and bog wood
water temp 73-76C
Lighting 4 x 54w t5(2 marine white, 1 marine blue, 1 tropical pink all around 14000k
Tank size 48 x 21 x 24

Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
If that was the sum total of the conversation I don't necessarily see her "interfering" - since she knew the plants and their colors when you named them off it seems she must have some level of experience with aquariums/plants, no? She simply asked a question, offered a suggestion and that - from your telling - was the end of it. Unless she had responded with, "Oh, no - you MUST put in X, Y and Z" or goes and purchases plants and demands that you put them in your tank I really don't see this as anything more than one person making a suggestion to the other. If YOU are happy with plants you had planned, use them -- if YOU want suggestions on some more colorful plants, that's great, but don't lay it on your mother as being interfering as the reason you want them.
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Byron
I would defint=itely change the lighting, you need some red and green in the mix, tubes with around 6500K rating.

With your soil and changing the lighting, crypts should do well, and you can get some nice reddish/brownish leaf crypts. A couple are in our profiles. Unlike most red-leaf plants, these do not need higher light.

Byron.
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Molinious
Agent13 said:
Well... Maybe I can point out an issue .. may be a fluke but I feel it isn't. I wanted more colors in my plants... ordered a ton of plants witha handful of plants that were colorful. dispersed the colorful ones throughout 3 or 4 of my aquariums. Almost none of them survived the fish. It seemed the color of them made the fish want to eat them. I may have like 2 or so left that survived but that is about 10% of what I did have. However most of the green ones were and still are nibbled on...they were not really "eaten". Plus why does your mom rattle you so much. I can't recal listening to my mom well...um .. ever lol.
Click to expand...

My mother doesnt rattle me, the problem is the ear ache!!! Constant nagging in my ear i can do without!!! The best thing is she lives close enough to visit but far enough away not to hear.
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Molinious
ZivaD said:
If that was the sum total of the conversation I don't necessarily see her "interfering" - since she knew the plants and their colors when you named them off it seems she must have some level of experience with aquariums/plants, no? She simply asked a question, offered a suggestion and that - from your telling - was the end of it. Unless she had responded with, "Oh, no - you MUST put in X, Y and Z" or goes and purchases plants and demands that you put them in your tank I really don't see this as anything more than one person making a suggestion to the other. If YOU are happy with plants you had planned, use them -- if YOU want suggestions on some more colorful plants, that's great, but don't lay it on your mother as being interfering as the reason you want them.
Click to expand...

I got to admit the interferring part is in jest! Shes slowly losing her marbles tho and its probbly the 30th time iv heard it in a couple of weeks hehe.
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