Plants for hardwater/brackish aquarium

[Jack1]

Are there any good plants on the market for brackish/hardwater aquariums? I would like some floating and some anchored. I'm not trying to created a planted tank, just want to have some in the tank.

[Nooboon]

As you can see I have moved this thread to the Aquatic Plants forum.

Phoenixshade (Wil) should give you a great answer when he next visits. If I get time tonight I'll have a look around and see what I can find for you.

I know that at my local fish store they had several plants in their brackish tank. They all died eventually but the Java fern did last the longest by far. I assume therefore that it can stand some salt.

What sort of salt concentration will you have in your tank?

[Jack1]

Sorry, I'm new here and didn't even see the "aquatic plants" forum.

My plan is to keep Belonesox (pike livebearer), mollies, guppies and such (guppies/mollies might have to go in the sump). Anyway, I'm not yet sure what salinity I'll need to keep. Having kept reef tanks for the last 7 years, the ole "1 teaspoon per gallon" is somewhat meaningless. I really want some specific salinity measurements-- either in ppt or s.g. in regards to these fish (mainly the Belonesox). I have a refractometer (measures actual salinity, not s.g.), so I can get it as exact as it needs to be. However, I guess salinity is really less important when you're dealing with fish that can also live in freshwater.

Anyway if most plants, excluding mangrove trees, do better in lower salinity, I guess I'll try to keep the salinity as low as I can. Any thoughts?

[phoenixshade]

Jack,

Most brackish tanks have a s.g. between 1.005 and 1.012. With the fish you plan to raise, the lower end of this range is fine.

There are quite a few commonly available plants that will do alright in brackish water. Java fern (Microsorium pteropus) naturally occurs in brackish waters. Similarly, plants of the genus Sagittaria occur in very hard waters, such as the African rift lakes, and will prosper in a brackish tank. Echinodorus tenellus, the pygmy chain sword, is also a good one. Ceratopteris species, or water sprite, will work either floating or planted. Hornwort (Ceratophyllum demersum) is a prolific floating plant well known in ponds that will grow in brackish water and provide shelter to fry.

This should probably be more than enough for your purposes.

Happy fishkeeping!

-Wil.

[Jack1]

What about lighting for all of these plants? I know the javas do fine with low light. I was thinking about going w/ either 96w of PC or 110w of PC lighting, and another 40w of actinic lighting (the actinic is really just to bring out the coloration of the fish).

Oh yea, this is a standard 75 gal tank.

Also, does substrate really matter with the plants you mentioned? I was thinking about going with sand, gravel and crushed coral mixture (just because I have some). However, I can go with another type of substrate, just not interested in getting into anything too difficult (this is really just a fish tank with plants).

[Nooboon]

I'm sure Wil will give you the specific requirements for each plant type.

I will just say that either of the PC solutions should provide plenty of lighting for all but the highest light requiring plants. Most low light plants can adjust quite well to higher light (I know Java fern can) so you should be safe with that idea.
One point to note however is that PC light doesn't "spread" as much as standard fluorescent light (lights a smaller area directly under the tube), so you might be better off to go with 2 or more small tubes spread around than one more powerful one.

I'll let Wil comment on the substrate.