Loaches Online Forum

Ok, I have decided to go green- seems to me the best alternative for me is going to be some java fern. I already have lots of driftwood, and plan on adding more when I can find a new supplier. I also am going to have to get some new lights- but... my question is regarding the plants themselves. How many of you do any treatment (disinfecting? quarantine?) to your plants prior to adding them to your tank? And as to sources, what are the best if you have no LFS? Anybody use APC?
TIA, greenbaron

Personally I just rinse mine thoroughly in a bucket of the tank water which I then throw away. Not had a prob yet As for suppliers. What is your location? that might help the experts (which doesn't include me )

My location is east coast USA. No local sources, so I'm looking at shipping costs anyway, might as well get the best (if only I knew what that was)

Try plantedtank.net/forums. Look in the swap n shop. Lots of people selling their tank trimmings etc. You may find someone local.

Look on Aquabid.com for some live plants.

I have gotten a lot of live plants from there. I have used the seller Bayleesfishees several times with great results.

He can also help with what type of plants you might need.

I get my plants from a local aquarium club and do not quarantine or pre-treat.
When I buy them from a store I will rinse and look them over, but my Loaches eat snails, and I have not had Ich break out from introducing plants.
Potassium permanganate dip would be a good precaution, though.

I have heard about that potassium pink stuff... doesn't seem like it's that easy to get your hands on. One wonders why don't fish supply stores sell it?
I have lurked around Aquabid, thanks for the reference B518 - that's what I was looking fer...
now I just have to figure out what to do with my lights.........talk about being clueless........

i have plenty of java fern in my loach tank, and it seems to do do fine. other stuff except moss dies. my tank is 5 foot by 2 foot, and i have 1 flourescent bulb about 4 - 4.5 foot long, very standard aquarium light spectrum, not a planted tank spectrum. also, a blue bulb for morning and night. the room is very shaded, so there is very little sunlight comes into the room.

the best plants i have bought were from ebay. sometimes i get mail order plants, which are treated with copper. i rinse them, then stick them in a bucket of tank water for a day or two.

"other stuff except moss dies."
Are you speaking there of those "moss balls" I've seen on some sites? Those are pretty neat looking. Low light requirements too.
Do you know how many watts your bulb has? The most I can get out of my current fixture is 40W. That would not seem to be enough to support any kind of plant life... so I've got another thread going in the freshwater forum regarding lighting upgrade... I was going to upgrade to a couple of compact fluorescents that would give me 110W total. Still low for a "planted aquarium" - but I thought would do well with the java's... do you have a pic of your aquarium?

i am not sure how many watts i have. i will have to wait till the other half gets home, he can tell me. i am hopeless with electrical stuff - i can change a lightbulb and a fuse, but technical stuff is beyond me.

i am uploading a few photos, if they are rubbish i will try again.

the moss is java moss, i think. it just appeared one day. it looked like a mini fern had been glued to the wood, and then grew into a tangled mass from there. i have no idea where it came from.

Well if it's just a standard 48" bulb, I guess it's probably just 40W... so I'm really interested to see your tank pictures. I would consider that to be pretty "low light"...
thanks!