Plant ID?

Can i get some IDs on a few plants?

I know this one is a crypt, but im not sure which kind. Deep forest green and red under the leaves. Thought it was crypt pontederiifolia like the one in my other tank, but the leaves are very compact to the stem and it grows little curls off of the main root. These curls do not turn into full leaves.



Next, bought as ludwigia, im thinking its a narrow leaf species, but would like confirmation as its been mentioned it could be rotala... very hardy, thin leaves, grows well in good light. Minimal melt when first added. Propogates easiest of all my plants. Grows redder as it grows taller (not as red here since ive recently propagated it).


Sold as ludwigia, red underside to leaves. Bought 6 stems and only 3 remain as others rotted within a week. Had another similar plant that was pinker and it completely rotted away to nothing. This one is faring better...




Taller red plant. Grows taller but doesnt produce many new leaves. Stiff stem. Very dark red-purple all over until leaves start dying then they go green then yellow then melt. Suspect it needs co2 to thrive... very fussy if moved. It melts each time it is disturbed. Yet, does not die.


No CO2, i use API Root Tabs for my sword plants and crypts as needed, dose Seachem Flourish 1x a week.
Lighting is rated 18000k fluorescent plus a full spectrum 6000k fluorescent.

I'm not sure, but to get this going, i'll make some guesses

1) The ruffled leaf edges suggest crypt wendtii red. I know it's a common crypt, but look at ruffle edged leaf crypt plants

2) I think it's still ludwigia repens, but the pointed leaf variety.

3) Also ludwigia repens, but the round leaf variety. This one I have as well still.

4) Perhaps reneiki. I have the mini version and yours is likely the regular variety and growing a bit spindly, maybe from a lack of higher kelvin lighting.

Just guesses, not set in stone.

angelcraze said:

I'm not sure, but to get this going, i'll make some guesses

1) The ruffled leaf edges suggest crypt wendtii red. I know it's a common crypt, but look at ruffle edged leaf crypt plants

2) I think it's still ludwigia repens, but the pointed leaf variety.

3) Also ludwigia repens, but the round leaf variety. This one I have as well still.

4) Perhaps reneiki. I have the mini version and yours is likely the regular variety and growing a bit spindly, maybe from a lack of higher kelvin lighting.

Just guesses, not set in stone.

Click to expand...

Lighting is 18000k. But its only been up and running under that light for a month and a half now. So perhaps too soon to see improvement.

I snapped a photo of the weird curls on the crypt.


I do have a crypt wendtii in the same tank and it looks totally different. Ill get a photo of that one too. Or at least, i THINK its wendtii.
The "wendtii". The leaves are longer and narrower. Also melts when moved. The curly one does not.

NCaquatics said:

Lighting is rated 18000k fluorescent plus a full spectrum 6000k fluorescent.

Click to expand...

Are you sure the globes are 18000K?
18000K is in the ultra violet spectrum and bad for people and mid to bottom dwelling fishes.

Plants only need a 5500-6500K rating on globes.

@Colin_T

Its one of the T8 bulbs. This is the bulb


I have that in combination with the white normal light.
Used to just have the 6000k light and it did not do well for my plants in my 46g as its a deep tank. I found my plants really struggled and my wisteria didnt take off until i added this light.

Way too much UV light in that. You want a spike in blue and red and a bit of green. The 18000K globe has a huge spike in the purple (U/V) range and a little bit of red and green.

If you get a longer light unit it should have a higher wattage globe and will provide more light for the plants. You could then have one of the smaller globes come on first, then an hour later the other small globe (with a better tube 6500K not 18000K). And an hour after that you could have a full length light unit and globe come on.

At night you reverse the lighting and turn off the biggest light first, then one of the smaller ones, then the last small globe.

NCaquatics said:

Lighting is 18000k. But its only been up and running under that light for a month and a half now. So perhaps too soon to see improvement.

I snapped a photo of the weird curls on the crypt.
View attachment 100020

I do have a crypt wendtii in the same tank and it looks totally different. Ill get a photo of that one too. Or at least, i THINK its wendtii.
The "wendtii". The leaves are longer and narrower. Also melts when moved. The curly one does not.
View attachment 100019

Click to expand...

They could grow differently in different lighting, so if one crypt is newer, maybe it will look similar to the other in a month or so. But also could be a different crypt variety, not saying it's wendtii. That curly leaf thing is interesting. It might appreciate a root tab.

Idk about ultra violet lighting, but I love your tank! It looks so pretty

Colin_T said:

Way too much UV light in that. You want a spike in blue and red and a bit of green. The 18000K globe has a huge spike in the purple (U/V) range and a little bit of red and green.

If you get a longer light unit it should have a higher wattage globe and will provide more light for the plants. You could then have one of the smaller globes come on first, then an hour later the other small globe (with a better tube 6500K not 18000K). And an hour after that you could have a full length light unit and globe come on.

At night you reverse the lighting and turn off the biggest light first, then one of the smaller ones, then the last small globe.

Click to expand...

I keep the "purple" light on for a shorter time than my main light. Its on only for the afternoon.

angelcraze said:

They could grow differently in different lighting, so if one crypt is newer, maybe it will look similar to the other in a month or so. But also could be a different crypt variety, not saying it's wendtii. That curly leaf thing is interesting. It might appreciate a root tab.

Idk about ultra violet lighting, but I love your tank! It looks so pretty

Click to expand...

I do use root tabs with my crypts. The crypts and swords get tabs, but i got a couple in a tank i dont use tabs in and theyre growing good with just liquid ferts too.

Its a nice crypt, itll be nice to see it as it grows

The light is the issue behind the red plant you described in post #1. As Colin said, aquatic plants need red and blue light to drive photosynthesis, but adding green to this does improve plant response (in controlled tests). The red is the more important of the red and blue. Red leaf plants appear red because they are reflecting red light, so the red must be more intense for these. The change to green then melting is due to insufficient red light.

TYhe Aqua-Glo is providing red and blue and this is probably saving your plants. Light above 7000K is not going to benefit plants. The best spectrum for aquarium plants is in the 5000K to 7000K range. This is in fact closest to mid-day sun.

Several years ago I experimented over two large tanks with this. I had one 6500K and one 11000K for 12 months. The plants did not die, and I liked the "cool" look. But when it came time to replace the 11000K I could not get them any longer, so I used two 6500K. The improvement in the plants was a surprise to me. A couple years after this, I used one 6500K and one 5000K and noticed yet another improvment...and algae (black brush) disappeared. The lower Kelvin number is more red and less blue. Blue will drive algae if the red is not sufficient to balance.

I agree. Ditch the UV light. It is bad for your fish and you, if you stare at it long enough.

I will choose a different bulb then when finances are better then (off work right now due to COVID-19)

But my question, what ARE the plants im asking about?

The weird curls on the Crypts are most likely roots.

PheonixKingZ said:

The weird curls on the Crypts are most likely roots.

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They grow on the stem above the roots, and grow upward.