Low-Light Plants

[Xenity7]

I am a little knew to the whole aquatic gardening thing. I have a 20 gallon aquarium 12 inches high, with 30 watts of light, what kinds of plants can I pull off?

 

[revengeishere]

you can try amazon swords, anubias species, and crypts. Note that these plants needs rich substrate. I already did my substrate, and Im going to buy 6 amazon swords tommorow.

 

[Alia]

I'm interested in planting my newest aquarium also, so I've been doing a bit of research. The book I'm using Aquarium Plants Manual does say anubias barteri and cryptocoryne affinis are good for your conditions, but not c. cordata, c. pontederifolia, c. wendtii, or c. willisi , all of which need 50 watts per 25 gallons. That is also the recommendation for the Amazon Sword Plant, echinodorus amazonicus , but the echinodorus bleheri (no common name given) tolerates less and looks very similar.

The other varieties that my book says will tolerate low lighting (30-35 watts per 25 gallons) are ceratophyllum demersum (Hornwort or Coontail), bolbitis heudelotii (finger fern family), microsorium pteropus (Java Fern), and vesicularia dubyana (Java Moss).

It might also be worth mentioning that both the Amazon Sword and the other echinodorus I mentioned can grow to 20 inches and might look silly with their tops trimmed off. Hornwort is really more of a floating plant and can block light to other plants if not kept trimmed, Java Fern is a good plant for cichlid tanks, and Java Moss is good for bottom spawning fish (for the eggs/babies).

I hope this is helpful.

Alia

 

[AquaNut]

By all accounts, the lighting in my tanks isn't sufficient to grow anything, yet my tanks are full of live plants. Both my 45 gallon and 33 gallon tanks have just a single flourescent tube. I haven't changed the tube on my 33 gallon tank in the three years I've had it. They're planted in plain ol' gravel. I don't add fertilizers. However, my water quality is excellent (I think the fish could live in straight tap water where I live), and I deliberately feed my fish well so that their waste and the extra food feeds the plants. I balance this by doing frequent small water changes and rinsing my filter media regularly. With all that crud in the gravel, I never have a problem with washing away too much of the beneficial bacteria in my tank. My fish seem to always be healthy, so my plants are really never exposed to medications. My plants even grow well under incandescent hoods.

Anyway, I thought it might be helpful for you to know which plants have done well in my low light conditions.

Amazon swords - grow like weeds. They may not be the true Amazons... I've never been 100% certain, as they do look very similar to the Echinodorus bleheri. Anyway, I started with one, but it sets off runners with babies all the time, so I now have several. The rest have been given back to the lfs or my neighbour's pond (they're doing well there!). As for trimming them, just remove old leaves at the crown and new ones are always growing.. that way you always have a compact plant.

Vallisneria... another total weed.. if not pruned, it soon grows so long that it trails all across the top of the tank. It requires weekly pruning in both my tanks.

Microsorium (I think.. I'm going on memory for the latin names here).. java fern.. that stuff is impossible to kill. Attach it to a rock or piece of wood with an elastic band or some fishing line. It will soon attach itself and grow like a monster. It propagates like mad, creating new plantlets on its leaves.

Hygrophilia - weed, weed, weed.. It's a great one for taking clippings.. just pinch off the top and voila! You have another plant.

Bacopa - grows well if I float it, but I have too many herbivorous fish who refuse to leave it planted for any amount of time

Some kind of crypt/chain sword which I've never been able to identify.. it doesn't look exactly like any of the ones I see in books or online... but it grows like mad and produces oodles of new plants.

Cardamine lyrata - such a lovely plant.. I didn't know if it was going to make it.. it was the one new plant I bought when I set up my 45 gallon tank just a couple of months back (I planted the rest of it from clippings from my other tanks). It wasn't looking phenomenal initially, but is now growing fantastically! I'd say it's grown a couple of inches in the past week. I've now taken clippings from the initial plant and planted them elsewhere in that tank and in a couple of my other tanks. All the clippings are growing well, too.

I grow other plants, too, but those are the ones that really thrive and produce new plants for me. Good luck!

 

[mrV]

I'd try to put some of these:

Anubias barteri var. barteri
Anubias barteri var. nana
Cryptocoryne wendtii
Cryptocoryne beckettii
Cryptocoryne x willisii
Echinodorus 'Ozelot'
Echinodorus amazonicus
Hydrocotyle leucocephala (it's good surface plant)
Hygrophila polysperma
Microsorum pteropus
Vallisneria spiralis ''Tiger''
Limnophila sessiliflora

I don't think you have too alittle light, because the tank isn't so high either. You can add reflector, tin foil etc.. in your lamp to increase light alittle too.

In this tank, I have, there is 50W lights and it's about 200 liters (~ 50 us gal).

And in this tank, it's 450 liter (about 118 us gal) there is 4*36W. Probably my plants haven't read "Aquarium plants manual"

So, what are important:

- enough lights
- enough nutrients
- enough CO2

What kind of water you have? Water values, pH, GH, KH, NO3- and temp.?

 

[revengeishere]

Your tanks are amazing, MRV. I cant believe its not "high" tech(or is it?). Its been my goal since Ive learned about natural aquaria to do what you did.

Also, Mrv, aquanut, whats your fertilizing regimen. I aim not to fertilize mine, little if any, and let the fish crap and fish food and the water changes do it for me

 

[Xenity7]

Thanks for all the species names, I will be sure to look into them at my LFS. My water is very hard about 10 degrees GH and ph 7.5 with a 75 degree temperature (Farenheit of course)

 

[revengeishere]

Thanks for all the species names, I will be sure to look into them at my LFS. My water is very hard about 10 degrees GH and ph 7.5 with a 75 degree temperature (Farenheit of course)

Me too. Your water seems pretty normal compared to mine:

GH: 14
Kh: 7
Ph:7.8

 

[AquaNut]

Your tanks are, indeed, beautiful, MrV.

I do not fertilize my plants, Revenge. My fishes' waste and any leftover food do it for me.

Amazon swords prefer slightly soft, acidic water, so I'm not sure how they'd do in such hard, alkaline conditions.

 

[revengeishere]

Your tanks are, indeed, beautiful, MrV.

I do not fertilize my plants, Revenge. My fishes' waste and any leftover food do it for me.

Amazon swords prefer slightly soft, acidic water, so I'm not sure how they'd do in such hard, alkaline conditions.

Im planning to add peat soon, to lower my hardness and ph. But thank you for telling me you dont fertilize.

 

[allnatural]

Hi AquaNut, beautiful tanks! On the tank that has 50 watts of light, how long do you leave them on daily?

I just wanted to clear up some things that I saw in some of the other replies. These tanks, although beautiful are not "low tech". AquaNut is using filters, and I assume CO2 injection since it was briefly mentioned:

......................................................
So, what are important:

- enough lights
- enough nutrients
- enough CO2
......................................................

Are you using CO2 injection? Also you mentioned that some of the plants (that I love) are weeds, weeds, weeds. This is not necessarily a bad connotation, just a fact!

I love the fact that there are so many different methods that hobbyists use. AquaNut breaks all the "light" rules with 1 watt per gallon!

--Tim

 

[mrV]

whats your fertilizing regimen

I use:

Tetra Crypto (for new plants or plants which I moved to another place)
Tetra PlantaMin (=floraPride), liquid
PMDD, liquid (haven't done lately)
JBL 7 balls
Tetra Initialsticks nowadays too..

I cant believe its not "high" tech(or is it?).

What is high-tech? There is only couple CO2 spreader (sugar-jelly-yeast bottles), but I have done a a new CO2 spreader from Tetras spreader, more pics of that spreader: Scroll down....

When it's working... Water flows through the spreader and CO2 dissolves to water better.

 

[revengeishere]

Ok, I just bought crypt wendetiis( i got the tropica variety, very attractive), luteas, and uluteas(?). I also bought a val, and a plant that looks like a water sprite. I only bougth one of those guys cos i know they might grow fast enough, that i can just use thier runners.

I hope they grow. Hehehe.

 

[Alia]

Probably my plants haven't read "Aquarium plants manual" -MrV

I guess you're right, they must not have. Aquanut's don't seem too well-read either. But with my luck, if I don't have at least 2 watts per gallon, I won't be able to keep even "weeds, weeds, weeds" alive. I guess I'll just keep to the cautious path until I have some experience under my belt. BTW, MrV, your tanks do look awesome. You must be doing everything right!

 

[plantbrain]

2 w'gal is a good general rule for a new person considering using CO2(or not). More light is not "better". I do not know of any plant that will not do well in 2w/gal out perhaps 300 species avaiable.

CO2 works great on lower light tanks. Claus at Tropica also mirrored this notion. I had a 60 gal cube with 54 w of powercompact lighting and it did super.

A number of folks don't want to bothered with dosing etc but a little will go along way and using less light will also make things easier for folks. Most plants will do pretty good with CO2, some suggested will do fine without CO2. But DIY CO2 is pretty easy, at the lower light you have, the CO2 demand will not be as critical and you'll get the same benefits from the CO2.

Non CO2 planted tanks are nice also and require more trial and error with plant choices, but they generally have slow growth, low maintenance. They also require more patience than some have.

It's also important not to mix the methods of non CO2 and CO2 planted tanks together. With your set up., you can go either way. Poke around and see what it is that you want for your tank, then decide.

Regards,
Tom Barr