Considering live plants

[MAM]

once again i'm entertaining the idea of trying live plants. the plastic ones, especially teh plastic swords, have little give, uproot all the time and just look, well, fake. i've printed stuff from the pinned articles, have some reading ahead of me tonight . thanks for doing that rose!
anywho, i've been reading posts here and getting some vague ideas. i have a 20 gal tank with just the strip light that came with it (will check wattage tonight). i do have a very noctural fish in there, so i'd like to get low light plants so i don't need to have strong light on for long periods of time. are there any that you all have found to be great low light starte plants, that are hardy and easy to take care of, and maybe get some height? its a deep 20 gal...............
also, the tank gets a fair amount of natural light during the day so how crucial is having the light of the tank on?

thanks for you patience as i dive into the world of plants..................

 

[tsr770]

I used the experiences of Bol to pick out some low light plants for my tank. Here is a quote from what he posted on another thread on here.....


Origionally posted by Bol:
In any case, with that same setup, I had the following results for over six months:

* Hornwort grew like a weed.

* Hygrophilia polysperma did almost too well. Sunset hygro did almost as well, but didn't get very red, except quite near the top of the tank.

* Anubias (barteri, nana), crypt wendtii, and java ferns did very well, and 'grew' pretty consistently.

* Marimo balls (moss balls) and java moss did very well, but didn't 'grow' much. About the same for my amazon sword.

* Water sprite did quite well, but it seemed to do better when floating ... the part that was planted or near the substrate tended to rot, but the rest of the plant(s) did well.

* Pennywort and anacharis did 'ok'. I think the anacharis problem was mostly my fish nibbling them down.

* 'Vals' were odd. At first, they sort of died off, down to a height of about 4". They stayed at that height, but healthy looking, for months -- even propogated a few times. When I added more light, they shot up to the top of the tank and beyond, though.

* Cabomba stayed alive, but got very "leggy". Not surprising, since it's a higher-light plant, but it's so good looking, I had to try it.



I bought some Hygrophilia Polysperma 9 days ago, and they have grown almost 2 inches already, the guy at the LFS says they will grow 20+ inches tall! I also bought an Anubia "Barteri", and its obviously doing well as it shot up what looks to be the makings of a flower or whatever it does. I also have 3 different sword plants from about 2 months ago, and all have just now started to grow, shoot up a new leaf or two, and turn their leaves to get at the light.

This is in a 46 gallon bowfront with a 30 watt floragro bulb in it. So yeah it is considered low light. Although I am about to convert to a CF 96 watt light.

 

[Bol]

Woo, I'm quoted!

MaM, a "20 high" is 24" long, so I'd guess you have a bulb that's either 18" or 24" long. Normal output fluorescents are generally 10 watts per foot of length, so I'd guess you have either a 15W or 20W bulb (some are a little less, so it may actually be 18W). You should be fine with most, if not all, of the easy, low-light plants.

i do have a very noctural fish in there, so i'd like to get low light plants so i don't need to have strong light on for long periods of time

However, you will most likely need to keep your lights on for a significant period. 11 or 12 hours per day is a good start, although you may find you can get away with less. I doubt you'd ever be successful with less than 8 hours per day (just a guess).

That probably wouldn't be a problem for your fish, as they'd still have at least 12 hours of "night". Also, the plants will shade the bottom some (or a lot, if they get thick, or you get something like anubias, whos relatively large leaves sort of form a "canopy"). In any case, my cories and loaches don't seem to be bothered by long-exposure light.

 

[Joviella]

just gotta say.....i love live plants.Had trouble at first but now my plants thrive......i never had plastic plants in my tanks.....look too fake. Problem is that some fish shops sell plants that are not truly aquatic and don't survive fully submersed in water 24/7.
However , if u do your research and look into the plants u really want then u should be fine.......as for the fish that like a munch.......supplement their diet with cucumber and peas etc....hope this helps.xx.

 

[Joviella]

oh and i have these red lily plants that r stunning........don't know proper name. if no-one else posts the name i will look it up and post it.