In Search Of A Plant That. . .

[Rynofasho]

Hi all,

Looking for a plant for the back of my tank that will in time grow tall, not require CO2, do well with low light, AND can be planted in gravel.

Does such a plant exist? Or one that perhaps I could leave in a pot and just bury the pot in the substrate? I have a bunch of fake plants and I've already grown weary of them and am starting to read up on live plants. I have my eyes on some of the easier ones to grow already, however most I see need to be attached to wood or rocks, so that's why Im asking about one that can go straight in the gravel. Thank you.

 

[ian]

You may have success with Cabomba, Hygrophila polysperma, Egeria densa, Vallisneria. These are the ones you'll find at most LFS. It's worth giving them a try.

 

[stevereade]

Amazon Swords too, every lfs sells them and they need pretty much nothing and do get very very tall.

 

[dayzofspeed]

you could also try indian fern

 

[GrayScale]

Anacharis as well. Pretty popular and grows pretty fast even under low light.

 

[FreedomFighter]

you could also try indian fern

Ceratopteris thalictroides - Watersprite

these are its other names. Tall easy to keep plant that requires literally nothing to thrive.

 

[Channti]

Ive had a lot of success with Amazon Sword and Hygro. Polysperma.

I find that Cabomba gets very messy after a couple months...

If you get Hygro Polysperma, put a root tab under it so that it grows leafy instead of stalky.! The Seachem Flourish root tabs work well, as do API root tabs.

 

[lljdma06]

Cryptocoryne spiralis. Aponogeton (the really common one) too, but go for C. spiralis. Here are C. spiralis below. You can see by the leaf-bending at the surface that the plant does get quite tall. Tank is 21" deep, maybe 3" of substrate, so the plants are between 18-24" tall. Tall enough for most tanks. Care is stupidly easy. Can be planted in gravel, I'm growing this with .77WPG of T5s, but it'll grow well with less and T8 bulbs. Feed it TPN+ or a good fert when you remember. You can use rootabs if you want, but it's just as happy absorbing nutrients through the leaves. People say crypts are slow-growers, but in my experience, in these types of low-light setups, they take over and rival stemplants in growth rate.

 

[fluffycabbage]

i have this (as ianho mentioned above)
http/www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/plantfinder/details.php?id=75
- its a crazy grower! even if its uprooted it keeps growing lol! it grows very quickly in my aquarium, and i have low/medium light, no co2, and once weekly TPN+. Though it grew perfectly well (just slightly slower) without ferts.

Are you in the UK?

 

[Rynofasho]

Nope, I am in the US --- I don't quite have the lighting I need just yet (less than 0.5WPG in the stock bulb), so I need to address that issue, although I'm having problems finding a lighting fixture. Tank is 30" across and the glass piece is only 4", so I'm having a difficult time finding something to fit. Really don't want to get a whole new hood.

Will that plant grow in the gravel? If I can find 'potted' plants, do I leave them potted and build up the substrate around them to submerge the pot, or do you remove them and dig a hole in the gravel and plant them in there straight away?

 

[lljdma06]

Nope, I am in the US --- I don't quite have the lighting I need just yet (less than 0.5WPG in the stock bulb), so I need to address that issue, although I'm having problems finding a lighting fixture. Tank is 30" across and the glass piece is only 4", so I'm having a difficult time finding something to fit. Really don't want to get a whole new hood.

Will that plant grow in the gravel? If I can find 'potted' plants, do I leave them potted and build up the substrate around them to submerge the pot, or do you remove them and dig a hole in the gravel and plant them in there straight away?

C. spiralis will grow fine with your stock lighting. Many nice plants will grow well under stock lighting, they just grow slow, including many of the ones mentioned in previoous posts. Slow isn't always bad. Sometimes slow, is really rather nice and very managable, especially for a first tank. One does not always need to grow plants at break neck speed. It isn't always fun. Ask the members here that are constantly pruning away. Been there, done that. Gets kind of tedious after a while. As long as you feed your plants, have good flow, I see no reason why one cannot have a nicely planted tank with stock lighting.

llj

 

[Ryan12]

i would say hygro polysperma as well. good coloration for the tops of the leaves. easy to grow

 

[MrNiceGuy]

Amazon Swords too, every lfs sells them and they need pretty much nothing and do get very very tall.

amazon swords? they may not die in a low-tech set up but they definitely wont thrive... and they wont grow much either.