Low Light Plants

[daizeUK]

I'm plotting up a rough plan for some plants in my first aquarium.  I'm restricted by the lighting which is only 2x 15W bulbs in a 64L tank, so that's about 1WPG?  They're Interpet fitted lights and I don't think I can change them.
 
My wish-list of low-light beginner plants is :
1. Vallisneria americana var. asiatica
2. Cryptocoryne balansae
3. Cryptocoryne beckettii
4. Ceratophyllum submersum (hornwort)
5. Microsorium mini (mini java fern)
6. Flame moss
 
My water is hard with high nitrates (about 50ppm).  Do I need to think about trace ferts or is the tap nitrate enough?  Should I consider root tabs for the crypts & vallis?
 
Planned photoperiod is about 8-10 hours and there may be a little direct sunlight, particularly on the vallis, java fern and flame moss.
 
Is there anything else I need to know about caring for these plants?
 

 

[techen]

That's a lot of nitrates O.O


I expect to just use your lights, Daylight may give you algae issues.

 

[daizeUK]

Okay I can't turn off the sun but I will keep curtains drawn as much as possible!
 
Any advice about root ferts needed or not?

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Root tabs are ok but if there is enough fert in the water plants being opportunistic feeders will get it from where ever its available. Id get some trace ferts as they also dont contain nitrates so your plants will have enough from tap water and fish waste.

 

[daizeUK]

Thanks Steve, would you recommend Seachem Flourish for trace ferts?

 

[frapadoodle]

Can't speak for steve, but I use Seachem Flourish, and does fine by me.
50ppm nitrates, wow! Think mine is about 20 out of the tap.

 

[daizeUK]

Couple of questions before I buy the Flourish
 
1. Do I still need trace ferts if I have hard water?  I assume overdosing if I already have lots of trace elements in the water is bad
 
2. Should I get a test kit for trace elements first (e.g. iron) before deciding whether I need to dose?
 
3. Can I get shrimp if I'm dosing trace elements?
 
Okay that's three questions, the shrimp were an afterthought

 

[frapadoodle]

Flourish has trace elements in it.
I don't test for trace elements, but I don't go by any system of if my plants are happy okey dokey.
As for shrimp, haven't tried them yet.
My water is hard as far as dissolved minerals go, so if I don't keep up I get ring around the tank.

Back to the original question, of the plants. I only started using ferts for my amazon swords, as they are heavy feeders. The rest of the plants do enjoy it though.

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Dose and everything will be fine trust me, over dosing ferts does nothing providing you dont put the whole bottle in.

 

[daizeUK]

Okay will do thanks!

 

[daizeUK]

I'm having a hard time sourcing hornwort.  I thought my LFS sold it in nice big bunches but when I went to buy some today they only had cabomba.  I can't grow cabomba, I don't have enough lighting.
 
Would Limnophilia sessiliflora be a good substitute for hornwort?  I'm looking for something undemanding that grows easily, nice and tall at the back of the tank and soaks up nitrates and competes with algae.

 

[Atsy]

I have low light-moderate light and have purple cabomba.  It does really well so far!  Can't say it will for everyone but I have a friend who has it also and has low-moderate light and it seems to do ok.
 
My Hygrophila difformis/ Wisteria plant grows really well in my light and VERY quickly!  I have a ton of new grow in just a few days!  I have to trim it pretty often.  My ceratopteris thalictrodes/ water sprite also grows really quickly and I think it takes nutriets straight from the water (I think that's the one I'm thinking of) or it is the Wistera, I always get the specs of those two mixed up.
 
A lot of people on the forum dose with Flourish, which has trace cooper, and they say that it hasn't hurt their shrimp.  I also have shrimp and just recently dosed, so far so good!  Was doing research and several people said they have used it w/shrimp and been ok but dose at your own risk!    I just put the key words "fert" and "shrimp" in the search option.
 
I just bought Cryptocoryne pavra, it is really slow growing but looks pretty.  Like a tall grassy plant.
 
That's my 2 cents worth.

 

[daizeUK]

What is your WPG?  I've heard some people describe 2WPG as 'low' lighting and 4WPG is high.  I've got 15W daylight bulbs in a 17G tank which I reckon gives me only 1WPG, so that's really low!
 
I think the direct sunlight might boost that more than I expected though.  The sun was shining on my vallis a few days ago (currently a rare event in this miserable country ) and the vallis was producing bubbles like mad.
 
I bought Seachem Flourish and plan to dose about 0.5ml twice a week, nice and steady see how it goes.  I notice it has got a little Nitrogen in it, not much but maybe I'm using the wrong product because with my tap nitrates I certainly don't need nitrogen!
 
I setup my tank last week and stocked so far:
Vallis spiralis (changed my mind from twisted vallis to straight!)
Microsorium mini (miniature java fern)
Java moss (I'll try different types of mosses later, I think Java is the easiest so I want to see if it survives first)
Egeria densa (showing good growth)
Crypt becketti
Crypt balansae
Limnophila sessiliflora (I least I think that's what it is, it was labelled as Limnophila hygrophilia but there's no such plant, hygrophila is a different species!)
 
I still have a couple of fake plants to replace, there's a fake bacopa helping to hide the filter so I'll take a look at the plants you suggested and see if they would do well there.  Then there's the fake log with big leaves.  I haven't decided yet whether to keep the log but if I do those leaves have got to go!  I'll tie some anubias nana on to the log instead.

 

[Lunar Jetman]

What is your WPG?  I've heard some people describe 2WPG as 'low' lighting and 4WPG is high.  I've got 15W daylight bulbs in a 17G tank which I reckon gives me only 1WPG, so that's really low!

It's quite simple really. You have 15Watts of light to 17 gallons so you have 0.88WPG. My tank is 75 Gallons with 2x 39W tubes so i'm getting 1.08WPG

The important thing to remember is you can get too hung up on lighting. More important to the plants will be filtration, flow and ferts. The three Fs!

Get these right and your lighting won't be too much of an issue.

With regards to your plant list, I've successfully managed to grow Vallis, Crypts and Java Moss all currently with Java ferns in the past. I did try to grow some Elodea Densa unsuccessfully and had mixed results with Cambomba.

Limnophila Sessiliflora will likely need CO2 to grow in your lighting so bear that in mind.

You could also try some Amazon Swords and Anubais too.

 

[daizeUK]

Flow is something I need to improve, I think.  None of the plants are moving much except the vallis which sways in the current.  All the other plants look pretty static.  I have an internal filter with outflow directed up at the surface to cause agitation, it then flows across the tank from left to right and downwards into the vallis.  I don't think there's much flow getting back to plants at the left side of the tank.  I've also turned the filter down to a low setting, mainly because I didn't want to have strong currents with fry in the tank, but I think I will have to turn it up to a higher setting for the plants.
 
I got the idea for Limnophila from the Seapets/Tropica site which said "Limnophila sessiliflora is a good and undemanding plant which is a good alternative to Cabomba, which demands a lot of light."  so I thought I'd give it a try! 
 
It does go on to say "The plant often grows leggy in poor light, but this can be counteracted to some extent by stimulating growth by CO2 addition."  I think I missed that part, maybe it won't do so well in my tank after all 
 
I'm not a fan of large-leaved plants like echinodorus and anubias, I prefer small leaves but I do like the little anubias nana version!