Low tech plant suggestions

[Mark Z.]

Hi,

I am looking for plants for my 15-gallon Aqueon column tank. I would like to find something that would grow tall and bushy as a background plant, but not require CO2. The tank is 21" tall.

I have a pretty bright LED light on top, which causes a lot of algae. I plan to reduce the amount of time that it is on. I have a nice piece of driftwood with two anubias, a moss ball and three crypts, all of which are doing well. I also have pennywort, but it isn't doing so well. The stems are getting mushy and dying. I really like the pennywort and wish I could keep it alive.

Right now, I only have three amano shrimp, one ghost shrimp and two nerite snails, but I plan to make this a guppy tank.

I have an undergravel filter that is connected to my Fluval 50 hang-on-the-back filter. I did this as an experiment to keep baby guppies and shrimp from getting sucked in to the filter and it seems to be working well.

Any suggestions for an easy, bushy, tall plant? I really like pennywort. I also like wisteria, but haven't had success with that in the past, either. I recently purchased some Seachem Comprehensive and will start dosing that once a week to see if that helps. I also plan to get some java moss, but I'm really looking for something tall with smaller leaves and light and airy looking, if possible.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Mark

 

[Demeter32]

Water sprite works pretty well, but I've taken to Rotala as well, it says it needs high lighting, but mine is growing good (relatively slowly) in 1.5 watts per gallon in florescent lights. There's also taller crypts, amazon swords, and jungle val that will add some height.

 

[flchamp89]

In a column tank you would need a serious led to get into medium or higher par. Demeter plant choices are awesome. The duration of your photo period may be too long...hence algae. What kind of algae?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk

 

[StevenF]

I have a pretty bright LED light on top, which causes a lot of algae. I plan to reduce the amount of time that it is on. I have a nice piece of driftwood with two anubias, a moss ball and three crypts, all of which are doing well. I also have pennywort, but it isn't doing so well. The stems are getting mushy and dying. I really like the pennywort and wish I could keep it alive.

A LED on a dimmer is a good idea. When I built my LED lamp I made it bright enough for high brightness plants so that I could if I wanted to use CO2 at a later date. However for now I am currently running it at about 40% without CO2. If your pennywort is dying that is likely caused by a nutrient deficiency in your water. It is not an indication of too much light. I would suggest using a fertilizer such as Seachem Flourish comprehensive. That might save the plant and help your others which are probably handling your nutrient deficiency better. That allone might be enough to address your algae issue.

If the fertilizer doesn't address the algae issue try adjusting how much light your tank gets by dimming the bulbs or by reducing the on time. The other thing you can due is to adjust how much water you change per week and or how often. I used to do a 50% water change once per week. Now I do a 15% water change about once every two weeks. I went from pulling out about one handfull of hair algae a week to only a few pinches of algae every two weeks. I am using a TDS meter to insure I don't have a build up of minerals or organics in my tank.

I would like to find something that would grow tall and bushy as a background plant, but not require CO2.

No plant requires CO2. CO2 is mainly using to increase the growth rate of plants. Without CO2 they still grow but a little slower. All plants used in the hobby are found naturally is rivers and lakes. The amount of CO2 in these places is set by the amount of CO2 in the air (currently about 400ppm). This is typically much lower value in water then what is used in aquariums.

You should be good with good aeration, an adjustable light, and a good fertilizer.

 

[Mark Z.]

Thanks for the suggestions! I will definitely adjust the light period. The light does not have a dimmer. It is a Wave Point 18 watt Blade High Output LED model 01407. The box says 10000K. It is pretty bright. Not sure exactly what type of algae I have. I know it is NOT brown, not hair algae or green water algae. Seems to be just green algae. I'll also reduce the water change volume. I tend to change more than needed, I guess.

I just purchased the Seachem Comprehensive, so I'll start using that regularly now. I like the look of the water sprite. I think it is the same as wisteria. Maybe I'll try some rotala, also. I had thought about jungle val, and may still, but I wanted something more "leafy."

Thanks again!
Mark

 

[StevenF]

The light does not have a dimmer. It is a Wave Point 18 watt Blade High Output LED model 01407. The box says 10000K. It is pretty bright.

Looks like your lamp uses a 9.8VDC power supply that plugs into the wall and then the DC output line then plugs into the lamp. There are DC dimmers available for 10V systems. I found this with a quick search.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01325KCSY/?tag=ff0d01-20

It uses common 12 LED connections. If you are lucky Wave point used the same type of connector and you could just plug this in. If the connectors don't match you could return it or try modifying the dimmer to match your lamp. might be able to find matching matching connectors at a electronics shop. Then you could replaced the connectors on the dimmer only.

 

[TheBettaMan]

You need 6500K lights and leave it on 6-8 hours everyday depends on how many plants you have. Without CO2 tank, your plants still live but grow slower. If you want to spend less money, you can use Excel and Flourish