Red plant suggestions...

[Tropical Tony]

Hi guys. I’ve got a 150l planted tank but want to add a bit of colour to it. I want to know if there are any small red plants for the foreground I could get or even any red carpet plants. Thanks

 

[Byron]

Hi guys. I’ve got a 150l planted tank but want to add a bit of colour to it. I want to know if there are any small red plants for the foreground I could get or even any red carpet plants. Thanks

Your lighting will determine this. Red leaf plants appear red to us because they reflect primarily red light. As red light is also critical for photosynthesis, red plants need more red light than green-leaf plants. Added to this, substrate ("carpet" type) plants also need stronger lighting.

One option that may work are some of the brown/red leaf crypts. I had good luck with these some years ago under moderate lighting.

 

[Tropical Tony]

Your lighting will determine this. Red leaf plants appear red to us because they reflect primarily red light. As red light is also critical for photosynthesis, red plants need more red light than green-leaf plants. Added to this, substrate ("carpet" type) plants also need stronger lighting.

One option that may work are some of the brown/red leaf crypts. I had good luck with these some years ago under moderate lighting.

thanks for the reply! Yeh I was thinking crypts I’ve got a green one in there at the moment and it’s tripled in size in a month. What red crypts would stay small? I have a 30watt white LED so not sure if I need more lighting or not.

 

[Byron]

thanks for the reply! Yeh I was thinking crypts I’ve got a green one in there at the moment and it’s tripled in size in a month. What red crypts would stay small? I have a 30watt white LED so not sure if I need more lighting or not.

If the green crypt is doing well under the light, try a reddish/brownish if you can find them. Can't be exactly certain of the species (crypts are usually only identifiable by flowers) but it might have been Cryptocoryne wendtii "Red" (first photo below). Cryptocoryne undulata (second photo). Cryptocoryne walkeri var. lutea has a brown leaf form (as well as the primary green shown below).