Specimen plant

[Tocan]

Anyone recomend a good specimen plant for a tank with water quality readings of
PH 8
Total Hardness 9
with a yeast DIY CO2 system running. I have tried Anubias Congensis but the leaves fell off after a week of planting, i have various other plants, planted at the same time growing nicely

 

[Lateral Line]

To suggest something suitable, we need to know what size tank it is, how much and what type of lighting you have above it.

 

[Tocan]

Its a Juwel Rio 240 (50 gallons) I have 4 light tubes. 2 Gro-lux and 2 blue marine, the 4 are on during the day and i have the blue marine on during the evening

 

[Yenko]

I think we need to know what wattage the lights are first. Depth would be helpful too.

 

[Tocan]

4 x 38w tubes
Tank depth 48cm

 

[Lateral Line]

Thats a lot of Wattage, but the lamps you are using are far from ideal for plant growth. You'd be much better off with 4x full spectrum lamps, 5500K - 6500K. The marine lamps give out to much high end light which is useless to plants, and I'm not a fan of Gro-Lux, they are dim for the watts they consume.

As for a plant, I think Aponogeton ulvaceus would work very well. Try to find one of the cultivars that does not need a dormant period, there are several. Otherwise it will die down periodically and you need to dig it up and rest the bulb in cool conditions for several weeks, up to a couple of months for some cultivars. In my opinion, worth the hassle even if you can't find a whole year cultivar - a fabulous plant that will like your light, and toleratr your hard somewhat alkali conditions.

 

[Tocan]

Thx
Your right about the lights but i like the look of the marine blue in the evening

 

[Lateral Line]

If you're going to keep the existing lights, then you'll need to downgrade your lighting level accordingly, you have nearly 3 Watts per gallon, but probably as much as a third of that is outside the useful range, so youll be better off assuming you have something like 2Watts per gallon, which is "Medium" light. Browse the plant list at Tropica and see if there is anything you like the look of that suits your conditions.

 

[Tocan]

What if i removed one of the blue tubes and fitted another, what tube would you recommend? Thanks for the link i'll have a look, I got all my plants from Java plants and have no complaints in fact i can recommend them.