Plants for bare bottom, low light tank

I´m glad you found some plants that work nicely for you :)
I wouldn´t worry too much about the fast growing species depleting nutrients. Newts will be producing fertilizer xDDD Also, water changes will help replenish some of them.
My tanks are chock full of Elodea (when it does well it grows like an evil weed) and i never had a problem.
 
Thanks, that's good to know. It's a relief to finally have plants which actually grow :happy:
 
yeah, plants that grow vigorously like that do remove alot of nutrients. The ceratophyllum demersum in my karelinii tank has essentially taken over. The other plants aren't dead though, just growing slowly. I noticed that when I remove my newts in the summer to keep them from overheating, it slows the growth of the C. Demersum. Perhaps the reason that it is growing quickly is that it has the nutrients available to do so. that is a good thing to keep algae in check (except for the rampant blueish stuff that I am currently really frustrated with in my karelinii tank). But maybe some of your plants are growing slower because of the competition from the C. Demersum. It may be an interesting experiment to prune it way back and see what happens, but in the past when I have done this it results in lots of algae (which is very likely my current problem).

Good job on the ludwigia, mine is currently dying off . . . sadly. Bacopa also grows really slowly for me, I wish it grew faster because i really like it!
 
I don't think the Ceratophyllum is having any bad effect on other plants (yet).
I only got it quite recently while the Bacopa and Sagittria have been in the tank for a very long time. I think that Bacopa is just a slow growing plant.
I think I may be getting a little less hair algae but it hasn't disappeared.
I will definitely keep pruning, this plant grows shockingly fast. The newts love it and have used it extensively for egg laying.
 
This is what my tanks look like now. I think they will still get a lot greener but I am already pleased with the plants now.
 

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Gorgeous tanks! And gorgeous newts too! My tanks just have a bunch of java moss with some hornwart and elodea thrown in.
 
I was wonder a thing about Anubias. I read that they get algea quite easy, if exposed to strong light will say. Is this something you guys have noticed? So what type of light is enought to make them thrive?

I found some species which I got extremely interested to get my hands on! But I believe some may be hard to find?

plants

Thanks.
 
I don't know which species of Anubias I have but I can understand the algae problem...even though the ostracods I have trillions of eat most algae in this tank (one good thing they do). I suppose it wouldn't be so difficult to scrub the plant once in while with a brush or something because the leaves are very tough.
This tank is 15W light for 60l, and the plant is partially under the cork island, so no light to speak of, but if grows and has flowered which was very pretty. Growing in these conditions, including very hard water - it must be indestructible. I had 2 originally but one died and this one looked like it was also going to but the remaining part of it, after half rotted off, seems to thrive.

If you're looking for a particular species, there are good online shops in the UK with a lot of choice, so try them (java-plants. com, plantedtanks.co.uk and plantsalive.co.uk). See if you find what you're after, the might do international shipments (otherwise PM me).
 
Anubias is a slow-growing plant, and those are outcompeted easily by algae. I have problems with Anubias getting covered with algae too.

In my tanks (hard, alkaline pH 7.6), hornwort grows like crazy, Elodea does well enough, and Rotala rotundifolia also grows very well. Another weed is Shinnersia rivularis, which also has nice big leaves. And yeah, duckweed :)

I use shallow glass trays as planters with a soil layer covered with gravel. I plant anything but the hornwort in it. Elodea grows much better when rootd, though it's possible to grow it free-floating. I actually like the fact that the plant trays traps dirt, since it makes the tank more "organic" and provides stuff for microlife to live in. When I feed the newts, I put the food on the bare bottom in front of the glass trays, where they find it and eliminate it quickly.
 
The reason i want Anubias is that they can grow submersed(most of them?) and on roots etc. And that is how I want to plant them, between stone cracks and on a root. They should also have large leaves that some appear to have in the link.

I want my tank to look a little tropic with plants both in water and above, its hard to explain my idea thou, maybe there is other plants that fits this better.

Thank you for all info, i shall take a look on these links right away!
 
That first post toked me while:) hehe. I am looking around at many diferent pages at the same time.

Anubias is a slow-growing plant, and those are outcompeted easily by algae. I have problems with Anubias getting covered with algae too
Click to expand...

This seems to be the only disadvantage with Anubias, but what type of algea do you get?
 
I think algae is a very individual problem, depending what conditions you have, light, water quality, what nutrients/minerals etc. are present in your water, and of course what algae comes into your tank from whatever sources.
For me personally: diatoms (brown algae ..which isn't algae, eaten by my loyal friends the ostracods), hair algae (but only in one tank it does really well), and some green algae that kind of looks like miniature lichen or moss, difficult to remove.
 
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It seems that i have to keep looking around until i find the plants i want. But will it be as much a probleme if i have them grow above the surface? so that the leaves dont come in direct contact with any water.
 
grius said:
That first post toked me while:) hehe. I am looking around at many diferent pages at the same time.



This seems to be the only disadvantage with Anubias, but what type of algea do you get?
Click to expand...

I had too much light on my Walstad tank, and the Anubias got a fuzzy carpet of green algae and there was also some stringy green hair-like algae
 
Thats to bad, I suspect it is very difficult to get rid of the algae after a bloom?
Maybe i should start with some java fern and more moss:) until i get more knowledge about plants.
 
grius said:
Thats to bad, I suspect it is very difficult to get rid of the algae after a bloom?
Maybe i should start with some java fern and more moss:) until i get more knowledge about plants.
Click to expand...

after I drastically reduced the light for about 3 weeks, the algae pretty much disappeared.
 
Some people use an electric toothbrush to remove algae from plants with tough leaves.
I think I would just get a few different plants and see what grows well - plants are really fussy as far as I know.
 
Molch said:
after I drastically reduced the light for about 3 weeks, the algae pretty much disappeared.
Click to expand...

Okey, so your algea probleme is over now? can I ask how much light you could have without getting any probleme?

Some people use an electric toothbrush to remove algae from plants with tough leaves.
I think I would just get a few different plants and see what grows well - plants are really fussy as far as I know.
Click to expand...
That i would be okey with if they was few and larger anubias. But to be on the safe side I start with java and continues to look for other plants, I have a few weeks on me:)
 
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