Good plants for a medium lit tank?

[pleechford]

Hey guys, I am looking for some plants for my planted 25g tall tank. I have co2 and my lighting is a 2 bulb T5HO geisemann midday 6000k and an aquaflora bulb. I would love some plants with some color like red and a good spreading foreground plant. As of now I have crypts , hygrophilia (willow leaf), jungle Val, and a few stems of rotala. Thoughts? Suggestions?

 

[pleechford]

The tank

 

[bud29]

I really like dwarf hairgrass, micro swords, and anubias nana. I believe all three of those would work in your tank.

 

[Rivercats]

The list below are all plants that would add color. They range in the yellow, pink, orange, red range. Limnophila Aromatica hippuroides is especially striking as the top portion of each stem is a very bright med pink. Telanthera is fairly easy to grow and the under color of the leaves are a fairly bright pink. If you want something in the orange range my first choice is Proserpinaca Palustris followed by Myriophyllum tuberculatum. Nesaea pedicellata 'Golden' is beautiful but is not the easiest plant to grow but has a great true yellow color. Rotala macrandra goes to the red range, I find it easy to grow but many people have trouble with it. It likes lower nitrates (try to keep mine at 10ppm) and slightly higher phosphates (try to keep mine at 1.0ppm) and alittle extra micro nutrients. Rotala Wallichii likes softer water, grows like a weed and the upper portions of the growing stems are a nice light pink color. You can also do a Red Tiger Lotus but as they grow they tend to take up alot of room so wouldn't recommend one for your tank.

Telanthera Rosefolia (Alternanthera reineckii)
Limnophila aromatica 'hippuroides'
Proserpinaca Palustris
Myriophyllum tuberculatum
Nesaea pedicellata 'Golden'
Rotala macrandra
Rotala Wallichii

As for carpet plants if you want a really low one you might be able to do Dwarf Baby Tears. In my 220g I have Pogostemon helferi which can grow in medium light. Its a bear to get going because it has shallow roots but once you get it going it is really unique. Another thing is if you want a small plant/plants for foreground accenting Crypt Parva is great. It only grows about 2 inches tall and works really well as an accent for rocks or DW. There are a ton of other plants but the ones I listed are ones I have personally grown.

 

[pleechford]

The list below are all plants that would add color. They range in the yellow, pink, orange, red range. Limnophila Aromatica hippuroides is especially striking as the top portion of each stem is a very bright med pink. Telanthera is fairly easy to grow and the under color of the leaves are a fairly bright pink. If you want something in the orange range my first choice is Proserpinaca Palustris followed by Myriophyllum tuberculatum. Nesaea pedicellata 'Golden' is beautiful but is not the easiest plant to grow but has a great true yellow color. Rotala macrandra goes to the red range, I find it easy to grow but many people have trouble with it. It likes lower nitrates (try to keep mine at 10ppm) and slightly higher phosphates (try to keep mine at 1.0ppm) and alittle extra micro nutrients. Rotala Wallichii likes softer water, grows like a weed and the upper portions of the growing stems are a nice light pink color. You can also do a Red Tiger Lotus but as they grow they tend to take up alot of room so wouldn't recommend one for your tank.

Telanthera Rosefolia (Alternanthera reineckii)
Limnophila aromatica 'hippuroides'
Proserpinaca Palustris
Myriophyllum tuberculatum
Nesaea pedicellata 'Golden'
Rotala macrandra
Rotala Wallichii

As for carpet plants if you want a really low one you might be able to do Dwarf Baby Tears. In my 220g I have Pogostemon helferi which can grow in medium light. Its a bear to get going because it has shallow roots but once you get it going it is really unique. Another thing is if you want a small plant/plants for foreground accenting Crypt Parva is great. It only grows about 2 inches tall and works really well as an accent for rocks or DW. There are a ton of other plants but the ones I listed are ones I have personally grown.

Ahh thanks rivercat!! They are some beautiful species. I just got some telanthera cardinalis yesterday. We shall see how it does in the tank, hopefully well! I also just found some duckweed from a local pond. I used a bleach treatment before putting in my tank. I needed some to help lower my nitrates so hopefully that will work out. Do you think dwarf baby tears work do well in a medium lit tank? People always say to make sure you have really high lighting for dwarf baby tears. Ive always wanted to try it though. I think I will!!

 

[Rivercats]

I have a high light tank but the way my big combo metal halide/T5HO fixture is made I keep it pushed alot more to the back of the tank due to my non-green plants so the dwarf baby tears being in the front was maybe getting medium light. I also used glutaraldehyde and not CO2 and it was growing. I finally had to take it out due to my yo-yo loaches digging under the new rooting growth all the time. It's got such fine short roots my suggestion is if you can get a small mat of it and use toothpicks broken off to hold it down. I loved the look but my fish just wouldn't let me have it. I think giving it a try is worth the effort.

 

[pleechford]

I have a high light tank but the way my big combo metal halide/T5HO fixture is made I keep it pushed alot more to the back of the tank due to my non-green plants so the dwarf baby tears being in the front was maybe getting medium light. I also used glutaraldehyde and not CO2 and it was growing. I finally had to take it out due to my yo-yo loaches digging under the new rooting growth all the time. It's got such fine short roots my suggestion is if you can get a small mat of it and use toothpicks broken off to hold it down. I loved the look but my fish just wouldn't let me have it. I think giving it a try is worth the effort.

I think I'll do it! I'd like to add a little more light to my tank as well. I have two t5ho 24W a piece in a 25 gallon so it's 1.92 watts per gallon. What do you think the best way to add a little more light to add like 3 watts per gallon total?

 

[Rivercats]

You can't go by WPG anymore due to all the different type lights. It's all about lux, lumens, and par with all the new types of bulbs for all the different types of fixtures. You have 2 high output bulbs and on a 25 I really wouldn't go any higher. That is enough to grow most plants. If you'd go higher you'd really need CO2 or a higher dose of Excel and you'd have to do daily fertilizing. I think your good the way you are but maybe someone else will chime in here. I have a fine line to balance with my high light system, how long I run them, daily ferts, and adding enough Excel/glut for good growth and no algae problems.

 

[pleechford]

You can't go by WPG anymore due to all the different type lights. It's all about lux, lumens, and par with all the new types of bulbs for all the different types of fixtures. You have 2 high output bulbs and on a 25 I really wouldn't go any higher. That is enough to grow most plants. If you'd go higher you'd really need CO2 or a higher dose of Excel and you'd have to do daily fertilizing. I think your good the way you are but maybe someone else will chime in here. I have a fine line to balance with my high light system, how long I run them, daily ferts, and adding enough Excel/glut for good growth and no algae problems.

Yeah that is true! I dose dry ferts daily (EI) and I have co2 as well. I have a really good balance going on right now but for plants such as red rotala I had a really hard time. They just turned green but maybe I didn't dose enough iron? Who knows...

 

[Rivercats]

Yeah that is true! I dose dry ferts daily (EI) and I have co2 as well. I have a really good balance going on right now but for plants such as red rotala I had a really hard time. They just turned green but maybe I didn't dose enough iron? Who knows...

Well my rotala macrandra only gets red towards the top and it's pink lower and on the bottom leaves they look green and pink varigated. I'm still playing with dosing iron. Been trying Flouish liquid iron 2x week to see if it matters. I also just changed my halide bulbs from 10000K to 6000K to see if that makes a difference in how it colors up. It grows really good and is branching on its own. I think in my tank "maybe" using CO2 "might" color it up more but not sure. But also I noticed a color difference on the macrandra when I lowered my nitrate dosing and slightly upped my micro and phosphate dosing. Now the rotala wallichii is greenish for a few inches on the bottom but it's a nice light pink on all upper growth. You've got good bulbs on your tank and you could try adding a 1 bulb T5HO fixture in front of the other two and see how it goes. If your dosing El then your ferts should be fine but you'd have to watch to see if you needed to adjust your CO2.

 

[pleechford]

Well my rotala macrandra only gets red towards the top and it's pink lower and on the bottom leaves they look green and pink varigated. I'm still playing with dosing iron. Been trying Flouish liquid iron 2x week to see if it matters. I also just changed my halide bulbs from 10000K to 6000K to see if that makes a difference in how it colors up. It grows really good and is branching on its own. I think in my tank "maybe" using CO2 "might" color it up more but not sure. But also I noticed a color difference on the macrandra when I lowered my nitrate dosing and slightly upped my micro and phosphate dosing. Now the rotala wallichii is greenish for a few inches on the bottom but it's a nice light pink on all upper growth. You've got good bulbs on your tank and you could try adding a 1 bulb T5HO fixture in front of the other two and see how it goes. If your dosing El then your ferts should be fine but you'd have to watch to see if you needed to adjust your CO2.

Yeah dosing iron can be tricky! Yeah I need to play with my co2. I keep my drop checker light green or almost a greenish yellow but I need look into that a little further and figure out my perfect "equation" for my tank. I definitely can't wait to get some more colorful plant to liven my tank up