Need some color

[Super_Blueberry]

I've had these plants growing for a few months now, and one thing that I'm starting to notice is that the lack of color. Everything is green. I've got some crypts growing in there and there is a slight reddish hue to them, but it's just not enough. I've got 96 watts of t5ho in a 55g with no co2. I dose excel twice a week, and have root tabs everywhere. What are some nice red plants that will grow in my setup without being too high maintenance?

Thanks as always!!!

 

[tropicalmackdaddy]

Awesome tank...... There are some darker red crypts, tiger lotus, red root floaters (i dont know about there care tho), red java fern has alittle bit if red that looks nice, and there are some background plants like rotala indica.

 

[IowaGuy]

That tank looks beautiful. I wish mine looked that good actually! Unfortunately I can't offer any suggestions as I'm very new to planted tanks.

Out of curiosity, how long do you leave your lights on with this tank? And what kind of filtration? I'm trying to sponge up the knowledge of others while I try to work through my tank woes

 

[jmazz11]

Pink hippo grass is kinda cool too. Google it

 

[Super_Blueberry]

That tank looks beautiful. I wish mine looked that good actually! Unfortunately I can't offer any suggestions as I'm very new to planted tanks.

Out of curiosity, how long do you leave your lights on with this tank? And what kind of filtration? I'm trying to sponge up the knowledge of others while I try to work through my tank woes

I think my timers are set for 3-4 hours in the morning and 4-5 hours at night. On the weekends when I'm around more I tend to leave them on for 14 hours straight. Not much for ambient light, though there are some south facing windows in the room. Filtration is a 30-60 hob and a bubble bar on the other end to stir up the other side. I surface vac with the weekly water changes and that's about it.

 

[Super_Blueberry]

Pink hippo grass is kinda cool too. Google it

That is a neat plant....

 

[RedNeck]

Your tank is beautiful....I hope someday I can build one like that. Im just starting with live plants.

 

[ejaramillo01]

Beautiful. I also have just green plants, sorry I can't help you.
What type of plant is the one in the left side (back) of you tank? The tall one.

 

[Super_Blueberry]

Beautiful. I also have just green plants, sorry I can't help you.
What type of plant is the one in the left side (back) of you tank? The tall one.

That's a fakeia plasctica. That's the only plastic plants left. I'm waiting to either find a tall one to put there to hide the heater or for one to grow tall enough and move it over.

 

[blizowman1]

Id say a tiger lotus would be a nice foreground plant a red ozelot if you could get a Florida sunset crypt those are awesome

 

[blizowman1]

And in my 29g I dose excel everyday along with iron and regular flourish with root tabs

 

[Brox]

Very nice tank I love it, I believe there's red java fern or just red fern in the water.

 

[jetajockey]

Several of the ludwigia species have red in them and are fairly easy to find.

 

[Austin.b]

What about Ludwigia sp. Rubin?

 

[rkilling1]

Pink hippo grass is kinda cool too. Google it

Easier if you just look for Limnophila aromatica.

Colorful plants that I have:

Echinodorus 'Kleiner Bar'
hygrophila pinnatifida
Hygrophila polysperma 'Sunset'
Limnophila aromatica
Lindernia sp. 'India'
Ludwigia arcuata
Ludwigia inclinata var. verticillata 'Cuba'
Ludwigia palustris
Ludwigia repens
Ludwigia sp. red
Ludwigia sp. 'Rubin'
Persicaria praetermissa
Persicaria sp. 'Kawagoeanum'
Persicaria sp. 'Sao Paulo'
Pogostemon stellatus 'Broad Leaf
Proserpinaca palustris
Rotala Gia Lai
Rotala sp. 'Colorata'

 

[jmazz11]

The debate is on for whether that was easier or not. Lol

 

[Super_Blueberry]

Easier if you just look for Limnophila aromatica.

Colorful plants that I have:

Ludwigia palustris'

I have a few stems of these hoping they would be red, but they're still green as can be. I'll defiantly look into the others.

I do like the lotus if I could find room up front for them, but the Limnophila aromatica (thanks for the scientific name btw) would work nice as some taller highlights. I just hope I can find some and that it would survive w/o co2.

 

[aqua_chem]

Alternanthera reineckii is my standby low tech red plant. There are a host of crypts that are brownish red as well, including the ever common wendtii.

Many 'red' stems wont get their full red glory without co2 and ample light. Limnophilas largely follow this rule.

 

[Super_Blueberry]

Thanks for all the input everyone. I'm definitely going to try adding co2 to see what that does for me and go from there.

 

[Castryn]

I got some Alternanthera reineckii Purple (lilacina) from my LFS and I think they look amazing! The tops are a dark shade of green and the bottoms are a nice shade of purple that mixes in well with my tank! Here's a picture of them:
http://acvaristica.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/althernathere-lilacina.jpg