Plant pics

[Jchillin]

A recent conversation with a fellow member of the forum suggested that I post some more closeups of my plants to illustrate the possibilities in a low-light tank, so here we go:

Ludwigia brevipes:

Someone said this was dwarf sag:

Moneywort/bacopa:

Java fern:

Crypt wendtii and baby Ludwigia repens:

L. Brevipes:

L. repens forest surrounded by sunset hygro:

 

[rich311k]

Great pictures Bill. Nice and healthy looking.

 

[Purrbox]

Beautiful. I especially love the pic of the Java Fern. Definately healthy plants.

 

[rohitp78]

Wow! Excellent pics. I hope i will get to this stage at some point.

 

[joannde]

You're my inspiration !!!! I love that first photo; I could just get lost in it. And your java fern - wow - mine look so sickly now LOL

 

[Zezmo]

Those are some nice shots. I don't rememebr seeing all those rams in your tank...did they breed or something?
L brevipes, some of that is growing in my tank and was not sure what it was. thanks for id'ing the plants in the pics. I was way off base on what I thought it was.

 

[Wood_Dog]

Great plants...and love the rams!

 

[Glenc]

Great pics, nice healthy plants. Why am I bothering with high light! I tried L. brevipes in my tank, it melted in a week. Great shots, very inspiring.

 

[Jchillin]

Thanks for the kind words.

I don't rememebr seeing all those rams in your tank...did they breed or something?

No, there are a total of 9 rams in there..5 Bolivian and 4 GBR's.

Why am I bothering with high light!

I forgot a pic last night, so here it is.

Stargrass:

 

[Glenc]

Your killing me!! I'm thinking of my electrical bill as I type this!

 

[LindaC]

Beautiful photos, can you please give me your tank specs, I'd love to know how much light your using to grow these plants. I have just under 2 wpg on my 29 gallon and I'm having a hard time growing a lot of plants.

Also, what ferts are you using and how often do you dose them? I am so jealous!

 

[Jchillin]

LindaC: Tank is 75gal. Lighting is @ 1.5 wpg, powered by 110w CF.

I do use ferts but I think it's a combo of both natural and supplements. I use Flourish root tabs under all the heavy root feeders. I was previously dosing Flourish Potassium and Flourish Nitrogen. I dosed 2ml every other day of both.

I switched to Greg's dry ferts about two weeks ago. I made a solution for the KNO3 and dose @1-2ml each day. I don't test nitrate levels since I already know that I have <5ppm normally.

Why do I say natural? I have a fairly decent sized bio-load, which includes 9 Rams, 6 tetras, 7 BN's, 3 corydoras, 2 Angels and a 9" Sailfin Pleco. There are a ton of ramshorns and malaysian trumpet snails in there as well. That combined with the feeding of different foods (almost in excess) is a factor IMO.

The only other factor is I change the water (40-50%) every two weeks.

 

[newfound77951]

Great pics! I have L. brevipes too, it's growing rather quickly but on one stem the leaves are all curled up....I'm guessing a deficiency of some sort but can't figure out which one.

All of your plants look great, and the fishies look happy too!

 

[LindaC]

Jchillin, I can't believe that your plants are growing so well with only 1.5 wpg. Your sunset hygro looks fantastic and stargrass, it never grows well for me and I have more light. I was always under the impression that it needed high light to grow well. Just goes to show you that's not really true then.

 

[JustOneMore20]

I'm jealous of your plants! Especially the Stargrass. I have it under ~2.3wpg in my 29g and it looks terrible! I guess I should fertilize regularly...might help I guess...lol.

The plants look great!

 

[Jchillin]

I was always under the impression that it needed high light to grow well. Just goes to show you that's not really true then.

In that case, I should provide a little history. When I started the tank, I was also "under the impression" that certain plants would not do well under 2wpg. I then decided to give almost every "high/difficult" plant a chance to run around in my tank.

I have found over the past couple of years that some will be fine, some will not do so well and others won't do at all. I'll probably give a list at some future date (there are some others I haven't tried yet).

What impresses me more than anything is that most if not all have sprouted new growth and I was able to propagate the new ones. That is satisfying beyond measure.

 

[czcz]

Great pics and plants!