Plants that Grow Well Under 2.25 WPG

[LindaC]

I am curious as to what people who have medium lighting over their tanks are growing? I upgraded my lights to 2 x 65 watts of light over my 29 gallon tank but I'm having a lot of problems and it's just too much to keep up with, it really does leave much room for error. So now I'm seriously thinking of shutting off one of the lights and just running one 65 watt bulb.

I have a lot of plants and I'm worried that they won't do well under one 65 watt bulb now, especially after running such high light. Will I get even more algea then I'm getting now? I'd love to hear how other's who have around the same amount of light are growing.

Another thing, I think the high light is effecting my male Krib, he is suddenly hiding all the time and won't even come out to eat anymore and I think it may be either the high light or the pressurized CO2, which is higher now because of the amount of light.

Thank you in advance!

 

[JDogg]

these are the plants i grow wiht 2.5 wpg and less (all EI dosing some w/ CO2)

Stargrass: Heteranthera zosterifolia
Amazon Sword: Echinodorus amazonicus
Rubin Sword: Echinodorus 'rubin'
Ozelot Sword: Echinodorus x. 'Ozelot'
Narrow Leaf Chain Sword: Echinodorus tenellus
Primrose: Ludwigia repens
Dwarf Sag: Sagittaria subulata
Narrow Leaf Sag: Sagittaria subulata
Jungle Val: Vallisneria americana
Giant Bacopa: Bacopa caroliniana
Java Fern: Microsorum pteropus
Four Leaf Clover: Marsilea crenata
Tiger Lotus: Nymphaea lotus
Aponogeton undulatus
Hygrophila polysperma v. Sunset
Limnophila aquatica

 

[MSU Fan]

I have 2x65 10k CFs over a 75g - so that's 1.73wpg. I don't seem to have issues growing:

Wisteria, Amazon Sword, Baby's Tears, Crypts, and Hygrophilia Polysperma (Sunset).

I am trying my hand at some Anacharis, Bacopa, and Cabomba right now, so I'll let you know.

 

[Jchillin]

I have the same light as MSU Fan and I have no problems whatsoever with:

Stargrass: Heteranthera zosterifolia (Bala's have eaten most of it).
Amazon Sword: Echinodorus amazonicus
Uruguayan Sword: Echinodorus Uruguayneus
Primrose: Ludwigia repens
Dwarf Sag: Sagittaria subulata
Narrow Leaf Sag: Sagittaria subulata
Giant Bacopa: Bacopa caroliniana
Java Fern: Microsorum pteropus
Hygrophila polysperma v. Sunset
Anubias heterophylla

 

[Zezmo]

I'd say that short of some Eriocaulons, and few other rare type plants. Everything will grow under 2.2 WPG of CF. If it is a 29 tall, a few forground plants might grow up instead of accross.... that is about it.

 

[LandGhoti]

I have a 29-gal with 1 65-watt bulb, no CO2 and minimal algae, and all of my plants are growing like CRAZY. To give you an idea of how quickly, I've only had that light and some of the plants since 12/30/06, and here is what they are doing:

Brazilian pennywort: Several long strands; have trimmed many shooters and replanted so I have a little pennywort forest in the front, plus still some long ones in the back of tank and two wanderers
Java moss: 2 clumps; stuffed into driftwood and along one of my rocks, getting bushier, constantly seeing new lighter shooters
Ceylon hygro: 1 shooter, has gone nuts sprouting in the past 2 weeks
Sunset hygo: 1 shooter toward front of tank, has wandered along my gravel and is now traveling up my front glass
Java fern: haven't seen much but have only had it for a month
Broadleaf sword: 1 plant, has shot off 4 new leaves (twice what it had originally)
Moneywort: 5 bunches (just bought last week and can already see new sprouts at the tops)
Rotala rotundifolia: OMG--it wants to be a star! I got several very small (2-inch) trimmings and they are all upwards of 8 inches now and shooting off new sprouts from the roots; the tops are pinkish when opening up

I do have some spot algae, but I have a golden algae eater and what I'm assuming is a SAE (Petsmart had it labeled simply "Algae eater") and they keep the tank pretty spotless.

Hope this helps. I find 1 65-w bulb to be perfect for that size tank if you don't want to do CO2 and can keep the algae very minimal. I keep lights on for about 10 hours a day, but never longer than 12 (and 12 is rare).

EDIT: Forgot about 3 more plants:
Ludwigia repens: bought 2 plants, both are growing like crazy, and one has finally started to have the twisty, red-underside leaves
Anubias afzelii: 2 plants, both are thriving
Asian ambulia: had 1 shoot, which has bloomed and now have more shoots coming up from the gravel

Guess I need to update my signature LOL

 

[Purrbox]

I'd recommend that you check out PlantGeek. Any of the plants that are listed under medium or less light should do perfectly fine. The plants that are listed under medium high light would also have a good chance of doing okay. If the plants are listed as needing even more light, then it'll be questionable as to how well the plant will survive.

 

[JustOneMore20]

I have 65w over my 29g, DIY CO2, and dose a modified version of EI...the plants thate are thriving are:
Hygro polysperma (no shock there )
Alternanthera reineckii
Ambulia (Limnophila aquatica)
Bacopa caroliniana (tips turn pinkish)
Hygrophila angustifolia (longer leaves on top of water turning pinkish tinted)
Cryptocoryne wendtii and willisii
Taiwon moss

I do have some algae, but I attribute that to inconsistent dosing (some days I forget) and inconsistent CO2 levels (don't change the bottles often enough).

I plan on upping the light to 130w and adding pressurized CO2 soon though.

 

[LindaC]

I have 65w over my 29g, DIY CO2, and dose a modified version of EI...

What is your modified version of EI like, can you give me a rough estimate. I believe I may have been dosing too much when I only had one 65 watt bulb because I was seeing some stunting on my Rotala indica and Ludwigia repens.

Many thanks to all of you who responded!

Linda

 

[MyCatsDrool]

I am beginning to believe Hygrophila polysperma v. Sunset will be the reason Humans don't survive as it will take over the world.

 

[JustOneMore20]

Here is the recommended dosing routine (for reference):

20~40gal
50%H20 change-weekly
+/-1/4Tsp-KN03 3x a week
+/-1/16+Tsp-KH2P04 3x aweek
+/-1/16+Tsp K2S04 3x a week
+/-5ml Trace 3x a week
+/-1-2ml Fe/Iron 3x a week

I only dose 1/8 tsp of KNO3 2x a week, mainly because my 29g was overstocked (got rid of some fish recently though).
Also, I have been dosing 1/8 tsp of K2SO4 because I figure the extra K won't hurt, since I'm skimping a little on the KNO3 ....I dose that twice a week as well. And I dose traces twice a week.

I just started dosing Phosphorus (using the Seachem brand) half the recommended dose twice a week because of some green spot algae I'm having...and a phosphate level of 0.5ppm.

So really I've used the EI dosing as a guide and tweaked it to my needs.

 

[LindaC]

JustOneMore, thanks for posting your dosing regimine, that's basically what I was dosing before I added the 2nd 65 watt light and was seeing stunting on my Rotala and the stems of my Narrow Leaf Ludwigia were melting, this is why I decided to try adding a second 65 watts.

Starting today, I am only running one 65 watt bulb, so now my dwarf sags will hopefully begin growing again, all the leaves have turned transparent, they'll grow up now due to the depth of the tank but that's okay, atleast they'll grow.

Oh, I've never had any trouble growing polysperma. it has taken over one side of my 29 gallon and my 10 gallon!

My male Krib has also decided to make an appearance again.

Thank you all!

 

[tropicfishman]

is that the Dual satellite compact flourescent light fixture? if it is, how do you like it? I thought baout getting one for my 29 gallon but didn't knwo how well it was.

 

[Ketso]

Another plant to the list....

Water Sprite.

If you kill it, you shouldnt have fish!