What are some good tall plants?

[cheezysquirrelz]

Are there any plants that get really tall, fast? I have a 20gal x-tall. I guess they would have to be low light too because the tank uses a 10gal hood and light.

 

[TankGirl]

Hornwort can get tall, hygro, water sprite, anacharis, and possibly aponogeton, which I have grown in low light tanks but not all varieties do well in low light. I get the Walmart bulbs and wait to see what I get.

Valisneria gets very tall and is rarely kept in tanks tall enough for it, but it does need more light. You likely have some seriously low light that will have trouble getting to the bottom of this deep tank, so you might have a bit of trouble growing plants at all.

 

[cheezysquirrelz]

I just bought a pack of those walmart bulbs about a week ago. Its those reddish lilies.

 

[TankGirl]

The reddish lillies are great and I have some that are low, in my 5gal, and some that have grown taller in my 55. Get another package of bulbs and see if you don't get some tall aponogeton next time.

 

[aquazen]

The bulbs are great, but if you've got plants low in the tank (grass, moss, ferns, etc.), you want to be careful so they don't block all the light going down to the bottom. I've had to trim several of the floating leaves. Hate to do it, but had to be done.

 

[travis simonson]

Another plant that you might want to look at for a low-light, tall tank is Cryptocoryne balansae. They will grow in most light conditions over 1 wpg and can get very tall. I would suggest shooting for a minimum of 1 wpg (in your case, at least 20 watts of light) to grow plants in a tank that tall. Does your hood use fluorescent (tube-type) or incandescent (screw-in) lights? If it uses screw-in incandescents you can find retrofit self-ballasted compact fluorescent bulbs at Walmart or Home Depot that will give you much more light than incandescent bulbs will. Just make sure to get the daylight spectrum bulbs rather than anything labeled 'soft white'. Hope this helps

 

[Lance M.]

Theonion plants grow fast. I'm not sure if they are low light, but they get very big one gets around 60 inch long. They are easy to trim and will float on the surface of the water. Crinum sp. are pretty tall plants.