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Easiest plants for low-light/no Co2!

ShropshireLad

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Shropshire, UK
Am I good going for any of the "Easy" range of Tropica plants, or are there some of these plants that stand out to you as easier than others, in terms of being able to cope with no CO2 injection and low light?

Thanks in advance
 
I have several low-tech (no CO2) tanks. The biggest one has several cryptocorynes, some Windelov Java Fern, some Bolbitis heudelotii (which is listed as "medium" but grows like crazy anyway), several species of anubias, Christmas Moss, a random unknown vallisneria, Hygrophilia, Ceratophyllum aka Hornwort, Limnobium Laevigatum aka Amazon Frogbit, and Lemnoideae aka Duckweed. I might have forgotten a few- that tank is literally choked with plants and I might not be able to see them all!
 
I'm trying to remember all the plants I had in my old tanks as a kid, in the days before CO2 was mainstream. Javamoss, cryps of almost every variety, swords (osiris and regular ones), aponogeton ulvaceus and crispus, valisneria, hornwort, hygrophila species, rotala indica, Bacopa carolinea, sagitaria, and there were 2 other plants that I havent been able to find the name of yet. One looked like basil does, except it was aquatic and grew fast. I remember it smelled strongly if you cut the stems, I always liked the smell, if anyone has a clue please let me know, because I'd love to get it again. The other looked a lot like mexican oak leaf, might even be that one, but without the white lines, just green with a bit of orange at the top where the light was high. Ah and of course lobelia and good old hydrocotyle. Last but not least I also had elatine hydropiper which grew into a carpet, even back then. I had medium light, no co2, very little in the way of ferts and I had no clue what I was doing really (no internet), but still had very few algae. I obviously also tried a lot of plants that died horrible deaths, but I'll save that list for plants you DONT want to try low tech ;)
 
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Not sure of the basil looking plant....but this could be the oak leaf one below!
Ceratopteris cornuta maybe?
1599199429435.png

hoggie
 
The easiest plant for a low tech would be by far the Anubias barteri... :) For the rest, it could be a bit of trial and error.
But take a look at the Tropica website, their database is categorized in Easy, Medium and advanced plants.
https://tropica.com/en/plants/search/?mode=search&sew=&dif=Easy&pgr=&ori=&use=

For low tech stay with the plants listed as Easy... This still isn't a guarantee and can be that certain plants simply don't like the parameters you are stuck with and doesn't want to grow or doesn't survive at all. Then try another easy one and so on... Choices are enough to get around... :) Could be you're lucky and all goes perfect from the start. :cool:

Some people are successful with growing Medium difficulty plants in low tech... This also you have to try to find out.
 
Java fern

:( 99% of our members would support this statement... I must be the noob in that 1% that can't... :oops: And I'm a huge fern fan and about 4 years ago I bought about every Java fern available i could get my hands on 5 different variations (Orange, Taiwan, philippine, needle leaf, regular) and placed it in my low tech to create a Java fern centrepiece in my scape. It went downhill from day one, now 4 years later I have to search really hard and I can find a few tiny fern surviving looking half-dead not able to recognize which one it is. :crazy: What I still have today grown healthy are the emerged ones in a terrarium setup.

For some mysterious reason, this is a difficult plant for me, I can not grow Java fern in my tanks without adding CO²... :shh: And I can't tell why...
 
Hi all,
or are there some of these plants that stand out to you as easier than others, in terms of being able to cope with no CO2 injection and low light?
In terms of light and CO2, definitely a floating plant. They aren't CO2 limited and have first "dibs" on the light.

Their other advantage is that they can be used for the <"Duckweed Index">, where you use the <"growth and leaf colour"> of a floating plant as an indication of nutrient status. If you have harder water Common Duckweed (Lemna minor) is probably the easiest to grow, but Salvinia auriculata group, Limnobium laevigatum or Pistia stratiotes <"are all also easy">.

After them a sub-surface floater, like the Ceratopteris <"already mentioned"> and <"Ceratophyllum demersum"> are both easy.

After that <"the plants"> others have mentioned, <"Cryptocoryne spp."> etc.

cheers Darrel
 
:( 99% of our members would support this statement... I must be the noob in that 1% that can't... :oops: And I'm a huge fern fan and about 4 years ago I bought about every Java fern available i could get my hands on 5 different variations (Orange, Taiwan, philippine, needle leaf, regular) and placed it in my low tech to create a Java fern centrepiece in my scape. It went downhill from day one, now 4 years later I have to search really hard and I can find a few tiny fern surviving looking half-dead not able to recognize which one it is. :crazy: What I still have today grown healthy are the emerged ones in a terrarium setup.

For some mysterious reason, this is a difficult plant for me, I can not grow Java fern in my tanks without adding CO²... :shh: And I can't tell why...

You're not the only one Marcel,I can't grow it without co2 either :banghead:
 
:( 99% of our members would support this statement... I must be the noob in that 1% that can't... :oops: And I'm a huge fern fan and about 4 years ago I bought about every Java fern available I could get my hands on 5 different variations (Orange, Taiwan, philippine, needle leaf, regular) and placed it in my low tech to create a Java fern centerpiece in my scape. It went downhill from day one, now 4 years later I have to search really hard and I can find a few tiny fern surviving looking half-dead not able to recognize which one it is. :crazy: What I still have today grown healthy are the emerged ones in a terrarium setup.

For some mysterious reason, this is a difficult plant for me, I can not grow Java fern in my tanks without adding CO²... :shh: And I can't tell why...

Java fern needs lots of flow around not just the leaves but the rhizome!

It's best if you have it attached to pieces of hardscape that are easily removed which can be washed down with clean water!
I snip off any black discoloured leaves or dieback near the rhizome....this promotes more growth and helps with regeneration.
hoggie
 
Hi @lilirose
...some Bolbitis heudelotii (which is listed as "medium" but grows like crazy anyway)...

Isn't that interesting? My Bolbitis grows at a snail's pace! What's your secret? May I ask about your water hardness and pH? And, what ferts do you use? Oh, and water temperature. And, lighting.

JPC
 
Hi @lilirose


Isn't that interesting? My Bolbitis grows at a snail's pace! What's your secret? May I ask about your water hardness and pH? And, what ferts do you use? Oh, and water temperature. And, lighting.

JPC


I suppose "grows like crazy" is slightly relative- nothing in that particular tank grows quickly other than the floating plants, as I specifically chose low-tech slow growers. But after a year there is just...lots. I started to say "at least quadruple" but then I remembered that I have removed at least quadruple the amount that I originally bought over the course of the year.

But...as you asked...I use remineralised RO, which I was originally remineralising to 200ppm for the cherry shrimp, but over the year I've slowly brought it down to about 75ppm for the fish. Fluval 3.0 lights, temp of 26C, the tank is low-flow with a HMF, and I fertilise it...occasionally...with EasyLife Profito. Not exactly up to the standards of many here. :lol: I was told when I bought the plant that it needed good flow to survive, but it's doing best in the "deadest" part of the tank, for some reason. The only problem is that I occasionally have to remove fronds because they're covered in algae.
 
Hi @lilirose
I suppose "grows like crazy" is slightly relative- nothing in that particular tank grows quickly other than the floating plants, as I specifically chose low-tech slow growers. But after a year there is just...lots. I started to say "at least quadruple" but then I remembered that I have removed at least quadruple the amount that I originally bought over the course of the year.

But...as you asked...I use remineralised RO, which I was originally remineralising to 200ppm for the cherry shrimp, but over the year I've slowly brought it down to about 75ppm for the fish. Fluval 3.0 lights, temp of 26C, the tank is low-flow with a HMF, and I fertilise it...occasionally...with EasyLife Profito. Not exactly up to the standards of many here. :lol: I was told when I bought the plant that it needed good flow to survive, but it's doing best in the "deadest" part of the tank, for some reason. The only problem is that I occasionally have to remove fronds because they're covered in algae.

Thanks for the feedback.

So, you're growing Bolbitis in soft water - 75ppm TDS translates to 117 microS/cm. According to the Dennerle Plant Database*, B. heudelotii prefers water in the GH range from 10 - 25 dGH. And, pH is supposed to be from 5 to 7. Do you happen to know your water pH? I also use remineralized RO (using Tropic Marin Re-Mineral Tropic). I recently increased the water hardness from 10 dGH to 19 dGH in response to figures in the Dennerle Plant Database. It's too early to say if this has made a difference.

* https://dennerle.com/en/service/plant-database

JPC
 
Hi all,
So, you're growing Bolbitis in soft water - 75ppm TDS translates to 117 microS/cm. According to the Dennerle Plant Database*, B. heudelotii prefers water in the GH range from 10 - 25 dGH.
No, they are wrong, it doesn't need much in the way of dGH or dKH. My tanks run at about 120 microS and B. heudelotii grows much better for me than Java Fern does.

bolbitis_feb2016_web_zpsbqqmfvrr-jpg-82928-jpg-jpg.jpg


cheers Darrel
 
Hi all, No, they are wrong, it doesn't need much in the way of dGH or dKH. My tanks run at about 120 microS and B. heudelotii grows much better for me than Java Fern does.

bolbitis_feb2016_web_zpsbqqmfvrr-jpg-82928-jpg-jpg.jpg


cheers Darrel

Thanks, Darrel. Why is it so difficult to obtain reliable data in this hobby? Rhetorical question. It's so frustrating. It makes me :mad:.

JPC
 
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