Good low-tech plants

Hey guys,

I just wanted to start a thread on good plants for low-tech (No CO2, low-moderate light, light or no ferts) set-ups. I personally just don't have the money for a CO2 system right now, and I don't think I have enough experience to do dirt, so I am sort of training myself on a couple small, low-tech tanks to start out with. I have been experimenting with various plants ever since I set up my 20 gallon a couple months ago, and have had some success and some failure, which is to be expected. I am lucky enough to have a good source for both plants and personal knowledge (thanks Cory), but I'm sure some people on here don't, so I will share some of my experiences and invite you all to add your own suggestions for low-tech plants.

I know there are a lot of other factors besides the ones I have mentioned, and if you have plants that generally fit but might have specific needs (e.g. root tabs/soil), mention them as well. As long as a plant can be reasonably accommodated in a low-tech tank, mention it and let us know what your experience with it is. I'm just going to go in the order in which I picked up the types of plants:

Aponogeton bulbs
I got a bulb pack like the ones you find at the big box pet stores, but it was just aponogetons. They grew pretty well in my 10 gallon for a couple of weeks, but once they got big, deficiencies started to show in the older leaves. They are a good starter plant because they will grow, but as a long-term plant, needs more care than I would say qualifies as low-tech

Anubias - nana and barteri
There are a wide variety of these, from tiny variations to very large species, but these ones are on the small end. The ones I got don't show a great difference in size, and now that I split both of them into smaller plants, I can't really tell the difference. They like to be attached to rocks or wood, with the rhizome above the substrate (not buried), but as far as I know the actual roots can be buried. I really like the look of having the roots exposed, but I'm sure some people might not. They grow very slow, so are undemanding, but I have had problems with algae growing on the broad leaves. Amano shrimp do a good job of keeping them clean.

Water Lettuce
This plant is great for beginners like me, because it will absorb a lot of nitrogenous waste directly from the water, which means easy to grow and makes the water quality better. It can also shade lower plants, so it might not be a great choice if you have very low light, but I think it will grow fine in lower light. It reproduces with runners, little miniature plants that sprout off the main one, and soon you will have many individual plants as the runners break from each other. I have had issues with brown algae (diatoms) growing on the roots, oddly enough, but that may be a combination of too much light and extra silicates from new substrate.

I will update this further when I have more time, I have to go do a water change on the 20, nitrates are high!

Java Ferns
I have these in my 29 gallon.  Just using basic aquarium gravel as substrate and a single T8 10,000k bulb.  No ferts or dosing, just an occasional water change:
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Water Wisteria
I also have this in my 29 gallon (and 20 and 75).  It's a fast grower

One thing to note about my 29 gal: although it's just basic gravel and I don't fert, it is a pretty long established tank

My easy standbys:

Ludwigia Repens Narrow-leaf (stem plant, so it likes water column ferts)
Sagittaria Subulata (undemanding root-feeder, propagates by runners)
Crypts (undemanding root-feeders, slowly propagates with under-substrate runners)

I feel that you can grow considerably more than you might think with out the high light or co2

This is the perfect thing for us plant shy people. It makes me want to try some live plants.

My other favorites:

Java Moss.
Water Sprite.

Anacharis
Aponogeton
Dwar Water Lilies
Guppy Grass
Hornwort
Java Moss, only when its kept with shrimp
Water Sprite/Wysteria

Basically, if you want your plants to do really well, don't move them or destroy them when chasing fish around with a net. I've had a 10gal overrun with aponogeton and got seeds to drop and had dozens of seedlings. The Anacharis has reproduced at least 100 more stems/plants since I got it from PokeSephiroth earlier this year. It's in all of my tanks now, along with guppy grass and hornwort, all of which could be floated or planted. I wish my water lilies did better with me, but I always damage them and end up pulling them out of the bulb before they are well developed and they slowly die off and come back so no reproducing, but definitely worth it to have plants in with cichlids! Java moss is something I've also had a problem with growing, as it never seems to do well in my tanks. It either A) melts B) grows algae all over it or C) seem to be healthy but never grow in my RCS tank.

Water Sprite and Water Wysteria are a dangerous plant! You may be overrun with them in all your tanks in as little as three months. It is very high maintenance but you can get some amazing cover for a tank with this stuff. I've gone through thousands of plants and ended up giving most of it away for free.

Live plants are totally worth it, but be smart and get them from someone on this forum, as you are GUARANTEED healthy plants for cheap or even free.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned:

Elodea:
And although, yes Elodea is illegal in Washington state, there IS one type of Elodea that is not illegal, and we have that at the shop (Aquarium Co-Op). It's a fast grower, can be planted or left floating, and can easily be propagated by clippings.

Marimo Moss Balls:
Technically NOT a moss, but more like an algae, they are undemanding and don't require a whole lot of light. Dump em in your tanks and that's all you have to do.

Bolbitis Heudelotii:
This stuff looks really neat, I thought it was some kinda of java fern at first. Stuff grows pretty easily

Thanks a lot for all the other suggestions, I am trying out as many types of plants as I can right now to see which grows well without much maintenance. My tank is finally getting to the point of being moderately-planted, but I keep moving things around in the 20 so nothing has really taken off yet.

So far my favorites are (and I have sort of high light, so these may not do well for lower light):
Anubias barteri & nana
Ludwigia - I don't really know which type I have, it's reddish-green
Java Moss
Valisneria - I have regular and corkscrew, the corkscrew seems to grow slower and no runners yet, but the regular still produces lots of runners and grows pretty quickly without tons of light
Guppy grass seems to be doing well so far

I'm trying out the Elodea that PokeSephiroth mentioned, I have high hopes for it. I'm also trying water sprite, I planted a little to see how it does but I'm floating most of it.

Vallisneria is my all time favorite plant.

You will be happy with that Elodea, it's basically a fail proof plant that does well in different water conditions. Possibly the most hardy plant in my plant arsenal

Val has never really done well for me. I've tried it in all my aquariums and never had a single runner.

Val takes a LOOOOONG time to establish in a tank, but when it does, it grows like a rampant plant. :Dgive it some time, even if the leaves melt, as long as there is new growth, it's okay. Mine took like 3 months before it started shooting runners, and now it's growing like crazy.

Water wisteria... man I had that stuff just overtake a tank.

+1 on elodea and vallisneria My Elodea and Vals grow like CRAZY, I have to hack them back pretty often to keep them in check. I have also had good luck with Cabomba Caroliniana.

Hi LuminousAphid,

Let's add to the list:

Ludwigia sp 'Red'
Most Cryptocoryne species
Limnophila aromatica 'Wavy'
Pogostemon erectus
Helanthium tenellum (Echinodorus tenellus/Pygmy Chain Sword)
Echinodorus angustifolia 'Vesuvius'
Barclaya longifolia
Cuphea anagalloidea
Rotala sp 'Bengladesh'
Eleocharis sp (tall hairgrass)
Nymphoides sp 'Taiwan'
Hygrophila lancea
Ludwigia repens X arculata

10 gallon no CO2
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20 gallon no CO2
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Trust me. I seen roy's low tech 20 gal tank. Plants are flourishing without co2. Thanks again Roy.

So many good ideas from this, keep them coming you guys!

DMD123 wrote:This is the perfect thing for us plant shy people. It makes me want to try some live plants.

exactly. i just wish everyone included a picture next to the plant description..... I can google each one, but that's not as convenient...

thanks everyone for chiming in on this thread. very useful for me(as of yesterday)

PokeSephiroth wrote:You will be happy with that Elodea, it's basically a fail proof plant that does well in different water conditions. Possibly the most hardy plant in my plant arsenal

I was told numerous times, when helping the science teachers with their setups that elodea was illegal to buy in washington, as it is considered an invasive species. Was I misinformed? and if yes, is it readily available?

lloyd3778: As I've posted in my previous post (in this thread) there are multiple types/species of Elodea that are illegal to own/sell/distribute in Washington, but there is one type of Elodea that is legal, I just don't know which one that is... I think it's Elodea Canadensis (Canadian Water Weed). Cory might know the exact name of it.

We sell the right type of Elodea at the store (Aquarium Co-Op)

On a different note, Marimo Balls are also a great low maintenance "plant" although it is technically an algae, it's one that looks nice. Here is a little "set up" of them in a little vase. Now, I will warn everyone, that these are all artificial marimo balls, they're just those fuzzy craft balls (pompoms) that you can buy at craft stores, as real Marimo Balls can be quite spendy. I do plan on replacing them with real marimo balls though. This is basically how they look in the wild, they just tumble around in the lake (Akan Lake in Japan, and whatever lake they form in, in New Zealand) the tumbling motion is what gives them their round shape. Really neat to have in a low tech tank.

Wait, you expected me to read all of the posts word for word? Thanks for the info

Doesn't everyone? LOL!!

I found the regulations for elodea a long time ago...Ill have to find that and post it up....

jrmakawoody: That'd be great! Thanks!

Right now I am having good success with dwarf Sagittarius in a snail filled low light set-up.

PokeSephiroth wrote:lloyd3778: As I've posted in my previous post (in this thread) there are multiple types/species of Elodea that are illegal to own/sell/distribute in Washington, but there is one type of Elodea that is legal, I just don't know which one that is... I think it's Elodea Canadensis (Canadian Water Weed). Cory might know the exact name of it.

We sell the right type of Elodea at the store (Aquarium Co-Op)

Egeria Densa aka Brazilian Elodea aka Anacharis is classified as a noxious weed in the state of Washington and is illegal to buy / sell / transport / possess. Please see the "Washington Fishbox and the Law" global announcement for details.

Elodea =/= Egeria Densa if I'm not mistaken.

Exactly.

The only plant remotely called or associated with Elodea that is illegal in this state to my knowledge, based on the WA noxious weed list, is "Brazilian Elodea", Egeria Densa. Any Elodea that is not Egeria Densa is perfectly legal, to my knowledge.

Yes, so Elodea Canadensis would be legit, right? It looks so cool, sells pretty well too.

PokeSephiroth wrote:Yes, so Elodea Canadensis would be legit, right? It looks so cool, sells pretty well too.

If it's been properly identified as such, yes. I used to keep elodea... gets long and stringy pretty quick though.

I'm pretty sure Cory would know which elodea is legal to sell or not, otherwise he wouldn't be selling it at the store =P

Our elodea does grow fast, but the leaves tend to stay really close together because we have good lighting, I guess. I have a tank that has low light and the leaves are further spread apart, while the elodea in my 20 gallon long dirted tank grows similarly like the ones at the store, makes sense though. =P

PokeSephiroth wrote:I'm pretty sure Cory would know which elodea is legal to sell or not, otherwise he wouldn't be selling it at the store =P

I agree.

Has Guppy Grass been mentioned yet? This seems to grow everywhere with no trouble at all.

We've got guppy grass floating in a lot of our tanks at the store, so yeah, I s'pose that would also be considered a good plant for low tech tanks. Good call on that one!

 

I'm always tossing it out.... tends to clog my tanks in short order.

ditto, I eventually just threw all of it away, to make more room for other plants to grow because it was just taking up way too much space.

I would suggest Anubias for anyone trying out plants for the first time in a low light situation. Slow growing, but very hardy.

Paintguy wrote:I would suggest Anubias for anyone trying out plants for the first time in a low light situation. Slow growing, but very hardy.

Anubias Nana Petite is my favorite - beautiful plants

Not my photo...

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I have troubles with Anubias, it never seems to grow as fast as the algae does. I mentioned guppy grass earlier and it is definitely easy to grow, just throw it in and wherever it sticks it will take hold and grow. I haven't had a problem with it crowding my tanks, not like water sprite did...

Watersprite was like a weeeeeed for me and my tanks, oh my goodness. Guppy grass is up there as well it does grow slower, but when left alone, it will also over take your tank (which can be great, if you're into that kind of stuff. haha)

CrazedAce wrote:I have troubles with Anubias, it never seems to grow as fast as the algae does.

I have this problem in one of my tanks - spot algae is covering the poor anubias Someday I'll figure it out and fix it, I hope.

Nothing is more demoralizing than finding out that 80% of my elodea is actually egeria...

Time to burn it all! Lol

And scream at the idiot aquarists who dumped the stuff in local waterways and ruined it for the rest of us.  

Agree'd! YARRRRGGGGGGGG!!! BURN THEM ALIVE!! The idiots, not the plants. Hahahaha!!

You do have a thing for fire, don't you...  

pbmax wrote:You do have a thing for fire, don't you...  

Well...yes. Yes, as a matter of fact, I do.
How else would you make awesome patterns in the air?

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(not me btw)