Excellent List of Low Light Plants

[9am53]

I have a low light tank to which I add excel and a bit of flourish cause my macros are not bad just from fish poop and tap water...the tank gets direct sunlight for about 3 hours in the evening (facing west) my hygro loves it in this tank, as the list would suggest, but I want to replace the fake swords in the tank with a mature amazon from another tank...its not on the list, but would it be ok with the sunlight added to the 1 wpg?

[James From Cali]

I do not think there will be a problem with adding a Sword to the tank. Just make sure that the substrate is mature and contains nutrients.

[9am53]

yeah, the tank is 4 yrs old, and I will add a root tab once in a while too, thanks!
Once i have that going Ill add to this thread regarding how well it did in the low light.

[James From Cali]

Thanks. The more experiences the better. It will go to show how different our tanks are and would specify what may be best for your tank.

[James From Cali]

I am wondering if any one wants to send a couple of pictures of Anubias or Java Fern and a plant with a tuber(like aponogeton). I am going to be using them in a diagram and photos would be given credit by photographer. I would use mine but they do not come out very well.

[Luichenwai]

Anyone have experience with Limnophilia Aromatica??

I have this (3stems) in my 29 gal tank with only 20W light, no CO2, no ferts.
Its been here for 2-3weeks now and it still looks good. :-)

just FYI

[9am53]

So I planned on planting some mature swords in my 20 tall low tech, but instead I planted a 6 inch tall amazon and a 7 inch tall osiris. They have been chilling for a week now and don't seem to be struggling at all...Ill keep you posted in a few more weeks....btw, I dose 1.5 mL excel once a day or 2 and I dose a mL of FLuorish once a week after water change, thats it.

P.S. I used to have this tank near my balcony where it got direct sun for a couple hours, but I recently moved it to my bedroom because my girlfriend says that 3 tanks in the living room is too much

Anyways, the only light these swords have been getting is a 14 watt fluorescent (and its a 20 gallon tall) and I have the regular crappy substrate...I will keep you all posted, because Im quite interested my self in the outcome

Just a question for you more experienced aquarists....if I were to overdrive this 14 watt T8, could I keep my excel and flourish treatments the same? or would I need to amp them up? I figure if I was getting like maybe 20 watts, thats 1 wpg, so that would be better for the plants,...

[James From Cali]

Originally Posted by Luichenwai

Anyone have experience with Limnophilia Aromatica??

I have this (3stems) in my 29 gal tank with only 20W light, no CO2, no ferts.
Its been here for 2-3weeks now and it still looks good. :-)

just FYI

This seems to be a very easy plant, even more easier than the Hygrophila sp. Its a real weed. Very pretty plant too. I unfortunately dont have any experience with this plant......yet.

Originally Posted by 9am53

So I planned on planting some mature swords in my 20 tall low tech, but instead I planted a 6 inch tall amazon and a 7 inch tall osiris. They have been chilling for a week now and don't seem to be struggling at all...Ill keep you posted in a few more weeks....btw, I dose 1.5 mL excel once a day or 2 and I dose a mL of FLuorish once a week after water change, thats it.

Swords are probably some of the easiest plants to keep if you do things right from the get go. I found that they grow amazingly well in a sand substrate(same as cryptocorynes) with their crown just a little burried under the sand when young and as they grow they push the crown out. Keep posting your experiences and specs for some new comers that are having problems.

My experience with swords have been great. My neighbor and I bought some emersed Argentine Swords and they went from pea gravel/horticulture sand to regular gravel/potting soil to plain sand. They did best in plain sand. No CO2 and I believe less then 1wpg. The one that is not doing well is cordifolius and I am unsure the reason but I am thinking lack of ferts.

[James From Cali]

I want to set a list up that is identicle to this except for biotope aquariums. For instance having it laid out like such:

Japan: pH:xx; Hardness:xx.x*
Marimo Ball

And so on. Any ideas? I was thinking about just making a seperate thread and link it to this one for a reference and so no Biotope discussion can be fill up this thread. What is everyones thoughts about me doing this.

[Robert H]

I can not believe this conversation has been going on this long with nobody challenging it. I have been biting my tonge, but I can't take it any more!


Wow, much effort went into this I can see, but I disagree with so much of it. The term low light is so subjective and misleading when every other componant to successful plant keeping is not addressed. I think in a sense it is mis leading to simply make a blanket list of plants under the term "low light".

The definition of low light to most people new to the hobby is whatever light came with their aquarium, and then maybe bumping that up to between 1 and 2 watts of flourescent light per gallon of water. I don't think half the plants on your list would grow in those conditions, and even if they do survive, what kind of condition are they in?

The stem plants in particular I have a problem with. Generally speaking, stem plants are the most light demanding of all aquatic plants. There are a few exceptions. Most of the exceptions are now illegal in the USA because they grow so prolificaly. Rotalas, Stargrass, Ambulia? Are you serious?
Downoi? Low light? HC? Thats crazy! You are telling me HC is a low light plant? I would love to see that. Hygrophila difformis under weak light has thin stems that can not support the weight of its own leaves and flops over. With strong light and re planting tops the stems remain strong, thick and sturdy.

Any floating plant is pretty much a given. When it is two inches away from the light, any plant will grow. A couple of the plants on the floating list technicaly I would not call floaters. They are stem plants that will take root in the substrate under bright light.

Cryptocorynes,

Yes several common Cryptocoryne species are very tolerant of low light levels and growing submersed, but they grow painstakingly slow. Like an inch a year. They might as well be plastic. Balansae, retrospiralis, aponogetifolia, and pygmaea really do better under high light levels. Balansae in particular can be quite finicky.

Vallisneria I would defintly not call a low light plant. Not in a million years. Dwarf Sag.. yeah, you can get away with it, but the leaves will be much thinner than under high light. Micro Sword - Lilaeopsis braziliensis, now I know you have never grown this plant under low light. I won't believe it for a second. This plant has always been know as being the MOST light hog of any foreground plant. It is the KING of high light plants. Unless you are growing it in only inches of water, there is no way it would survive.


Aponogetons

Under weak light the plant will only survive on whatever energy is stored in the bulb, and most likely will only grow a few inches tall or have thin weak leaves. Once the energy in the tuber is used up, then the leaves die off and it will not grow back. Under good light, and good feeding, the plants grow to be huge, over two feet in length, tons of leaves and flower stalks. Aponogeton boivinianus is the most light finicky of all of them.

Sword plants. All sword plants more or less grow the same and are sort of iffy in the low light catagory. NEWBIES often think that the sword they bought potted that has been growing "well" in their ten gallon tank for the last 8 months is just wonderful. You and I know that a healthy sword plant would swallow a ten gallon tank for lunch.


Red Lotus - Nymphaea zenkeri 'red', If you want Tiger lotus to have leaves the size of a quarter and grow to be maybe six inches tall, then grow it under low light. If you want leaves the size of your hand and the plant to be the dominate focal point, give it some real light, C02, and feed it at the roots generously.

A true low light plant list is much shorter. Maybe ten plants.

I know there is a lot of discussion here about various conditions to make these plants grow. It doesn' matter. All people are going to read is, OH this is on the low light plant list, so I can grow it in my 55 gallon tank with my 15 watt bulb.

Do you realize how hard it is to convince some fish people that if they want to grow plants the little 15 watt bulb on their 55 gallon tank just ain't gonna cut it? They will blame the plant, or the store they bought it from, or their water, or they will dump a gallon of fertilizer in the tank, anything except the light. They will finaly give up and go back to plastic plants. Having a list like this REALLY HELPS.

This is the most insane list of "low light" plants I have ever seen. You might as well say every plant is low light.

If you want to engage a conversation about how having 40 or 50 ppm of C02 and half a watt of light per gallon of water will enable these plants to grow fine, then OK. If you want to talk about a low tech, soil based tank, or the Walstad method, fine. Do that and open that up to debate, but don't call it a "low light plant list". Good grief.

Let me also add, I mean no dis respect to any one. I am NOT making a personal attack on any one here. I know James is very well meaning and a generous person who only wants to help. He enbodies the very spirit of what this forum is supposed to be, but I think this thread has serious flaws and can cause a serious problem. I believe it is extremely misleading, grossly generalized, and very open to interpretation.

So I planned on planting some mature swords in my 20 tall low tech, but instead I planted a 6 inch tall amazon and a 7 inch tall osiris. They have been chilling for a week now and don't seem to be struggling at all...Ill keep you posted in a few more weeks....btw, I dose 1.5 mL excel once a day or 2 and I dose a mL of FLuorish once a week after water change, thats it.

LOL.. You see! Thats exactly what I am talking about. A healthy sword plant would out grow a 20 gallon tank in less than six months. Just because it doesn't die in two weeks does not mean the plant is healthy. Sword plants are like Oscars. You can put a baby Oscar in a 20 gallon tank, but it is not a good idea. It does not stay a baby for very long

One other note: I know you posted this on at least three other forums, and your low light plant list is different on each WEB site. My comments on specific plants were from your list on aquaticplantcentral.com which I presume are also on your list here, but I did not compare plant by plant on your two lists. That was too much work!

[James From Cali]

I appreciate the post. I take no offense by it because if there are corrections that should be made or something that isnt accurate then it should be stated. As far as somethings though I would like to point out and clarify:

1) If people care not to read about the methods of growing them in these lighting conditions and they fail that is on them. There is several pages of discussion in this thread about maintaining there plants.I had even stated multiple times that some plants may not work for others, everyone's tank is different. If they do not take the time to fully research the information that is not anyones fault. That should not even a point against this thread due to the fact that everyone here is already very well knowledgable and newcomers already ask the questions anyway so a search is not difficult for them.
2) In low light no plant will severly outgrow a tank in 6 months. A healthy sword will start to outgrow a 20g tank in 6 months but the fact is Growth is slow. Some may grow faster and become tank busters soon in low light but it just brings me back to everyone's tank is different.
3)I have never stated I personally tried any of these plants minus the ones I have tried. I researched and was hoping to experiment with them. I had messaged and spoke with people who had low light tanks and they told me what worked for them. When I was just beggining(when the original list on MFT.net was made) with planted tanks I went by what I knew were low light and what was suggested to me to add.
4) The plants on the list have not been changed on any of the sites. I mainly update this one and havent had the chance to update the others. There is NO difference.

I will actually edit the list and just post with plants I am having luck growing in low light (29g tank with 17 watt bulb has some Victors). I would presume it be the only way to truly solve this situation of inaccuracy. But as I post new updated lists (Which wont be updated constantly due to not getting plants on a constant basis and plant growth rate). I would only base my plant list by growth rate/3 months, Lighting level, ferts and CO2 addition. I will also sepperate each plant into certain catergory. I think this makes it a win win.

[sea-horsea]

great thread

[Karackle]

Well i came to this thread to request some LOW light, non-green plants, but of course got caught up in some of the more recent posts and just wanted to say that in MY experience, Hygrophila difformis (Wisteria) can and does grow well under my low-lighting conditions. It grows up with strong stems in both my .75 wpg 20g H tank, and my 5g 2.5wpg tank. It grows FAST too, and does not become "leggy." And my small Crypt wendtii red may as well NOT just be plastic, as it has gone from about 5 leaves to about 20 leaves and grown about 2+ inches in the 6 months i've had live plants in the tank (this is my .75wpg 20g tall tank). So it's like James and others have said many times, everyone's tank is different, what grows in one may not in another. And I think that's a good, important, thing to keep in mind. That's just my $0.02.

And I think it's a great list to use as a starting point, but getting advice about your specific tanks parameters and what might have a better shot at working than something else is generally a good idea anyway, and something that I think anyone who cared enough about their tank to have found a forum such as this would probably do.

But anyway....back to my question.... I need some more color in my tank, it's very...GREEN....any suggestions for low light plants that would add some different color to the tank?

as always, thanks in advance!

[lauraleellbp]

I think a Nymphea lotus might do the trick for you.

Ludwigia repens may or may not work out (I think it would grow OK, but may stay more green than red underneath the leaves).

I can't remember how tall/big Indian red swords get, but a small one would be probably OK at least for a while. Fert tabs should help it out some.

[Karackle]

Cool thanks for the suggestions! I know i may not get anything super brightly colored with my conditions, but even a darker green, or hint or red, something a little different than my very bright green other plants would be nice. And I think i need to look into getting a 65k or so bulb and see if that helps