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Low light foreground plant suggestions

NoGi

By NoGi
in Plants & Mosses

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NoGi Shrimp Guru

NoGi

Posted
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Hey guys,

 

My tank is looking fairly bare so need to get some foreground plants in there. Any suggestions with low maintenance low light plants that would be suitable?

 

cheers,

Nogi

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Josho Be nice I'm new here

Josho

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From the top of my head there's not many low light foreground plants. You'd be better going with some mosses tied to slate or tubes.

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fishmosy Shrimp Guru

fishmosy

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Could try crypts, like cryptocorne parva. Theres also the micro sword plants, but cant remember their names.

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jayc Shrimp Guru

jayc

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That's a tough choice. Most plants in low light will just grow taller to get closer to the light source.

 

I'll say Pennywort (Hydrocotyle tripartita), but only because I am looking for a submersed grown specimen for my tank.

I'm using it to simulate a forest of trees in my nano scape.

The delicate stems look like tree trunks, and the clover like leaves give it a feel of a canopy.

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Disciple Shrimp Master

Disciple

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How about Crypt Parva

 

I was thinking using some in the my next tank.

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Shrimpy Daddy Shrimp Lover

Shrimpy Daddy

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Bucephalandra. Some variants grow pretty short. In addition, if you plant them into substrate, they grow at least 4 times faster than tie to rock/wood.

 

Recently, I slowly convert all my CO2 injected tanks into low light tank. I am using just Anubias and Buce for all the scaping.

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Shrimpy Daddy Shrimp Lover

Shrimpy Daddy

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Below is a photo of a JRB shrimp tank I revamped a few weeks back. It was using only Anubias Petite and various types of Bucephalandra.

 

DSCF5288-FIXED.jpg

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kizshrimp Shrimp Breeder

kizshrimp

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Above suggestions all have merit, but it depends what "low light" means. What I consider a low light tank would certainly not grow Hydrocotyle tripartita and the small chain sword Echinodorus tenellus (I think moved to a different genus now?) wouldn't do very well either. The other "chain swords" aren't really that small. The various Crypts are your best bet IMO. The "petite" forms of Anubias barteri var nana are slow but good too. Bucephalandras might be good but I have very little experience with them. 

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NoGi Shrimp Guru

NoGi

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That's such a nice picture Shrimpy Daddy. I actually have a high light setup with lots of 3W Cree LEDs but I've turned a bunch off as it was too much light.

 

wired-682x1024.jpg

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Shrimpy Daddy Shrimp Lover

Shrimpy Daddy

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That's such a nice picture Shrimpy Daddy. I actually have a high light setup with lots of 3W Cree LEDs but I've turned a bunch off as it was too much light.

 

wired-682x1024.jpg

 

 

Thanks for the compliment. :D

 

You are using a DIY LED? Cool! But that's a lot of LEDs for freshwater. I believe it will be extremely glaring when all of them are on. 

 

What I will suggest you is to connect a variable high frequency PWM in between the power source. In this way, you could adjust the brightness accordingly. You could solder one yourself or you may buy them off-the-shelves. Those off-the-shelves type are those meant for controlling home lighting. However, you need to make sure it is a better one and does not make too much hissing sound (this is usually due to the PWM is using lower frequency). If you have different colour LED, it will be good if you group them into different channel and connect them to different PWM.

 

If you have bright light, there is no way you can grow plant properly. When there is no high nutrient in high light environment, the plant will be burned.

 

The tank in that picture is using LEDs that consists of CREE XPe, CREE XML and Philip Radeon Blue LED. At 4 hours peak period, CREE XPe LED is at 18% duty cycle and CREE XML and Philip Blue LED are at 11% duty cycle.  

Edited by Shrimpy Daddy
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petfish Shrimp Lover

petfish

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M minuta will grow in low light.

Shrimp daddy what kind of rocks are those?

looks like DRAGON stone

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fishmosy Shrimp Guru

fishmosy

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Below is a photo of a JRB shrimp tank I revamped a few weeks back. It was using only Anubias Petite and various types of Bucephalandra.

 

DSCF5288-FIXED.jpg

Looks good. Will be even better once the buces grow in.

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NoGi Shrimp Guru

NoGi

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You are using a DIY LED? Cool! But that's a lot of LEDs for freshwater. I believe it will be extremely glaring when all of them are on. 

 

What I will suggest you is to connect a variable high frequency PWM in between the power source. In this way, you could adjust the brightness accordingly. You could solder one yourself or you may buy them off-the-shelves. Those off-the-shelves type are those meant for controlling home lighting. However, you need to make sure it is a better one and does not make too much hissing sound (this is usually due to the PWM is using lower frequency). If you have different colour LED, it will be good if you group them into different channel and connect them to different PWM.

 

Yeah it's DIY. White CREEs with Red OSRAM LEDs. I used full lights when I was growing Pogos. These days only around half of them are on. I've already got a dimmer of sorts attached to it. It's a day/night module which stimulates sunrise to sunset so peak light output is only for a small percentage of the time. When I get a chance I'll set up a blog system here and migrate my LED build blog over.

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Shrimpy Daddy Shrimp Lover

Shrimpy Daddy

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Yeah it's DIY. White CREEs with Red OSRAM LEDs. I used full lights when I was growing Pogos. These days only around half of them are on. I've already got a dimmer of sorts attached to it. It's a day/night module which stimulates sunrise to sunset so peak light output is only for a small percentage of the time. When I get a chance I'll set up a blog system here and migrate my LED build blog over.

 

Sound great. ;)

 

Just a suggestion. Why you swap some for blue LED? It can be used moonlight. :D

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Shrimpy Daddy Shrimp Lover

Shrimpy Daddy

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Looks good. Will be even better once the buces grow in.

 

Thanks. I'm still experimenting planting buce in those holes in the rock. Not sure how they will grow into. 

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