# Suitable Plants for Sand Substrate & Low Light?



## metageologist (Jan 10, 2008)

welcome to the obsession 

as far as low light plants that will do good in pool filter sand. i personally grow a variety of valls, java fern, Java moss, Anubis, and a planted tank mush have the incredibly rare DUCK WEED


----------



## sneakypuss_01 (Apr 17, 2009)

Hi Metageologist

Thanks for the warm welcome 

Sorry to bother, but a few more questions....

Do anubis and crypts grow in sand ~ or would they need to be attached to something ?

I've read somewhere that if your going to plant a tank, make sure its well planted or you could have an algae problem? So, if most low light plants are slow growing, would the duckweed at as a good cover so the plants dont get alage while they grow?


----------



## Homer_Simpson (May 10, 2007)

sneakypuss_01 said:


> Hi Metageologist
> 
> Thanks for the warm welcome
> 
> ...


Sorry to hijack, but my understanding and experience is that as long as you are sticking with 2 watts or less of lighting, you should be able to avoid most types of algae even if you decide not to heavily plant. In my experience, high light without adequate c02 will ignite the chain reaction leading to algae, and even in those cases heavily planting the tank may not deter or clear the algae. The only solution I found was a reduction in lighting intensity to 2 watts per gallon.


----------



## metageologist (Jan 10, 2008)

sneakypuss_01 said:


> Hi Metageologist
> 
> Thanks for the warm welcome
> 
> ...


 
i grow my Anubis in the sand and they have nearly doubled in size in 4 months. 

as for the duck weed evenly it will block out nearly all light i only use it as a decorative touch. the key to avoid that initial algae bloom it to have fast growing stem plants to use up nutrients in the water collum


----------



## sneakypuss_01 (Apr 17, 2009)

Hi Again

I like the the look of the Java fern, I have a 3 foot long tank and what I'd like to do is:

1 large Java Fern on a piece of driftwood at back centre of tank, and then either 2 small or 2 medium Java Ferns on either side of the large fern tied to some slate rock that I have. Is this going to be too much java fern? If so, can someone suggest something that I could plant on either side of it, that wont require anything too much from me other than a liquid fert?

Down the sides of the tank I'd like to plant some miniature anubias nana if it would go ok planted in pool filter sand with rhizomes showing. Here's a link to it, its about 3/4 of the way down the page
http://www.piscesenterprises.com/jo...mart&page=shop.browse&category_id=11&Itemid=1

Will this work?

TIA 
Sneaky P


----------



## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

metageologist said:


> the key to avoid that initial algae bloom it to have fast growing stem plants to use up nutrients in the water collum


An easy fast growing plant is hornwort. It is a floating plant but can be put in the substrate.


----------



## Trallen44 (Dec 10, 2008)

I think that would work. I don't think you can ever have too much of any plant unless it completly takes up the whole tank. LOL I have lots of java fern in my 55 gal tank, and wanting it to fill in and spread more. I like the way it looks in a planted tank.


----------



## Alastair (Apr 20, 2009)

_Vallis_ and _Cryptocorne_ both do very well in sand in my experience..


----------

