# In need of an extremely low light stem plant.



## Eldachleich (Jul 9, 2011)

My friends mother is bound and determined to have her 20 gallon high planted. 
After she went out and made alot of her own mistakes we budged in.
We managed to get a semi decent scape going utilizing fissidens, anubias nana, anubias nana petite, and java fern.
But she wants a big old bush of some sort of stem plant up front. And refuses to budge on the matter. We have tried alot of different plants so far. And are waiting to see if the latest one will work out.
If it doesnt I would love a suggestion on what to do and what to try.
The lighting is very very very low. A single T8 in the right spectrum. She refuses to upgrade the lighting past the bulb. And does not understand why the anubias and java fern are going so well but the others arent.
Can any of you think of a plant that night work?


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## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

water sprite
does great for some and fails for no reason for others
Have it rooted in low light and it grows well


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## CrazyCatPeekin (Aug 15, 2011)

You could weight down a bunch of hornwort. I've done that in my super low light tank and it looks pretty good.


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## TactusMortus (Jun 28, 2011)

Myrio Green I have grown it with nearly no light.


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## nalu86 (Oct 19, 2010)

Hygrophila corymbosa 'siamensis' grows without light for me. 
I have a tank with fry with a sleeping bag around it (for isolation) and no light and it keeps growing, very slowly, but it doesn't die.
If you give this plant low light, you will have a bush in no time.


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## anov50 (Feb 19, 2011)

Nanjas spp. Grows like a weed in my wifes beta bowls with just whatever lite gets in from her office.


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## talontsiawd (Oct 19, 2008)

Water sprite gets my vote. I swear, I could have my tank in an unlit closet for months, put a flashlight on it and it would double in size instantly. Obviously I am being sarcastic but this plant seems to do really well in less than ideal lighting. Oddly enough, I don't find it to grow much faster with higher light and CO2. It does grow faster, just not crazy fast like some other stems that do OK in moderate/low light.


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## Eldachleich (Jul 9, 2011)

Wow... some awesome suggestions. Water sprite and hornwort have already been tried and died. Curiously enough the stem plant that did the best was the red ludwigia she originally bought. She tore it out because of how scraggly it got.
We have tried red ludwigia ( I sear she bought $40 of the stuff)
anacharis, water sprite, hornwort, rotala (I had some leftover from a trim), and right now golden creeping jenny is in there (I bought some for my tanks)
I'll have to look into those others you guys suggested if it dies (which it probably will).
Thank you!!


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## zergling (May 16, 2007)

myriophyllum mattogrossense and bacopa monnieri


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## Eldachleich (Jul 9, 2011)

zergling said:


> myriophyllum mattogrossense and bacopa monnieri


I heard bacopa needs good strong lighting. Theres some available to us (a giant pot for $5) . But we decided not to go for it because every webpage I looked at said it's only requirement was was strong lighting. Which is exactly what we dont have unfortunately.


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## zergling (May 16, 2007)

Here's the APC entry for Bacopa Monnieri. 
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/plantfinder/details.php?id=55

I personally grew this plant in a 10g tank with a single T8 bulb on the hood, clown puke gravel and all. 

IIRC I think there was someone here on TPT who had this plant in a vase or something with aqua soil and just ambient room lighting -- and the plant eventually outgrew the "tank".


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