# Low tech plants that grow tall



## Aparker2005 (Jun 4, 2014)

Hey guys, I'm needing some low tech plants that get really tall and fill in the back of a tank. I have a 55g with water sprite, Java Fern, and water wisteria. For some reason, my wisteria is carpeting mostly instead of growing tall. 

My water sprite can get tall but by the time it does, it's either uprooted or bunched off as a new plant. Really annoying. 

Light is a finnex planted plus. I occasionally dose excel, flourish, potassium, and use Osmocote flower and garden root tabs. 

Here's a picture if anyone has any suggestions! Maybe my aquascaping just sucks?


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## Daisy Mae (Jun 21, 2015)

Your aquascaping doesn't suck at all! It's actually nice and lush looking, my only preference would be for the wood to be a little less centrally placed. 

For background plants, would you like non-stem plants? I think something with long narrow leaves like _Vallisneria_ or _Cryptocoryne_ _crispatula_ 'balansae' or _Aponogeton_ _crispus_ would provide a nice contrast with what you already have. I have not grown these plants myself but once I get a tall enough tank I want to try them out (esp the last two).


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## schnebbles (Jan 10, 2015)

I like your tank as well. it needs some color IMO - Look at some bronze & colored crypts? I have a planted + on a 40 breeder and they grow fine for me. I have an ozelot sword that's got some pretty color, Ludwigia in red (I just got this so I don't know how it will do, it wasn't red when I got it), Ludwigia S repens grows kind of colorful at the top towards the light, I just got some golden nesaea that's a pretty shade of yellow/green. Pogo erectus is light green for me. Of course those are mostly stems, but they grow well in my tank. I don't do co2 and I dose excel daily, actually double dose it. I have some flamingo crypts too. 

My water sprite grows the same way, right now it does have a very long piece that hasn't broken off, it actually flows across the top some.

oops - I got off track, I forgot you were looking for tall plants. I started off listing colored stuff.


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## Aparker2005 (Jun 4, 2014)

So this weekend during water change I'm thinking of rescaping. 

Move the plants mostly all to the back, and move the driftwoods more into each side. I think it's all too jumbled and there's not much swimming room. 

Sound like a better placement? 

I worry about uprooting the plants and moving them as they have pretty good roots. As long as I'm careful it should all be okay though right?


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## astex (Aug 13, 2009)

I'm fond of crypt balinese for low light tall plants. Vals also work but I don't think they ever stop growing.


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## HDBenson (Jan 26, 2015)

Let me start by saying I'm jealous of your wisteria. I wish mine grew compact and carpeted like that! Anyway, you could use Hygrophila polysperma "sunset" it will add color AND grow to the top EASILY. The problem may be getting it to you though, lol. Guppy grass or star grass could be a good option as well. Pogostemon yatabeanus will grow to the top as well and has nice thick stems and wouldn't look out of place. As mentioned Vals, Aponogenton and larger Cryptocoryne sp will probably fit the bill as well. I wouldn't worry too much about up rooting the plants. Figure out where you want the hardscape to be - then cut the stems just below the substrate.

Re: The escape.
I would move the large stump to the left into the gap behind the smaller piece of wood and to the back where the gap is. Then, you should place the smaller piece just right of where it is so the left side of the small piece is just barely in front of the right edge of the large piece. That will give a nice open space on the right side.


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## nbr1rodeoclown (Feb 6, 2015)

Vals might over run you, but you could through down on some redder ludwigia varieties.


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## Aparker2005 (Jun 4, 2014)

Also this is a 55 and the wood can only go as far back as it currently is


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## HDBenson (Jan 26, 2015)

@Aparker2005 "Also this is a 55 and the wood can only go as far back as it currently is" 

I forget how narrow these tanks are!!


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## Maverick2015 (Aug 8, 2015)

How about amazon swords? I think that would work well. Or Cryptocoryne Lutea?


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## Maverick2015 (Aug 8, 2015)

For stem plants, have you looked into Hygrophila Pinnatifida? The color might not be what you are after but the leaf shape would be different.


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## DavidZ (Nov 17, 2009)

A little off the topic, do like the tank, nothing added to the talk nice growth, what is the lighting are you using?


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## Aparker2005 (Jun 4, 2014)

It's a finnex planted plus light


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## essabee (Oct 7, 2006)

No plant is hi or low tech - that's your way of management of your tank. The plants suit themselves with how you treat them.

All vals are tall; Giant Vals are the tallest I have measured - over 30 feet. Cryptocoryne balansae are also tall plants for a tank growing to leaf lengths of 2 feet. I would caution you against both as they tend to spread all over the tank. The vals by runners and the crypts by underground rhizomes.

My suggestion would be Myriophyllum tuberculatum, or Proserpinaca palustris either of them can add some new colour to your tank.


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## jcmv4792 (Jul 15, 2015)

essabee said:


> No plant is hi or low tech - that's your way of management of your tank. The plants suit themselves with how you treat them.
> 
> All vals are tall; Giant Vals are the tallest I have measured - over 30 feet. Cryptocoryne balansae are also tall plants for a tank growing to leaf lengths of 2 feet. I would caution you against both as they tend to spread all over the tank. The vals by runners and the crypts by underground rhizomes.
> 
> My suggestion would be Myriophyllum tuberculatum, or Proserpinaca palustris either of them can add some new colour to your tank.


Are you saying that all plants can be grown in a low-tech setup?


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## roadmaster (Nov 5, 2009)

I think low tech is NON CO2 enhanced, and as such ,there are plant's that just won't do well without CO2 enhancement.
Gob's of light, won't help em perform better.(often times worse)
Consider plant structure is comprised of nearly 50% carbon, and lack of CO2 becomes the elephant in the room with low tech , lower lighting, or high tech with uber lighting and CO2 enhancement. IMHO
So in a way,,yes there are low tech plant's that can do well with little CO2 and also plant's that perform best with CO2 enhancement.
Too many folk's think light or lack thereof, is the answer when trying their hand at some of the more difficult species.
They add more light,but maybe can't provide CO2 to match light energy or have distribution/circulation problem's.
I tend to choose largely plant's that suit my method (Low tech) and after they get good start ,I can try more demanding plant's .
This is usually when it becomes clear that they aren't gonna look like the plant's in the high tech CO2 injected tank's running much more light .
I add scaled back EI version of nutrient's up to twice a week,have the ability to increase light intensity,it is only lack of CO2 that limit's my effort's with many of the more difficult plant's (difficult cause they struggle for Carbon/CO2).


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## Raymond S. (Dec 29, 2012)

Aparker2005 has a plant that normally grows higher, but due to higher lighting than we have seen it grow in the past it has already, the red/growth oriented spectrum light
that it used to need to reach to get in a taller tank ergo it spends more energy on being
full than tall. I haven't found any streams in the world that are injected CO2(sorry I
couldn't resist that one) but according to Google info while investigating individual plant species they do have a few that have higher CO2 content than normal.
So there are a few plants which will need that if they normally only come from an aria like that.
I would only very loosely classify "any" plant as being capable of living in any tech level.
I believe the better way to interpret the statement made by essabee would be that the
low light classification on plants doesn't mean that it won't grow in higher light. And that
most which are listed as high tech will grow in the lower tech tank, even though it will
be shaped differently and grow much slower. The only "tech" that I positively know to
be a "locked into" type is the temperature range given on any plant. That also can have
an error in it. But on occasion I have brought home a couple of mountain stream plants
only to find the top end of their temp range to be much lower than your typical aquarium. They struggled for a few days before dieing.
But yes ther are some plants which only will grow so poorly in non injected tanks that it is a waste of time to try them.

Aparker2005...I would think also that the balansae(not familiar/w the other plant
mentioned) will spread out a bit much for a 55g. But I do believe that most of the stemmed plants(including the removal of stems that come up where you don't want them) can be kept mostly in the background. You may find that same growth pattern/w some of them also, where they will grow horizontal because they get a better light in your tank. I've had Ludwigia R. do this in my tank and a couple of, not all of the stems of Rotala Magenta. The Rotala Magenta being one of the plants which I would suggest as your tank does have plants in it that the Rotala would get shade from on it's lower part thus forcing it to reach for the light. Has some unexpected colors on it in good light
and is under appreciated as far as I'm concerned. Has more narrow leaves than Macrandra does so closer to Rotundifolia(often mislabeled as indica) in leaf shape.
Due to short front to back the 55g is easier to do in two tiers than three. A fact which you are finding out. Personally I would eliminate a few of the Wisteria and substitute them/w your choices of other plants. In the FWIW category, Petchii will grow not more than 5" in most cases which AFAI'mC designates it a carpet plant for a 55g.
The Wendtii is a bushy crypt getting 7-9" tall but almost that diameter also.
The Bronze would give a great color change, but the diameter...I'd pass on it.
I'll add a link on the bottom of this. I do very esoteric type tanks that I never intend to appeal to the "masses" so pass that point and focus,if you will, on the plants but the Patchii mostly. In my attempt to find plants that "fit" a 10g tank I now have about 15 kinds in there...too many types according to the current trend.
Have tried Water Sprite and know what you mean on those.
Ludwigia sp. should work and that will for sure give you a wild color change.
Bacopa C. will give a more subtle color change but a word on those, you will need to find some longer stems for them to survive in the back of other plants. 4-6" wont do.
Same thing likely applies to most stemmed types in your tank if placed behind established plants. Rotala in here is Magenta.
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/images/pGallery/pg_12001e.jpg


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## essabee (Oct 7, 2006)

jcmv4792 said:


> Are you saying that all plants can be grown in a low-tech setup?


I am saying that the plants cannot be labeled in that way. Certain plants may require high light conditions, this does not make them hi tech plant only high light demanding plants. They don't care for the high automation and gadget rich tanks that can be called "high tech".


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## roadmaster (Nov 5, 2009)

Many of the plant's do not grow submerged in the wild, but rather they have root's in the bank's of stream's and or bog's to hold them in place during high water and root structures to store nutrient's during lean times.
They have access to nearly unlimited atmospheric CO2
Is why they often take a hit when we completely submerge them and they are suddenly in poor or much lower CO2 environment.
Yes ,as mentioned some can perform well once the adapt but leaf structure can be totally different than when they had/have access to CO2 rich environment and often grow poorly or very slowly.
I also agree that some plant's do well with high light, as opposed to low light, but high light and no ability to increase CO2 to match the light energy is often where thing's tip.
Is fine line,or balance that does not work same way for everyone and as mentioned..CO2 or lack thereof can soon become limiting factor when using higher lighting.


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

cryptocoryne spiralis is the best. 
cryptocoryne balansae tends to go over the height of your tank and hang leaves on the surface obstructing the light.


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