# Low light plants not doing well?



## A Hill (Jul 25, 2005)

from personal experiences... 

anubis never grows fast it just becomes algea covered

cabomba is a great plant. i propagated in in my low light tank as well...

moss loves everything.

all in all... 

some plants will work some wont.

as for your val like plant, does it have stiff dark green leaves? that are thinner than most vals and are kinda look like it was all rinkled up? if so my lfs has it too ill see if they know what it is..

-=- fish newb -=-


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## D.gilly (Sep 25, 2005)

just incase the java fern and anubis grow slow alot slower than java moss so dont excpect the same growth. it took like 2 years for my java moss to spread over a piece of drift wood in my 20 when it was like 0.7 watts so it should take a while for you but of course u have more lighting then that so mabey even faster but it will still grow quite slow. i found that java fern even under like 3.0 watts per gal grows slow. good luck!


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## 2wheelsx2 (Jan 27, 2006)

Fish Newb said:


> as for your val like plant, does it have stiff dark green leaves? that are thinner than most vals and are kinda look like it was all rinkled up? if so my lfs has it too ill see if they know what it is..
> 
> -=- fish newb -=-


Yeah, it's like that. The leaves are very still, but they curl "outwards" if you get what I mean.



D. gilly said:


> i found that java fern even under like 3.0 watts per gal grows slow.


That hasn't been my experience with the bigger ones. In my 20 gallon with 65W, the little java fern has had little growth except fora few more leaves, but the big leaf ones have grown like mad and one leaf got so many plantlets that I relocated it to the 125 gallon and tied it down to a piece of driftwood. That leaf has about 12 little plants growing out of it, so I just fastened the whole leaf down on the wood.


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## GulfCoastAquarian (Jul 30, 2002)

What are your PO4 levels? The Hagen PO4 kit works decently and is fairly inexpensive. I get solid growth with Anubias 'nana' with no CO2 and about 2wpg.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Jan 27, 2006)

Hmmm...I don't have a PO4 kit. I'm going to have to go get one tomorrow.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Jan 27, 2006)

Hmm...just got an API Phosphate test kit nad I am getting around 2 PPM. Seems to be right on target. I do not dose any macros in this tank, so to have phosphates, does it mean I am overfeeding a bit?


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## mrbelvedere (Nov 15, 2005)

What are you doing with silver dollars in a planted tank? You have a recipe for disaster brewing.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Jan 27, 2006)

It's actually a cichlid tank with plants in it.  No CO2, no ferts, nothing but gravel on the bottom. The plants are to help manage the prodigious ammonia output of the cichlids and the pleco. The SD's do chew up a lot of the plants, but they don't seem to touch the Anubias, java ferns, java moss. The Cabomba grow faster than the SD's can eat them, and I've just added some corkscrew Vals and stem plants from the 20 gallon planted.










You can just see the tips of the bald wisteria peaking up over on the right side.


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## TINNGG (Mar 9, 2005)

2wheelsx2 said:


> Yeah, it's like that. The leaves are very still, but they curl "outwards" if you get what I mean.
> .


Sounds suspiciously like mondo grass. While it likes a lot of moisture, it's not an aquatic plant. It will eventually die.

re: anubias. You know the best usage I've found for these little gems? Betta containers. I've managed to collect 11 of them and all but 6 are in tanks less than a gallon in size and non-iit. The only reason those 6 are in larger tanks is because they are... (I'd have to go dig up a tag) a couple of the tall growing species.


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## eds (Feb 12, 2003)

I'm a big fan of anubias - have 6 species in my 30g w/ 55w, and nana petite in my 3g nano with 7w.
They are relatively slow growing, tho. IME they tend to get BBA if you do not have enough other faster growing plants. Wisteria would fit that purpose well, but your SDs are taking care of it. 
My only experience with SDs was brief. I brought a few home and they essentially denuded my tank overnite. Took them right back to the LFS. And they were nowhere near as big as yours!


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## 2wheelsx2 (Jan 27, 2006)

eds said:


> I'm a big fan of anubias - have 6 species in my 30g w/ 55w, and nana petite in my 3g nano with 7w.
> They are relatively slow growing, tho. IME they tend to get BBA if you do not have enough other faster growing plants. Wisteria would fit that purpose well, but your SDs are taking care of it.
> My only experience with SDs was brief. I brought a few home and they essentially denuded my tank overnite. Took them right back to the LFS. And they were nowhere near as big as yours!


Yeah, I am realizing that now. But they sure make my cichlids less jumpy. And they are even bigger than they were in that pic. Those are the fastest growing fish in my tank. 

The Cabomba are doing quite well, so they help. Maybe I should try to get more Cabomba. For some reason, the SD's really really like the Wisteria.

The corkscrew vals look like they are doing ok, so I think I'll transfer a load of them from my 20 to the 125 to see if I can help the Anubias out a bit.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Jan 27, 2006)

TINNGG said:


> Sounds suspiciously like mondo grass. While it likes a lot of moisture, it's not an aquatic plant. It will eventually die.


Mondo grass, huh? I'll have to keep an eye on them. So far they are doing fine, except for the chew marks from the cichlids, who didn't like them in the right side. Transplanted them to the left side and everything is hunky dory once again.


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