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I have a 42-gallon hexagonal tank that stands about two feet high. I am looking for plants that will grow to touch the water surface (about 48" or 120 cm). I'm willing to put in good lighting but I'd like to avoid the whole CO2 and fertalizer business if possible. Any suggestions?

There are enough plants to choose from, really. The easiest ones are probably Anacrhis (Egeria densa) and Hornwort (Ceratophyllum demersum) who are fast growers under almost any conditions. Bacopa is also an easy plant, but it grows a little slower. Limnophilla aquatica is a bit more demanding on lights and conditions, but still relatively easy.

An easier alternative (but still not very easy) to the Eusteralis stellata you were interested in in another post is Ludwigia inclinata var. verticillata (Cuba). Like Eusteralis stellata this is a beautiful plant and its leaves, if given good lights, turn red (well, more pinkish than red). I grow the cuttings of that plant from my CO2 enriched tank in a tank with medium lights and no CO2 and although they grow slow, they do grow. You can combine few easier plants and this one, the easier plants for the short term satisfaction of having plants reaching the surface, and the Ludwigia for the long term.

As for fertilisers, the easy plants won't really need them. More demanding plants might, depending on your what comes out of your tap, but in any case, let the plants tell you if they need fertilisers and only add them if they do.

I'm sure other members will add their suggestions, these are the plants that I have experience with.

Edit: Oh wait. Have missed the 120cm height completely... Here is the maximum height for each plant I've mentioned as given by tropica:
Anachris: 100 cm (But I've seen longer stems).
Hornwort: 80+ cm.
Bacopa: 30+ cm.
Ludwigia: 30 cm.

2nd Edit:
Water milfoil (Myriophyllum Spicatum) is a very easy fast-growing plant usually grown in ponds that may reach few metres in height that you can look into.

Last edited by untitled at 02-Apr-2005 16:26

Val plants also come to mind. Would be nice to see a large hex plant setup. Post pics when done !

The Amazon Nut...

Hi,
Any of the stem plants will "grow to the surface."
However, the bottoms of those plants will soon loose their
leaves and the stalks become woody and bare.

To get enough light down to the substrate in a 24 inch tank
you will want to use bulbs with a 10,000K rating. They will
have enough of the blue spike (plants want bulbs with red
and blue spikes) to penetrate to the depths of the tank.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

zoeandmaia

I have a 42-gallon hexagonal tank that stands about two feet high. I am looking for plants that will grow to touch the water surface (about 48" or 120 cm).

I hate to be picky but I think your measurements are out some where.

You say the tank stands two feet high that = 24ins

Next you say to touch the surface 48" that is Four Feet.

Which is correct please?

Even at 24 ins deep that will require good lighting and if it is 48ins deep that will require something special as far as lighting is concerned also the looking after a planted tank so deep could also cause some problems.

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

Taller vals like jungle vals and giant hairgrass are what I'm looking into. I have a 90g that's 2' deep. The stem plants would work if you have the lower half covered but won't look as good long term and will probably require more maintenance. There's a whole bunch of jungle vals for $1 or less each if you check aquabid.com. Noone's bid on most of them.

Wow, you guys pulled this thread out of no where! My original post and the only response were from 4/2/05. I moved a couple of weeks later and the plans for the tank have been on the back burner. My interest in planting the hexagon have just resurfaced and I've started researching plants again. I would never have known that someone posted a response if I hadn't been going through my old threads.

A couple of days after starting this thread I started another thread with my proposed plant list and layout. That thread is here

Here is a diagram of my original plan and a plant key:

MT = monosolenium tenerum
SS = sag. sublata
HD = hygrophila difformis
E = echinodorus 'ozelot'
CC = crinum calamistratum
CN = crinum natans
BC = bacopa carolinia
C = cabomba carolinia
AB = anubias barteri var. nana 'petite'
RR = rotala rotundifolia

Currently I'm considering microsorum pteropus'Windel&#248;v' instead of hygro.difformis, vals instead of the crinums, and ceratophyllum demersum instead of the cabomba caroliniana.

P.S. Keith, to correct my original post, the tank is approx 24" deep.

Indeed, as suggested in this thread and the one I linked to above, lighting has been a major wrench in my plans.

edited to update link


Last edited by zoeandmaia at 04-Sep-2005 18:59

zoeandmaia

By the look of the plant plan it should look good. Having the height at the back LH corner and working down to the front RH certainly gives it a good flow.

With the lighting you certainly will have to have something exceptionally good. I also think you will require a very good fert to stop the tall plants from loosing their leaves lower down.

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

I may have solved my lighting problem. I found these lights at Wal-mart (and now online at Ace Hardware). It's a 65 watt plant light. It doesn't say "daylight" or "sunlight" which is what I was looking for. Still they are very compact which will make it easier to get high wattage over such a narrow tank. Do you think these will work?

edited to repair link

Last edited by zoeandmaia at 30-Aug-2005 22:26

Hi,
Those are primarely for terrestrial plants and, are
floodlights (stort of), and as such will run hot.

Find, in the light bulb section, the screw in flourscent
bulbs. They are available in virtually every store now
days, and come in either "warm or Cool" or Daylight or
Sunlight. The warm/cool are for reading lamps. The others
are for lighting the room, and will be ideal for plants.

The bulbs I'm talking about look similiar to this:

http://www.1000bulbs.com/category.php?category=393

Frank


Last edited by FRANK at 31-Aug-2005 01:30

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

I second the screw in compact fluorescent bulbs, they should work well. If you can't find daylight ones, you *can* grow plants well enough under cool white bulbs, it just doesn't look too great. Everything takes on a greenish yellow tinge, not too attractive but the plants don't care. Try to find a bulb with a kelvin rating between 6000-10 000 K. If the manufacturer doesn't have the kelvin temperature of the light listed, try to find one with the highest CRI you can get (as close to 100 as possible, generally 90+ looks best) and like Frank said, "full spectrum," "natural spectrum," "daylight," or "sunlight" bulbs are what you're looking for.

I would stay away from the Gro &amp; Sho bulbs, personally. They tend to look kinda pinky-purple-ish.

The bulb you linked to looks like an incandescent, those will grow plants but they burn way too hot to be practical and while 60W of light may sound like a lot, with incandescent it really isn't. Compact fluorescents are much better because they burn cooler, are more efficient so you pay less on your electricity bill (environmentally friendly too!), plus the bulbs last a lot longer and don't need replacing as often.

Thanks for the info! Someone suggested compact flourescent lights to me before but when I got to the store I had no idea what I was looking for. I ended up reading all the small print on the long tube flourescent lights looking for the word "compact." LOL. Thanks to FRANK's link I realize that I was way off.

Yea! I finally feel like I have some footing on this lighting issue.

Thanks again!