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hey there gentle plant folks -

what plant species would you recommend? i'd like to introduce some new plants and colour to my tank, especially some reds. happy to consider upping the light level if needed. also, what type of fertilising regime would you consider appropriate for this tank?

here's the specs of the tank -

300 litres / 80 us gallons

120 watts of light, on 12 hrs a day

normal gravel base, 2 inches thick

current plantings -

15 medium, bushy echinodorus - not sure of species

3 tall echinodorus, maybe major?

3 green tiger lotus

2 banana lillies ( the hatchets love them, ok?)

fish stock -

7 sterbai

2 royal whiptails (sturisoma panamense)

45 various tetras and hatchets (names not important)

looking forward to hearing your ideas.

Last edited by jase101 at 14-Mar-2005 02:26

I'm sure you've heard that red plants need bright light.
Why is that ? Most of these plants turn red as a defense mechanism against bright light ! So without the bright light some of these plants may grow but they will grow out green which kind of defeats the purpose !

There's not many plants that will stay red in the 1.5 wpg you have.

Red Tiger Lotus is one. Nice red, doesn't need much light. But gets huge.

Reineckii is another you might get away with. It's an exception to above rule because it's actually the underside of the leaf that's red.

Apart from that there are some crypts that have a reddish color.

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