Recommendations for background plants

[BoltonN]

Just a quickie, does anyone have any favourite background plants that would grow well in soft water (3), a ph of around 6.8 and 26 degree temp. So far i have tried elodea densa - it didn't go well probably due to the temperature, and then vallisneria - again just died off. I like the idea of plants that will grow long and kind of 'swoop' over the top of the water as it's only a 60L tank shouldn't be too hard. Also, it's a low tech aquarium. Cheers in advance

[Redpanda]

I had lots of plants dying when tank was new as well, now that 4-5 months in, finally vallis is there and amazon sword too. They aren’t thriving exactly but not dying either and looking rather nice. I have similar water conditions to yours .

One plant that really worked and still doing great is below, its massive and fills the space really nicely, leaves going everywhere and swaying, every time looking differently

https://www.aquariumgardens.co.uk/apono ... 1402-p.asp

[VikingMummy2015]

Bacopa Caroliniana does well for me. Crinum?
Hygrophilla seems to be doing ok in my Fluval but that’s got passive co2 diffuser in it. Rotala is another that should do ok.
Vallis just hates soft water. I did keep it alive in my previous 240L tank but it tended to send out runners rather than put on height.

Amazon swords generally get there in time. My water is kH of 1-2, gH 2, pH 6.4 (but drops gradually to 6 without twice weekly water changes)

[Stephen]

As per my aquarium.
1. Echinodorus palaefolius (Aquatic Plant Central Link) a great background plant.
2. Hydrocotyle leucocephala (Brazilian pennywort) Aquatic Plant Central Link fast growing and can be used as a floating plant

Hope it helps

[BoltonN]

@Redpanda Thankyou very much and hopefully it is just with it being a new tank because i do really like the vallis, i too have a amazon sword in there now and it seems to be doing really well along with java fern, dwarf hairgrass and a few others. And before fully reading your reply and going to straight to the picture i was about to ask what that plant was that you then recommended because it is a nice space filler !

@VikingMummy2015 Thankyou so much for the suggestion and i have just looked up the bacopa now and it's a hard one, same with the hygrophillia they're both really nice plants but i've put a couple limnophillias in there as sort as mid ground plants which are doing amazing and just require lots of trimming to keep compact enough for the mid ground , and i just feel the bacopa and limnophillias are very similar looking and im sort of leading towards wanting a contrast of a 'stringy' plant at the back. Which leads onto the crinium where i think i want to do a bit more investigating because on its own i don't really love it but when it's all compacted together and fully grown it's beautiful so i'm torn!!

@Stephen Thankyou and yes as always it's very helpful! I like the echinodorus but i have an e.africanus in there now which is really doing well but spreads out over quite a large area so i'm looking for a plant that grows tall but not very wide which again just sends me towards 'stringy' style plants. The pennywort is really nice actually and even though i don't think it would fit in the background of my tank i think i might just get some of the smaller dwarf pennywort plants and either use them as floaters or plant them around the hairgrass ! And this has actually reminded me of another question ......

[BoltonN]

..... it reminded me of this question ... i picked some of this floating plant up when i grabbed the neon green tetras because i've been looking for some frogbit but saw this instead and just had to grab some but i have no idea what it's actually called ?? Is anyone familiar with it ?

[Stephen]

Probably Salvinia Auriculata. A nice floating plant.

[VikingMummy2015]

I agree, salvinia

[Stephen]

One of my all time favourite plants is the Tiger Lotus Nymphea Zenkeri Red.
It is a bulb that you plant halfway in to the substrate but the eventual result is outstanding.
It will eventually grow to the surface and sway in the current.
It has large leaves but is stunning.
Great plant for filling out a gap at the back of the aquarium.





Other bulbs that grow quite long leaves include:-
Aponogeton crispus
Aponogeton ulvaceus
Aponogeton longiplumulosus
Aponogeton boivinianus

Look them up on Google.

[BoltonN]

One of my all time favourite plants is the Tiger Lotus Nymphea Zenkeri Red.
It is a bulb that you plant halfway in to the substrate but the eventual result is outstanding.
It will eventually grow to the surface and sway in the current.
It has large leaves but is stunning.
Great plant for filling out a gap at the back of the aquarium.





Other bulbs that grow quite long leaves include:-
Aponogeton crispus
Aponogeton ulvaceus
Aponogeton longiplumulosus
Aponogeton boivinianus

Look them up on Google.

I'll have a look at them all tomorrow, i think the aponogeton is the same plant as the one red panda recommended which was in his tank and looked really nice i'll definitely have a good look tomorrow before my match, see if any can beat crinium to being the no1. Also, thankyou very much @VikingMummy2015 and @Stephen for helping identify the plant !