plant suggestions: medium light, no CO2, low pH etc details inside

[Dunbar Painting]

I am setting up a sort of biotope for Apistogramma diplotaenia or Taeniacara candidi in case I get these fish.

Tank is 33 long (48x12x12).

Has 2x 54 watt bulbs

Has ADA africana soil (for keeping the pH in the 5s which I plan to do)

Can (will likely) dose some Flourish EXCEL and some ferts i got from Pat in powder form (after adding liquid too).

May add Black Water Extract to add something to the water whilst simulating their habitat.

Any plant suggestions with this in mind???
bonus points for Amazonian plants...

[Morainy]

I think that light will be quite bright for a 12 inch deep tank, so you might ask Stuart about the plants he has -- that new pogostemon looks gorgeous.

I have lower light tanks and swords, big anubias, and Hygrophilia Siamensis 53B and red lotus and a different variety of pogostemon (stellatus?) all are reliable for me.

Good luck! I think you're going to have a lot of plant options with your setup.

[Dunbar Painting]

Thanks a bunch


BTW the lights are about 20 inches from the gravel as they are hanging.

[giraffee]

Not too many plant options for pH level ~5 from my experience - anubiases, some cryptos, crinums, red lotus ...
My pH is lower, around 4.5 - I still have to find out which plants can survive in this conditions.

[Dunbar Painting]

Why do you keep your pH that low?

[giraffee]

Well, this is my altum angel's tank - pH 4.5, T 30C - definitely not the best conditions for plants.

[2wheelsx2]

What's the temp going to be? I think that's more limiting than the pH. And as others have said, with no CO2, 2x54w t5HO is an awful lot of light. I think 1x54w on that tank would even be a lot of light, even suspended 20 inches above the substrate. The ADA will provide plenty of nutrients for algae to grow at the start, with that level of lighting and I'm afraid you'll be fighting one bloom after another until you reach a balance with the plant mass.

[tang daddy]

What's the temp going to be? I think that's more limiting than the pH. And as others have said, with no CO2, 2x54w t5HO is an awful lot of light. I think 1x54w on that tank would even be a lot of light, even suspended 20 inches above the substrate. The ADA will provide plenty of nutrients for algae to grow at the start, with that level of lighting and I'm afraid you'll be fighting one bloom after another until you reach a balance with the plant mass.

As Gary said, its way too much light on a 33 long, I was running a similiar set up and the plants grew so fast I was selling carpets of hc and glosso every month. However I was running co2 so without it, that may be a problem waiting to happen. If you are using glass lids it will reflect and diffuse some of the light and hanging the light really high off the tank may also help, also staggering the times like 4hrs on 4hrs off 4hrs on would help keep algae down....