Low Tech soft water plants

[mnemenoi]

We have a low tech (no CO2) tank using a 8000K T8 bulb and are having the toughest time finding plants that work and thrive in it. We are using the Brightwell Aquatics Rio Escuro substrate and only distilled (RO) water for weekly water changes. We do not dose anything other then Marine Iodide (1drop per water change) and would prefer to avoid dosing excel or any fert due to the possibility of increasing the TDS in the tank. Our current water parameters are PH - 6.0 or less (test kit low is 6.0) GH & KH are both very low (one is 1 and the other is 3, but it was tested awhile ago). Temperature varies 70-74 degrees

What has done well - Bolbitus (African water fern), growing very quickly and will soon become the centerpiece of the tank, lol

What has not done well - Blyxa Japonica, Wisteria, Flame Moss, Fissidens

Recently introduced some crypts and will se how they fare, I expect a certain melting until they acclimate. If they do well I'd be happy to do parva throughout the tank.

Livestock - 8 Bororas Bridgette, 2 Otocinclus (recent additions), 4 adult SS-SSS CBS shrimp and lots of offspring

Overall the focus was on a softwater CBS breeding tank and it has succeeded, but the plants have been frustrating and I was interested if anyone else had a tank similar in parameters and what plants seemed to do well for them.

Ideas for future plant stocking - Mini Bolbitus (if the larger one does well, keep up the trend), Orchid Lily (Barclaya longifolia, I have heard they are tough in anything but soft water), Pogostemon stellatus?

Any ideas or plants that did well in similar tanks/setups?

[armthehomeless]

I'm surprised wisteria didn't do well. Hornwort can thrive in anything remotely wet. Water sprite or micro swords may be another option.

[mnemenoi]

I agree on the Wisteria, thought it was truly a bullet proof plant. It has survived, just not really growing or doing anything. I might wager it is in exactly the same state we put it in that tank at.

We have the others, but I am beginning to wonder if most plants need some mineral in their water. Beyond the Bolbitus, the plants just get set on pause and do nothing. We do get a slimy hair algae that differs from the normal hair algae I see in our hard water tanks. At first I thought it was cyanobacteria, but this is different. I think it might just be the low tds and strange variants of algae that are not normally found in the tanks that locals keep as we mostly have higher Ph/TDS and other types outcompete it. The shrimp appear to want nothing to do with it and our only hope is the otos will eat it eventually. We had thought to pack the tank with plants to use up the nutrients and starve it out, but it just grows far more quickly if anything is closer to the light source and will eventually engulf it. I wonder if it might also be the lack of beneficial bacteria due to the low Ph and possibly nitrate uptake as it never gets converted from ammonia, instead reverting to ammonium...

Does anyone have experiance with downoi and its relatives? They all seem to come from low Ph/TDS waters and I imagine they might do well in this sort of tank.

[LooksLater]

Water sprite didn't do well in there, either. It was okay for awhile, then after a month or two started to yellow out and shed leaves. The flame moss started browning out in a week or so. The blyxa japonica acts like it wants to come back, but keeps getting slimed by that damn algae, I'm about to just rip it out and give up on that, too. Duckweed does just fine in there!

I'm thinking we may have to go with swords, java fern, marimo balls, etc...but if that's the best we can do, I'll be disappointed- how boring! And that slimy hair algae is driving me crazy. Crazy!!

[GoSpursGo]

Low Tech soft water plants

Last time I was in Houston city pets had trident and needle leaf java fern. Both look great in bunches. They also had riccia.
Subswassertang is a bit of an odd moss, but will grow in bacon grease, on fire. Looks good in bushes.
Taiwan moss looks great with all it's branching. Adds lots of grazing for juvies.

[mnemenoi]

We have a few different java fern types and Subwassertang & taiwan moss. We'll try the taiwan moss, hopefully it prefers a bit colder water then the flame moss. The subwassertang & Riccia seems to just blow everywhere and fall into a million pieces. I'd like to see something with some roots and a larger body.

[LooksLater]

The subwassertang & Riccia seems to just blow everywhere and fall into a million pieces.

Amen to that. That's why we've always got Riccia for sale, it grows like crazy in the 10g dutch tank, but I hate it in all the other tanks, it's as bad as duckweed, always getting caught and growing into my pretty mosses! lol. If anybody wants some, hit us up!