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Plants That Create Shadows


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I'm listening to @Cory on his livestream and he mentioned broad leaf water sprite as floating plant. I did a quick Google image search and it looks like it would be a great floating plant to create shadows. Can the plant experts here recommend some other pants that can create shadows? I want to set up a 40 gallon breeder with sparkling gourami and emerald eye rasbora and maybe some chili rasbora too. My main goal though is for the sparkling gourami and emerald eye rasbora to shimmer and pop as they pass through dark areas into areas that get more light

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@DShelton I assume your water sprite does well with low light? I want to fill the bottom of the aquarium with crypts, and I'd like to program a fluval 3.0 to have a gradual sunrise into an extended very low light long exposure into a sunset. I work long hours Monday through Friday and would like to see my fish during sunrise and sunset and then on weekends I could see them during afternoon hours. Thank you for sharing your experience :). 

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Yeah it is doing pretty well in low light. I have C. wendtii and C. lutea and a java fern (Leptochilus pteropus) in the tank with it. They are all doing well. I am still dialing in the chemistry on the tank, and the only thing in there that is not doing well is S. repens.

I am lighting the tank with an Hygger 14W light (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07X9T9PV6?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details).

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Hi @Eddie Dingle, dwarf aquarium lilly is a great plant that can help create shadows. I have a 40 gallon breeder with lots of crypts, dwarf aquarium lillies and some riparium plants with floodlights that create lots of shadows. It sounds similar to the tank you are wanting to create with shadows and crypts. I find that the best shadows in my tanks are created by lights that come from a single point source instead of a strip of lights. I will attach a picture of my aquarium along with a link to the aquarium journal. I hope this helps! 

B34E4B41-D080-466E-82BC-ECD131A284F7.gif.d5535f611f591457e988c054715e868a.gif

https://forum.aquariumcoop.com/topic/9572-organic-soil-40-breeder-riparium

 

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On 5/9/2021 at 11:22 PM, Isaac M said:

Hi @Eddie Dingle, dwarf aquarium lilly is a great plant that can help create shadows. I have a 40 gallon breeder with lots of crypts, dwarf aquarium lillies and some riparium plants with floodlights that create lots of shadows. It sounds similar to the tank you are wanting to create with shadows and crypts. I find that the best shadows in my tanks are created by lights that come from a single point source instead of a strip of lights. I will attach a picture of my aquarium along with a link to the aquarium journal. I hope this helps! 

B34E4B41-D080-466E-82BC-ECD131A284F7.gif.d5535f611f591457e988c054715e868a.gif

https://forum.aquariumcoop.com/topic/9572-organic-soil-40-breeder-riparium

 

That looks awesome, thanks for the advice on lighting, a single point light isn't something I had considered. 

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I second dwarf aquarium lily. They create shadow while preserving swimming space underneath, as opposed to a floating mass of hornwort or anachris. 

Another nice one is amazon frogbit or red root floaters. I like seeing the roots dangling down and they are easily controlled.

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