Need a red and a yellow plant recommendation

[Amanda]

I'm planning my first high tech tank. I really want to try a paring a red stem with an orange or yellow stem for part of my background. I haven't really been able to grow stems before, but with CO2, aquasoil, and mixing large amounts of RO water to cut my rock hard water, I'm hoping I can be successful. 

Can someone recommend a red stem and yellow/orange stem that complement each other and aren't terribly difficult to keep alive?

These plants will need to be relatively hardy for stems. Even with RO, the water will still be moderately hard water with a higher ph (my water is 8.0 now but the combo of soil, RO, and CO2 should get me a bit lower).

Below is part of a rough layout I've been working on. I've got the red triangle labeled as "Ludwigia" but that is not actually decided yet.

[Tihshho]

For plant species Rotalla H'ra might be what you're after for a stem. It's got a ton of different shades in it from reds to oranges and greens.

Based on your description for the water params I'm a little concerned for you as you're going to be running a high tech tank with hard water. What you're going to notice are giant pH swings with CO2. When the CO2 saturates, the pH should level out or even be slightly acidic, once the lights go off and the CO2 kicks off rather than swinging back to a semi neutral pH you're going to be above, which can stress out some fish. If you have an RO unit already, you might want to consider running a couple DI stages with either stand alone anion and cation resin or dual mixed beds so you have a clean slate for your water to build up from. Going high tech with high pH water might bite you later. You will get some buffering from the Aqua Soil, depending on which one you chose, but remember that Aqua Soil's buffering capability and nutrients will be finite and in the long run you will have to pull apart the tank and redo the Aqua Soil down the line, if you exhaust the buffering capacity of the Aqua Soil too soon you're going to have to go through the teardown and rebuild sooner. 

Another thing, I really enjoy how you're laying out your plans for planting. I've done something like this in the past and it's definitely helpful. If you've overlayed your design over a topdown shot of your tank I just wanted to comment on your choice of rock. Have you tested the rock to see if they are alkali based? If so, your hardscape will be buffering the water and fighting with the Aqua Soil and the CO2 injection. Being the rocks are white, sometimes that's a sign that they have alkali's in them. A quick vinegar test on the rocks should assist you, if there is any doubt after, place the rocks (individually) in a container with neutral pH water and with a decent kH so there isn't an instant swing. Throw an airstone in there and test the water after a few days. If the water's pH is above 7.5 then you might want to consider new hardscape materials.

Edited August 30, 2021 by Tihshho

[Amanda]

@Tihshho Thank you for such a detailed response. I do understand that this an experiment and may not work out as planned.

My RO unit is actually RO/DI with a mixed ion cartridge, if that helps. My tap water is off the chart in GH and KH, so when I mix it with ro/di it's still very high. In my low tech the ph is about 7.8 in tanks where I have mixed tap and ro/di. My rock is locally collected sandstone. It seems to be the harder version of sandstone and does not react with acids. In my past setups it has worked fine, but we shall see with this type of setup. (Investing in new equipment limited my hardscape budget.) I will be testing water and studying this combination during cycling. I will probably be under dosing the CO2 and see how the tank handles increasing dosing. I'm hoping I can make stems work. I've had decent success with my low tech plants. I'm using a combo of easier and more difficult plants so if it doesn't work for my fish I can just replant the stems with plants that work in my water. My background will largely be hygrophilia angustifolia because it grows decently in my low tech tanks.

I will look carefully at the rotala h'ras I can find. Picking a plant for color is so hard because the tanks parameters affect coloration, so hopefully h'ra is a good plant to work with.

[Tihshho]

So let me ask, if you have an RO/DI unit, why mix? Why not just use remineralized RO/DI? I only ask since it seems like you're putting a ton of effort planning and just want to make sure you succeed with your planted tank. I know from experience the pitfalls of high tech and have lost a good amount of plants over the years due to overlooking something.

It's good you know about the stones! This shouldn't be an issue if you've already tested them.

As for the H'ra, it's a Rotalla sp. so it's going to grow like a weed once established. As long as it's getting enough nutrients from the roots and water column you should have success with it thriving. In terms of coloration, you might need to either fiddle with lighting a bit or find the right kH balance for CO2 for the tank. Once you get it going, the plant has what it needs it's just a beautiful weed at the end of the day. One key thing with stems, pruning them is key. Not only to get the full look, but also to make sure they base of the stems are getting thinned out to get enough light to the lower leaves as to not get bare spots.

[Amanda]

@Tihshho the reason I don't do full RO is that my unit is small. I bought it with the intention of mixing, and if I wanted to do full ro, I probably should have gotten a larger unit. I would also need quite a bit more space to store larger quantities of ro/di, which is another obstacle. The tank is a 75 gal, which is a big step up from my current nanos. 

I've always wondered how good aquascapers get such bushy stands of rotala without shading out the lower stems. It's impressive.

[Patrick_G]

Rotala Walichii would be another good choice for the red. The only yellow I can think of would be Creeping Jenny. I think it’ll grow submerged. 

Rotala Pic from the net

 

Edited August 31, 2021 by Patrick_G

[Patrick_G]

@Amanda, I have the same problem with shading the lower stems in my American standard 75 gallon. The metric rimless tanks seem to be wider and shallower. I think that plus the aquascaping trick of raising the substrate in the back helps a lot. A couple $500 aquascaping lights don’t hurt either! 😆

[Amanda]

@Patrick_G there are a lot fewer options in yellow! And the other issue is that even if I get the perfect combo picked out, there is no guarantee that the shop I buy it from is shipping the right plant... it has to be hard to differentiate all of these similar stem species.

I do have my substrate well sloped to help get light on my stems. Hopefully I have luck.