Plant suggestion

[Milliardo Peacecraft]

I am looking for plant suggestions to replace the Anubias Nana that I have attached to the rocks directly under my light in my 75 gallon tank.  There is a picture below of the plant.  I have the algae under control now, but the plant is being blasted a bit with excessive light for its preferences.  There is no CO2 on the aquarium, and I'm not sure it would qualify as a "high light" plant location as my light isn't as powerful as the lights some run, but it's definitely more than the anubias cares for.  Ideally it would be good if the plant didn't get too huge as I don't want it taking over and something I could just attach to the rock would be perfect.  The aquarium is just a standard community aquarium,  it gets easy green and potasium twice a week.  I use soft water but supplement with Seachem Equilibrium.  The water pH is high 7's to 8.2-ish.

[EricksonAquatics]

You could try buce, it’s similar to Anubias and stays pretty tiny! It’s also a rhizome plant so you can glue it to your rock again. Something that helped my Anubias in direct light was adding a floating ring full of floating plants right above it. Helps shade it out and keep it happy and algae-free! 

[Milliardo Peacecraft]

@EricksonAquatics how is the ring attached to the sides of the aquarium to keep it in place?  I've seen some with suction cups, but then you can see them when looking into the aquarium.

[EricksonAquatics]

I bought a little ring off of Amazon for literally $5. Just put in floating aquarium ring and a few options should come up. Or Etsy has the same options.

I agree, the airline tubing works in a pinch but it doesn’t look quite as nice, and sometimes doesn’t hold the floaters as reliably anyways. 

[FLFishChik]

You can also make a ring from clear airline tubing and use an airline suction cup on the glass to keep it in place. I did this when I had red root floaters. My tanks are rimmed and I keep the water line above the bottom of the rim, so you couldn’t really see the tubing or the small suction cup.

Edited April 3 by FLFishChik

[MattyM]

I don't suppose your light has a dimmer? If not you might be able to find an inline one, I had some luck with this one on a previous tank/light:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B082YTTX7H/

[EricksonAquatics]

I had no idea those even existed! Quite genius though😂

[Seattle_Aquarist]

On 4/2/2024 at 12:56 PM, Milliardo Peacecraft said:

I am looking for plant suggestions to replace the Anubias Nana that I have attached to the rocks directly under my light in my 75 gallon tank.  There is a picture below of the plant.  I have the algae under control now, but the plant is being blasted a bit with excessive light for its preferences.  There is no CO2 on the aquarium, and I'm not sure it would qualify as a "high light" plant location as my light isn't as powerful as the lights some run, but it's definitely more than the anubias cares for.  Ideally it would be good if the plant didn't get too huge as I don't want it taking over and something I could just attach to the rock would be perfect.  The aquarium is just a standard community aquarium,  it gets easy green and potassium twice a week.  I use soft water but supplement with Seachem Equilibrium.  The water pH is high 7's to 8.2-ish.

 

Hi @Milliardo Peacecraft,

It takes a little while to become established (first the roots grow then the stems start to grow) but  Hygrophila pinnatifida will attach to rocks or wood and does well with higher light levels. With higher light levels than in my picture it will be more reddish. -Roy

[Seattle_Aquarist]

BTW, that very high pH is likely due to the limestone you are using in your tank.....I would suggest using inert rock and/or weekly water changes of 50%.  High pH can effect the uptake of nutrients by plants.

Edited April 4 by Seattle_Aquarist

[Whitecloud09]

Java fern, so basic, so simple, sticks to a lot of things, but I am sure that there is tons more of options @Milliardo Peacecraft. Yeah ik, kinda basic lol.

[johnnyxxl]

On 4/2/2024 at 6:52 PM, EricksonAquatics said:

You could try buce, it’s similar to Anubias and stays pretty tiny! It’s also a rhizome plant so you can glue it to your rock again. Something that helped my Anubias in direct light was adding a floating ring full of floating plants right above it. Helps shade it out and keep it happy and algae-free! 

Something I am going to try is putting the ring around my filters tubes since I run dual co-op sponges.  To control the surface agitation for the floaters.

[EricksonAquatics]

On 4/13/2024 at 9:36 AM, johnnyxxl said:

To control the surface agitation for the floaters.

Great idea. I’ve seen people do this and it works quite well bc most floaters don’t like to be blown around or splashed by the filter!

[Rube_Goldfish]

If the lighting is too high for anubias, you might try Hydrocotyle tripartita "Japan" or Monte Carlo, both of which like higher light and can grow as epiphytes, though attaching them to that rock might be a real chore.