Plants for an outdoor tank?

[repru04]

I have an ugly 55 gallon tank I keep outside and have been seriously been considering making it an NPT. I live in the desert so it's on my covered porch and it'll stay warm and have partial to full sun. I re-siliconed it but found a leak so that needs to be fixed. Already in there is miracle grow organic soil with a sand cap. I added a little bit of anacharis and some floaters but plan to add more. I haven't gotten too far into this so I don't know exactly what the temps will be. Starting today, I'm recording the temperature to see what I can expect.

My question is, what plants are hardy enough to withstand temp swings? I'm not really wanting small plants. My idea is maybe set it up like a pond but in an aquarium. Other than pond plants though, can anyone tell me what might work?

[Kytkattin]

This might be frowned upon, but maybe look and see what is growing in water around you? I know you said desert, but there is going to be water somewhere. You could always take a sample of one of those, though again, the legality of that might be... in a grey area as it were.

Otherwise, I don't have many suggestions. There might be some coldwater reed type plants, but I imagine they will poke over the surface.

[repru04]

I'll probably go with pond plants I've contacted a pond plant store in my state, still waiting for a response. The closest body of water is not close enough for a plant trip, lol. I did check the temperature though. Last night at about 10, it was 66 and this morning at 9 it was 52. And this is only February!