[ForbiddenSecrets]

I'm having the worst problem with the plants in my 29. They will stay all nice and healthy until a certain height and then those leaves will die off and it will grow new ones. However a 29 is fairly tall and it's starting to bug me that I can't get them taller.

So I'm looking for...

a) Plants that tend to grow tall (I'll bite the bullet and just ship them in)
b) some ideas as to why this keeps happening to plants that would supposedly get bigger.

 

[Bombalurina]

My tank is 18 inches and the plants that have grown in mine (and sometimes decided to go ahead and keep growing through the surface of the water) are:
- elodea
- hornwort (although, to be fair, I don't know if this is actually growing tall or just uprooting itself and doing its own thing)
- lacefern
- ludwigia repens (has started to grow emerged and looks gorgeous)
- ambulia

Regular trimmings will help promote lush growth.

 

[Mo]

I think that the possible problem in your tank concerning decaying leaves at the surface could be due to the average elevated flow at the surface. If there is a somewhat high amount of flow then your plants could easily be negatively effected by the flow. Resulting in decaying leaves

some great tall plants with minimal requirements are
Hygrophila Corymbosa
Anacharis
Ludwigia Repens
Cabomba Caroliniana
Wisteria
Moneywort
Rotala indica
Rotala Rotundifolia

 

[ForbiddenSecrets]

Thanks guys c: I'll look into these and hopefully get some nice back layer growth going.

 

[LittleBettaFish]

Vallisneria, milfoil, mayaca and ambulia are also all fairly low tech and will quickly reach the surface if conditions are met.

Stems tend to get leggy and die-off if they are not trimmed every so often as the lower parts of the plant don't receive enough light. However, vallisneria is fairly low light so it doesn't seem too bothered as to whether it is shaded or not. Also in streams they will grow in a strong current area so if it is a problem with flow, they should do fine.

 

[Bombalurina]

I just pulled a 7ft string of anacharis out of my 18 inch tank, so I can promise that grows tall.