Best Low-Tech Aquarium plants for Beginners

What kind of aquarium plants is low tech? What plants are ideal for beginning aquarists, and how do you care for low-tech aquatic plants? This is what comes to mind when discussing aquarium plants that don’t require much technology. If you are new to maintaining fish, you must be familiar with these plants.

Low-tech aquarium plants do more than just enhance the color and ease of water chemistry maintenance. The most delicate aquarium plants for beginning aquarists are easy to cultivate and maintain. Low-tech aquatic plants can be grown by amateurs, but there are a few conditions to consider.

So, if you’re a novice fish keeper thinking about adding low-tech aquarium plants to your tank, you’re in the perfect place. I’ll walk you through the most extraordinary low-tech plants you can keep in your tank in this article, along with instructions on how to take care of them. Continue reading to ensure that you don’t miss anything.

What are Low-Tech Aquarium Plants?

Understanding and appreciating what low-tech aquatic plants help you start your search for the best ones. Aquarium plants that don’t need sophisticated technology, such as a carbon dioxide injector system, can survive without them. Additionally, they do not require bright lighting to photosynthesize or carry out other essential life processes. Beginner aquarists need to understand that for plants to grow and thrive, they require water, nutrients, light, and carbon dioxide.

The Top 10 Beginner Low-Tech Aquarium Plants List

Finding plants that flourish in outdated aquariums with little light and CO2 might be challenging. Finding easily cultivated plants will improve the appearance of your tank and make fishkeeping much more enjoyable.

Here is our ranking of the low-tech plants that are the most dependable for any fish keeper to grow.

1. Marimo Moss Ball

Moss plants are relatively simple to grow and often work well in various water conditions. Mosses, like java fern and Anubias, are epiphyte plants.

Aquarium floss or aquarium-safe superglue can be used to quickly adhere them to rocks and driftwood. To get started, simply apply a dab of adhesive to the moss and press it against a piece of hardscape for five seconds. The best aspect is that Marimo mosses only require weekly water changes to keep their round form and don’t require any other special maintenance.

2. Cryptocoryne wendtii

Because it doesn’t require liquid fertilizers or carbon dioxide injection, Cryptocoryne Wendtii is ideal for novices. If you give it root tabs every three to four months, it can survive in any substrate, including inert materials. They come in green, red, tropical, and brown, so you can decorate your fish tank with color.

Iron supplements can be added to the water to make the red C. Wendtii’s color stand out.

3. Hygrophila polyspermy

One of our favorite low-tech aquarium plants, Hygrophila Polysperma, has lovely, long, narrow leaves that develop in pairs up the stem.

This plant is among the easiest to care for in our experience, making it an excellent choice for novices and tanks with basic technology. Our 10-gallon tank, which has an 8.2 pH and inert Seachem Flourite, has grown remarkably well. Meaning that even if the conditions in our tank are not ideal for the growth of aquatic plants, H. Polysperma manages to flourish anyway.

4. Hygrophila polysperma reproduction

H. Polysperma will naturally produce new plants and send out roots. To plant the stem into your substrate, you can also cut the stem in between leaf pairs. The ideal branch to plant has roots emerging from it.  An invasive species is called Hygrophila polysperma.

Because of its rapid growth, the Hygrophila family of plant species is often known as “swam weeds.” There are over 80 Hygrophila species, with Polysperma being one of them.

Hygrophila Polysperma is technically prohibited from sale and purchase as a noxious weed in various US jurisdictions. It was initially utilized in the aquarium hobby in the 1950s. Still, after being introduced into local ecosystems, it became a problem.

5. Anubias species

For freshwater fish keepers without aqua soil or dirt substrate, Anubias is a fantastic option. This is due to Anubis’s status as an epiphyte plant. As a result, they don’t develop roots in the substrate. They instead cling to other plants or objects, such as rocks or driftwood. This implies that they don’t need active substrate or root tabs. They are ideal for the majority of low-tech tanks and can live in a variety of water conditions.

6. Java Fern

This widespread aquatic plant has a variety of appearances, including lace patterns, trident shapes, and slender leaves. But the most well-known Java fern has tall, pointed leaves with heavily ridged veins.

The Java fern must be planted in your aquarium by inserting the rhizome into cracks in wood or rocks and fastening it with a thread. Java ferns are wonderful aquarium plants since they are low maintenance and don’t require much CO2 or light.

7. Bacopa caroliniana

Bacopa Caroliniana is a lovely stem plant with a pleasant herbal scent. It has thick, spongey leaves that grow in a ring up its stems. These plants do need some sunshine and excellent water column fertilizer. However, they can still thrive successfully in outdated tanks.

Bacopa Caroliniana is an excellent backdrop plant because it will grow to the top of your aquarium and even start to bloom while it does so.

8. Dwarf Sagittaria

Another excellent low-tech carpeting plant that looks fantastic in jungle aquascapes is dwarf Sagittaria. Your tank floor will cover the plant’s runners, which shoot across the substrate.

The grass-like leaves, which will eventually reach 2–3 inches, will give the fry a long substrate covering. The best part is that it requires very little care and thrives in most basic aquariums.

Related post: How to Clean Aquarium Plants?

9. Aponogeton Crispus

Aponogeton Crispus has leaves with wavy edges that move smoothly, resembling a ballerina performing in an aquarium. You may keep this betta bulb on top of the substrate of your fish tank and watch it grow roots and leaves.

These affordable, low-tech aquatic plants have a quick rate of growth. If you take care of the Aponogeton Crispus, it may even give you blossoms in return. It ought to improve the aesthetics of your fish tank.

10. Floating plants

For low-tech planted tanks, floating plants are a natural choice because they don’t need a particular substrate, can access atmospheric CO2, and get more light. They consequently develop swiftly. You can pick from various floating plants, such as red root floaters, water lettuce, duckweed, and frogbit.

Many floating plants are invasive because they spread and alter nearby waterways quickly. Because even the slightest bit of certain floating plant species, like duckweed, may frequently replicate and grow into a new plant. Many people find it impossible to altogether remove them.

They are recognized as excellent absorbers of surplus nitrite and ammonia as well. For each of these factors, floating plants are a fantastic low-tech option.

The Bottom Line on Low-Tech Aquarium plants

Low-tech aquarium plants don’t need elaborate installations or expensive technologies to provide color and life to healthy fish tank ecology. You make your aquarium more attractive and recreate your fish and plants’ natural habitat right in your living space.

Not every one of the low-tech aquatic plants we’ve discussed here is necessary for your aquarium. Take care of just one or two types of plants, to begin with. As you become more skilled at managing aquariums, you can always add more to create the most attractive. And a prosperous aquatic ecosystem you can be incredibly proud of.