Plants to avoid because they use bicarbonate, raise the pH?
Howdy - I am getting back into the hobby after a several year hiatus, and I'd like to try without CO2. Furthermore, I am fond of Ceratopteris which has done very well for me sometimes and just been miserable for no reason sometimes (that I can be certain about, but pH is likely a factor.)
I have a theory - some plants can grab carbon from bicarbonates in the water as well as CO2. Then, they run up the pH and make their neighbors miserable. I suspect this is a factor in some old conventional wisdom about Vals and crypts or saggitaria not doing well in the same tank. If I stick to species that DO NOT use bicarbonates to get their carbon, the tank should be more harmonious. The best list I've found so far appears in Diana Walstad’s Ecology of The Planted Aquarium on page 97. First, the bicarbonate users (to be avoided) –
• Ceratophyllum demersum
• Chara
• Egeria densa
• Elodea Canadensis
• Hydrilla vertcallata
• Myriophyllum spicatum but not other Myriophyllum species
• Potamogeton sp.
• Stratiotes aloides
• Vallisneria spiralis
• (not mentioned in her book, but others have brought it up - guppy grass / Najas guadalupensis, maybe Saggitaria species.)
Now, the non-users of bicarbonates –
• Callitriche cophocarpa
• Ceratopteris sp.
• Echinodorus paniculatus, tenellus
• Isoetes sp.
• Ludwigia natans
• Myriophyllum brasiliensis, hippuroides, verticillatum
• Nuphar lutea
• Riccia fluitans
• Sparganium simplex, cuspidatum
Who has a list that puts 999 others into their categories?