I'm in Brooklyn, NY, with NYC tap water. The plants that grow best in my
situation are anubias and java fern, vs. swords and crypts which don't grow
well at all. What other plants might grow well for me?

I've never found any allelopathic interaction evidence in aquariums
with 300 species of plants.
Most every aquatic botanist I know agrees that an alleopathic effect
is very minor at best. There might be special cases in natural
systems perhaps, but generally, not. In aquariums the likelyhood is
even much less so.

Plants do fine in both hard and soft water. A few such as Eustralis
and R. wallichii do seem to do better at lower KH's but they do grow
in harder water. These are the only two exceptions I can say may
exist. The same plants can be found in hard water and soft water only
a few miles apart.

Regards,
Tom Barr

I wasn't thinking of interactions, just given my water conditions what
plants would also grow well like java fern and annubias do in my tank.

"paul" wrote in message .. .
I wasn't thinking of interactions, just given my water conditions what
plants would also grow well like java fern and annubias do in my tank.

As I recall, your tap water is pretty soft. If you raise the GH/KH to
3 degrees, you should be able to grow anything from a list of 300
species or so. Plants don't care as long as they have enough Ca/Mg
from the GH and KH is just part of the fuction of CO2. Plans only care
about CO2 level, not the KH or pH specifically. I've used waters from
0/0 GH/KH to 10KH/25GH.
The plants(all of them) do fine.

But if you dn't raise the GH/KH to these levels for one reason or
another, tougher hardier plants will do better generally. The plants
you mention are very tough.

Regards,
Tom Barr

Thanks for the info. Very helpful.