Howdy fellow New Englander. I'm sitting in the mountains of NH.
Pretty new to aquarium plants but I've been keeping tanks and a few odd plants since I was 6 years old. I think the plants are helping to keep cabin fever at bay this winter.
I just have a 29 gallon tank right now with
java moss
java fern
several crypts
rotala indica
several walmart lotuses
a couple of unknown apongetons
hygro "tropic sunset"
hydrocoytle
water sprite
salvinia
banana plant
Hornwort
The water sprite I've had around 15 years. The rest are pretty new at a little over a month. The hygro is a weed! Grows a few inches overnight many times. I've cut it in half 3 times since planting and noticed some need it again.
My water is soft, soft from a shallow dug well. I have to really work at it to get gh and kh to register.
DIY CO2
Lights......I bought some on ebay in Feb. Still haven't shown up and I'm still playing games with the vendor. Supposedly they will show up this week. No idea what will show other than it's going to be 110 - 130 watts. Originally the auction was for 110 watt Jalli strip. Had to get ebay invoved.
Right now I have 2 - 20 watt strips over the tank and have the tank in a west window for more light. Plants are doing pretty good like this.
Had -4 out there this time yesterday. Today it's a balmy 18 degrees. I see 2 inches of new snow on my car.