[APD] Temperate plants for outdoor tank?

[Elaine T <ethompson77 at yahoo_com>]

Hi.  I usually lurk here but I thought you could help me out.  I have an 
outdoor 38 gallon glass tank.  I live in zone 10 so it never freezes.  
In fact, the lowest the lowest water temperature this winter was 52F.  
It sometimes warms up to 90F at midday in the summertime, but 85F is 
more typical.

So far, E. uruguayensis thrives and S. subulata (dwarf and normal sized) 
does reasonably well.  I also have an E. cordifolius that has survived, 
but it only grows floating leaves.   Water lettuce and water hyacinth 
stay small but grow quickly when the water is above 70F.  Hornwort and 
anacharis survive, but grow poorly - the anacharis tends to bleach.  
Complete failures (even when the water was 70-80F) include water sprite, 
H. polysperma, Myriophyllum aquaticum, Vallisneria americana, java moss, 
and R. indica.  They bleached and fell apart, perhaps from light shock.

My water is moderately hard.  Substrate is mostly 2-3 mm clay with some 
Flourite and fine gravel.  Fish are mollies, flagfish, white clouds, 
bluefin killies, and dojo loaches.  I fertilize with Plantex CSM+B, 
potassium nitrate, potassium phosphate, and NPK substrate spikes for the 
swords.  Calcium and magnesium come for free in my water.  No carbon. 
CO2 equipment is not weatherproof and Excel kills anacharis.  There is 
gentle water movement from a small pond pump and homemade matte filter.

Does anyone have any suggestions for more submerged plants I can try?  
I'd like to get all of the substrate planted, remove the anacharis and 
use Excel, and rely less on water hyacinth for plant mass.  The tank 
also has a hair algae problem which I'm hoping will improve with a lot 
more submersed plants.  (EI fertilization helps, but the nutrient 
requirements of the tank seem to change a lot.)

Sorry for the long post, but I figure too much information is better 
than too little.  Thanks in advance for any ideas.

--Elaine T
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