I come to praise this plant! (
PlantGeek.net - Hygrophila salicifolia) Several weeks ago I purchased a few cuttings from a member of APC, planted them in the back of my 45 gallon tank and now they look like:
This is a magnificent plant for a large aquarium. It is similar to vals in that the leaves become very long and they sway back and forth in the water currents. But, it is a stem plant, so each stem has leaves growing on each branch, typical of hygros. At the top of the tank where the light is the strongest, the leaves take on golden, bronze, pink tones - subtle, but very nice looking.
One of the best features of the plant is the absence of aerial roots. Most hygros tend to become a mass of aerial roots on the lower stems, which forces you to eventually pull the plants and replant only the tops. So far I have been just trimming off the tops, selling or giving them away, and allowing the bottoms to grow more stems. I can see very few aerial roots.
My tank has had from 90 to 110 watts of light, and the plants have grown well throughout. I use CO2 at about 30 ppm, and EI fertilizing.
If I had a 100 gallon tank, this would be a major group of plants in it.