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Carpeting plants advice

TopCat75

Seedling
Joined
22 Mar 2011
Messages
15
Hi guys,
I'm recently having a go at a low tech set up in a 125l tank and would like some advice on plants people have been successful with in this set up. I would like to have some HC in there but sites I am looking at purchasing from are advising these are better suited to a CO2 set up. Has anyone had success with HC in a low tech set up or should I set my sights on something else?
Thanks
 
Set your sights on something else I'm afraid. Cuba may survive in a low tech tank for a whole but definitely won't carpet in a low tech. U can dose Fertz and liquid carbon but then this ultimately makes it a high tech tank. All carpet plants will struggle in a low tech. U could use mosses or riccias but these won't gribble the substrate, u would need to additionally add pebbles or mesh grids to tie the plants onto. There are low tech plants that do EVENTUALLY carpet but you will be waiting a few months. Hope that helps

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Personally I think HC is suited to high light only thanks, with co2. Personally I have had good experiences with Riccia carpets in low tech tanks, I use plastic netting (Can use hair nets, cotton or fishing line) to secure it down to rocks and let it grow through. You can check out my bowl in my sig for an example of this.
 
Remember Riccia is very high maintainance if your planning on covering a large area. It's also fiddly to pick out of your tank if you have lots of stem plants. Bene is right though. It's a great fun easy plant. Just likes a lot of attention!

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Remember Riccia is very high maintainance if your planning on covering a large area. It's also fiddly to pick out of your tank if you have lots of stem plants. Bene is right though. It's a great fun easy plant. Just likes a lot of attention!

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In my low light tank I tied it down and left it growing for a good 6-9months until it needed any maintenance, was a bit of a slow grower to be honest. but I know what you mean jack, under high lighting I was trouble always grow too fast, needing trimming, and detaching itself from the rocks. You have to be very careful when you tie it down not to tie it down too tight otherwise it will die underneath and come detached from the rocks.
 
Thanks so much for the advise guys, love what you done to the bowl very imaginative!! Riccia was on my list but having never attempted the procedure kinda put me off a bit but I guess you'll never know until you've tried it. I do have a co2 system but just fancied something different for the time being.
Thanks again for your help on this
 
Check out my triptych Mate, I have carpeted my whole 3ft tank for about 3-4 months now. But I trim once a week. I must say the more I trim the more beautiful and fluffy it gets. I don't regret using Riccia if that helps

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Wow Jack that's impressive what a great set up you achieved there, tell me the mesh pads you've used what were they made of stainless steel? And how did you attach the riccia to it?
 
Wow Jack that's impressive what a great set up you achieved there, tell me the mesh pads you've used what were they made of stainless steel? And how did you attach the riccia to it?
I assume they are yes, I had a big discussion about these grid pads in my nano journal underneath. We came to the conclusion that it was not harmful as for tying Riccia I simply used netting to attach the Riccia to the grids and then tied it together using fish line.

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Yeah you can just buy stainless mesh off ebay for not alot, works a treat. Or you can use small peices of slate.

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There not stainless steel mate, this is the issue I had. They say tgey are but then they rust. Massive talk on my journal but they seem coated in zinc or something. I got major rust and was worries about the effects on my water as I needed about 20 sheets.. But everything was kinds left at the fact that it was just iron trace so no harm to my plants.. Can't really remember it was a while ago now :)

Cheers! Jack :)
 
There not stainless steel mate, this is the issue I had. They say tgey are but then they rust. Massive talk on my journal but they seem coated in zinc or something. I got major rust and was worries about the effects on my water as I needed about 20 sheets.. But everything was kinds left at the fact that it was just iron trace so no harm to my plants.. Can't really remember it was a while ago now :)

Cheers! Jack :)


Gotta make sure you get the right grade mate. Plants dispatched btw.
 
Gotta make sure you get the right grade mate. Plants dispatched btw.
Thanks Mate, and as for grade yeah exactly, your right. My buyer claimed they were full stainless steel, that's what I mean u get a lot of that on Ebay. But hey ho. Not damaged my tanks as of yet

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Thanks Mate, and as for grade yeah exactly, your right. My buyer claimed they were full stainless steel, that's what I mean u get a lot of that on Ebay. But hey ho. Not damaged my tanks as of yet

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Theres someone called themeshcompany, they have the proper gear. I got an A4 sheet of it and cut it into 2' squares.
 
Theres someone called themeshcompany, they have the proper gear. I got an A4 sheet of it and cut it into 2' squares.
Ha ha cheers nath. About 4 months too late on that one ;) I have not had to bad results this time round actually. I was worried about shrimp but this wouldn't effect them as such. I'll have to have a re read of my nano journal, sure it's in there somewhere. Cheers for the heads up though. I'll bookmark him

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Ok thanks guys I've looked and seen them on eBay but as you've said I'd edge on the side of caution when putting any kind of metal into an aquarium for fear of it rusting although I'll check out those guys you've suggested
Thanks again

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Again just to clarify, mine were suggested to rust and it was confirmed that this would not harm anything due to such small amounts in the tanks :) but of course it's always best to get the best .

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Again just to clarify, mine were suggested to rust and it was confirmed that this would not harm anything due to such small amounts in the tanks :) but of course it's always best to get the best .
You should be worried about rust if you don't know what metal it is as fish can be very sensitive to metals. I had Dartmoor rocks in my last tank with seams of iron in them and all was ok though. Sounds like you ended up with some cheap galvanised mesh, all my stainless mesh I have ever had has not rusted at all and I have had it in water for over a year. Not sure what ebay seller I used, think I just went for the cheapest.
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