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carpet plant for low tech no co2

jonathanj

jonathanj

Member
Joined
14 Jul 2018
Messages
54
Location
Westmidlands
can you grow carpet plants in 30 inch deep tank with no co2

lighting 2x 54watt t5 tubes and 46watt fluvel 2.0 planting led unit

EI dosing daily with big 50 percent water change each week

was thinking Staurogyne repens but id like a more tight small leaf carpet if can
 
I doubt if I could grow a carpet in a 30” deep tank with C02!
Not to say it can’t be done but it won’t be easy.
If you are not useing any form of C02 you won’t need full EI every day and some say that a 50% water change in one go might be too much for a low tech tank?
Perhaps 10% more regularly would be better?
You don’t actually say the size of your tank but that sounds like a lot of light even for a deep tank?
 
foxfish said:
I doubt if I could grow a carpet in a 30” deep tank with C02!
Not to say it can’t be done but it won’t be easy.
If you are not useing any form of C02 you won’t need full EI every day and some say that a 50% water change in one go might be too much for a low tech tank?
Perhaps 10% more regularly would be better?
You don’t actually say the size of your tank but that sounds like a lot of light even for a deep tank?
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Thank you foxfish for the info as im really only just starting planted tanks the tank is 5ft 30 inch by 30 inch around 230 gallon buddy only really lightly planted
I was also little worried because its a pain being 30 inch deep to clean and plant stuff and being on high cabinet Bet it would be hard work to trim a carpet regular so would wont I slow growing carpet
im only using EI because its all done for you really and idiot proof lol would you think better to use seachem liquids every other day and do 2 say 20-30 percent water changes
 
paul_j said:
Helanthium tenellum is working for me. But is not a very low plant. I do dose liquid carbon.
Crypt parva stays a little smaller, but grows very very slow so you have to buy a lot.
Marsilea hirsuta is also an option I heard.
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iv got few crypts and they have really gave me probs keep melting and getting the odd yellow leaf with tiny pepper black/green spots on them Love crypts though as so many you can pick from bud

whots pearl weed as lot talk about this on youtube
 
Well I openly confess that I am no low tech expert but I think useing about 10% of the standard EI dose is right for low tech.
We carry out large water changes on high energy planted tanks because the fast (relatively) growing plants can cause quite a lot of organic break down and also (to a lesser degree) to dilute any excess of nutrients and salts we had added.
However it is largely excepted that on a low tech planted tank, 50% weekly water changes are not required.
That is not to say you should not keep up maintainace by cleaning plant leaves siphoning debris etc.
You could think about adding a large piece of wood or rock and planting on that, so the actual plants are nearer the surface, then being easier to maintain.
Lighting is the normal culprit for causing algae, very often far too much light is used for far to long!
Maybe a more experienced low tech tank owner can offer more help.....
 
The talllest low tech i have experience with is 50cm and growing a carpet in it wasn't that of a big deal. Actualy it was so long ago that i'm not 100% sure what plant it was. After doing a search i guess it must have been Helantium tenelum parvullum. Other carpeting plants i have very positive experience with in low tech setups are Eleocharis parvula, Lileaopsis brasiliensis and Sagittaria subulata. Though in any case it takes a ton of patience and time, up to several years depending on your starting budget.

I guess the biggest challenge is getting it to root properly and develop a large and healthy rootsystem. Nice experiment for such a large footprint that tall i would definitively go for a very long dry start with a large amount of plants to start with. A healthy carpet depends on a large healty rootsystem,

Thinking about it and trying to picture me an image another option would be a small var. of Anubias barteri (Peteti or Bonsai) glued to large shallow pieces of wood. But also a plant that needs years to spread and grow some body.

Nice experiment, either way you need a vast amount of patience and make it a very long term project or a very large budget to speed it up with a rather large amount of plants for a start..

For anything rooting in the substrate i would definitively go for a rather very long dry start to grow that large desired rootsystem.I guess this is also what makes actual bog plants with submesed abilities in nature survive long term flood periodes. :)
 
Thanks for some good advice on this carpet for my deep tank Im just thinking of just using lot of smaller front plants like crypts for lot of front cover or maybe some Hygrophila corymbose compact that think only get to around 10cm

maybe buy some of these Java moss net pads 15cm by 10cm and put between the plants at front

think it will work

java-moss-on-net-pad-15cm-x-10cm-1478-p[ekm]300x225[ekm].jpg
 
sparkyweasel said:
They will need a lot of trimming once they get going. I would stick with a low grower, like Helanthium tenellum, Lileaopsis etc.
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is Helanthium tenellum ok with no co2 or liquid carbon and my tank runs at 27 c temp and may go upto 28-28.2 c on hot days
 
Fine without injected or liquid CO2. I haven't tried it at 28°C, but OK at 26°. It grows wild in tropical South America, so I would think it will stand the heat, some-one has probably tried and will hopefully post.
 
+1 for hellanthium tennellum and dwarf sag (though dwarf sag really isn't a low carpetting plant in the traditional sense). I've also had some limited success with dwarf hairgrass after it took an absolute age to get settled and start growing.
 
jonathanj said:
is Helanthium tenellum ok with no co2 or liquid carbon and my tank runs at 27 c temp and may go upto 28-28.2 c on hot days
Click to expand...

There are several variations i believe 3 from this plant still a bit under debate in the botanical society. Helanthium tenellum tenellum is South American origine and the Helanthium tenellum parvullum. The parvullum sometimes goes in the trade as HT-Broadleaf, it is North American origine a tad easier and a tad smaller than it SA cousin. Bought in the LFS it depends on the nursery if they are labeled correctly, in many cases both go under the same name.

In your case trying to get the true parvullum (Broadleaf) would be the beter choice..

Regarding crypts, the C. wendtii might be a good choice, i experience this crypt staying rather small in low light condition but still likes to spread and run rather fast. It's actualy the fastest growing and spreading crypt in my aqaurium. The C. parva is in comparison rather latently present, it lives and thats about it. :)
 
Alto, that is a lovely low tech tank and although it proves anything is possible, Jonathan’s (the op) tank is 750 mm deep and the tanks you have linked are run by professionals. So I would say he has a challenge on his hands.
From my limited experience of running a 20” deep low tech, I can remember watching the dry start flourish for a few months and then watching the plants slowly deteriorate once it is was filled!
I persevered for a further few months and did see some new growth appear but I just don’t have the temperment to wait a week to see a single shoot grow 1mm.
However that was before we had so much info and help freely available via forums like this one.
Tim’s attempts, a few years back, at growing plants in his soil based tanks were really successful!
 
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