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Carpet plant

Seanogleby

Seanogleby

Member
Joined
19 Apr 2018
Messages
63
Location
Derbyshire
Hi all,

What options are there for the easiest to grow carpeting plant?

Thanks


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micranthemum monte carlo (MC) is very easy to grow and doesnt really need co2, hairgrass is another option, in my experience MC grows much faster than hairgrass and is more forgiving to low light conditions.
 
Simple straight forward question.. But the answer isn't.. It depends on what you want, how you set it all up, what can you provide and size of the tank etc.. And what is actualy your idea regarding easy growing. Do you mean fast or do you mean rather undemanding in energy input or maybe both?

I assume you refer to low energy input, than fast growing is something you might just want to forget about and take it as it comes.. In general all comes down to time and patience.. Depending on the surface erae you want to carpet and your budget on with how many plants do you like to start a small list of smaller plant sp. that in my experience could carpet a low enrgy tank pretty nice over time are. The ones already mentioned above and.

Lilaeopsis brasiliensis
Helanthium tenellum
Sagittaria subulata
Cryptocoryne parva

Experiences vary enormously because parameters vary enormously no 2 tanks are the same, so it is very hard to say which one is the easiest. Simple example i have opposite experience as @doylecolmdoyle, i have several low energy tanks (4) and still have hair gras growing in 3 of them, rather well, where MC vanished on its own.
I most be doing something wrong, beats me and never gave it much thought why, it just did.. :)

So if one doesn't work out as expected, don't panic and give something else a try..
 
My grandaughters small 20 litre,compact lighting 4 or 5 hours. I used it for cuttings, surplas plants, dwarf hairgrass,monte carlo grew well with very small filter,reduced fertiliser EI and Dennerle Bio carbon,Rotala filled the back in a week. Like zozo says just try it and see,good fun
 
Thanks for the replies folks.

Sorry I didn't give much info regarding my set up etc.

Tank - 80 litres approx 45x 45 x 40cm
Light - not yet purchased but possibly chirihos rgb, or ADA aquasky moon 361.
Co2- really can't decide!!!!! (Thinking try low tech at first)
Substrate- Amazonia or tropica ( concerned that Amazonia leeches Ammonia so will have to wait before adding fish etc)


I love the look of Monte Carlo so would be great to grow that. Are there any other plants that you recommend for different areas of that tank?

Which substrate and light would be best?

Thanks




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ADA Aquasky 361 is the 36cm length LED - at least the acrylic stand is 36cm but this is the same LED unit from the Aquasky 301 (30cm unite) so not sure why you would choose this for your tank

ADA Aquasky 451 is the 45cm light unit

I like the frosted acrylic aspect of the "moon" Aquasky but it's also brighter & would hesitate to run this non-factory-dimmable LED without CO2

Chihiros - cost efficient, variable build quality, dimmer available

Twinstar - I suggest you consider this LED series, not sure if few retails shops carry the 45S or if the S series is only available in 60 & 90cm, dimmer available

There may be some new LEDs coming onto market after Interzoo

Even with CO2 addition you can still run a fairly "slow" tank
 
Seanogleby said:
Are there any other plants that you recommend for different areas of that tank?
Click to expand...

Go to www.tropica.com their plant database is labeled and devided in Easy, medium and advanced.. Stay away from the advanced and be causious with the mediums.. Depending (again) in some cases plants deemed easy can be a challange to grow.. As saiid so many things are different for everybody it's hard to say that what works for me will also work for you. We can't know.. 80% chance that what is labeled easy indeed will be easy. You could also visite https://www.flowgrow.de/db/aquaticplants, one of the most complete databases around, it's alfabeticaly ordered, but in the plants propperty description its labeled with a difficulty factor. :thumbup:
 
Just noticed the "similar thread" Ammonia TIme Bomb Carpet (broken link but video easy to find)

What a load of rubbish he has in his tank - must over feed like crazy & never substrate vacuum the MC etc carpet areas ... I just lifted a dense (rather larger area) MC carpet of several months & waste was minimal, some mulm underneath that was easy to remove, but no noticeable clouding of the water or gunk in suspension
 
alto said:
ADA Aquasky 361 is the 36cm length LED - at least the acrylic stand is 36cm but this is the same LED unit from the Aquasky 301 (30cm unite) so not sure why you would choose this for your tank

ADA Aquasky 451 is the 45cm light unit

I like the frosted acrylic aspect of the "moon" Aquasky but it's also brighter & would hesitate to run this non-factory-dimmable LED without CO2

Chihiros - cost efficient, variable build quality, dimmer available

Twinstar - I suggest you consider this LED series, not sure if few retails shops carry the 45S or if the S series is only available in 60 & 90cm, dimmer available

There may be some new LEDs coming onto market after Interzoo

Even with CO2 addition you can still run a fairly "slow" tank
Click to expand...

The reason why the slightly smaller light is the space available. I only have 43cm of space so a 45cm would be too big. The twinstar is more expensive than the ADA one, as it's on sale.
Tank has a cover so that is also an issue.


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