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easy carpet plant with eco complete

naz

Member
Joined
14 Mar 2009
Messages
113
Location
orpington,kent,london
could any one suggest an easy ,fast growing carpet plant for my tank,i am using eco complete sub,and i have about 2 wpg,wiht co2, but the tank is quiet deep being a oska 260l,i have failed with hc,and at the moment im trying,hair grass,its been in there about 2 months now and it hasent rely done a lot,the hair grass has started to grow runners,how long will it take to carpet,i am thicking of moving all the hair grass to one side,and starting another carpet on the other
side
 
Personally, I would stay with the haigrass now that it seems to be getting established. You may find it really starts to grow in from here.

Dave.
 
There is no such thing as an easy carpet plant. Add more flow and/or more CO2 in order to facilitate carpet plant growth. 260L means an optimum flow rating of about 2600LPH. Do you have this?

Cheers,
 
cegs, i am finding that out,there is no such thing as an easy carpet plant,i dont no if it is because i have a deep tank or the eco complete,substate,is not the best substate for carpets,but i seem to be stuggleing to get mine going,i have turned my co2 up til it goes nearly yellow,so i cant go no higher with it,so there must be enoth co2 i think,i have more than enoth flow in my tank,im runing too filters,305,405 fluvals and a koralia 2 powerhead,so it cant be the flow rate.the hair grass is starting to grow runers just very very slowly,do you think it would be a good idear to put root tabs in to the substate too make it grow faster....
 
There is nothing to do with the substrate, I have just gravel in my tank and I have grown various carpets just have a look at my journal, what you need for carpets if decent light, good flow and plenty of CO2, otherwise you have to stick to low demanding plants like hairgrass ;) even then it likes nice flow and ferts.
 
Yeah, most times you don't even need decent light, just good flow and good CO2. Not only do you need good flow energy, but you need to have the proper distribution of that flow energy. Deep tanks suffer greatly with flow just due to their volume. the flow energy dissipates before it can reach the nether regions of the tank. Being at the substrate level is the worst from a CO2 standpoint.

I would suggest you try to route your filter effluent into a better distributor such as Spraybars. A discussion on this technique is found here=> Difference in drop checker readings in different positions

As discussed in the thread the CO2 distribution in a tank is not the same from point to point. It is highest at the point where it enters the tank and in the upper regions of the tank because that's where the source is and that's where the CO2 is trying to escape. As you reach deeper into the tank the CO2 concentration falls so that in some remote areas the CO2 concentration may be 10X or more LOWER than at the entry point. Some of this can be overcome by brute force, so that if your filter rating was massively high, say 20X or more, your existing outlet distribution pattern may suffice. But if your flow is just merely adequate then plants in the upper region of the tank thrive, while those in the lower regions suffer. Also important to consider is that not all plants are able to compete equally. Some plants are not as adept at gathering nutrients/CO2. Capet plants are among the weaker species and they are coincidentally located in the worst place in the tank - far from the filter effluent.

In a big tank your CO2 technique is of utmost importance. Things that you can get away with in a small tank fail miserably in a big tank. So, it's not that you need easy carpet plants, but that you need to pay attention to your technique and to stop assuming that it's the plants fault. You must help them out by objectively assessing your feeding and CO2 regimen. For example, another thing you can do is to supplement Excel which adds CO2 and which all carpet plants respond well to. keep your lily lower so as to not block flow. All these little things will add up to make a big difference. Can you see the hairgrass moving briskly with the current? If not you have trouble.

As LD points out, stay out of The Matrix and just forget about root tabs. They are an illusion. Reassess CO2/flow distribution and you will succeed. Listen to the plants.

Cheers,
 
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