Cieran Johnson
Seedling
Does anybody have any idea how many pots of Tropica 1-2 Grow Eleocharis sp. 'mini I'd need to buy to ground cover my whole tank? Tank is 60cm x 45cm
-
You are viewing the forum as a Guest, please login (you can use your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft account to login) or register using this link: Log in or Sign Up
How much Eleocharis sp. 'Mini to buy?
- Thread starter Cieran Johnson
- Start date
Dr Mike Oxgreen
Member
I'd say it depends how quickly you want it to cover the tank, and of course how much you want to spend!
When you receive them, you'll want to remove the pot and the fibre medium, then gently separate each plant into at least 4 or 5 sprigs and plant them separately. How far apart you plant them is up to you: further apart will be cheaper because each plant will cover more floor space, but it'll take longer to grow and fill the gaps. I reckon it'll take less time than you'd think, so my instinct is to buy fewer plants.
You need to estimate how much area you think each pot will cover once you've split it into sprigs, then divide your total floor space by that. For example, if you think each pot will cover 10cm x 10cm (i.e. 100cm²), then your total floor space of 60cm x 45cm (i.e. 2,700cm²) would need about 27 pots. But if you reckon you can stretch each pot to cover 15cm x 15cm, you'd need fewer than half that many. In the latter case it would look a bit sparse for a few months, but it would get there eventually.
When you receive them, you'll want to remove the pot and the fibre medium, then gently separate each plant into at least 4 or 5 sprigs and plant them separately. How far apart you plant them is up to you: further apart will be cheaper because each plant will cover more floor space, but it'll take longer to grow and fill the gaps. I reckon it'll take less time than you'd think, so my instinct is to buy fewer plants.
You need to estimate how much area you think each pot will cover once you've split it into sprigs, then divide your total floor space by that. For example, if you think each pot will cover 10cm x 10cm (i.e. 100cm²), then your total floor space of 60cm x 45cm (i.e. 2,700cm²) would need about 27 pots. But if you reckon you can stretch each pot to cover 15cm x 15cm, you'd need fewer than half that many. In the latter case it would look a bit sparse for a few months, but it would get there eventually.
zozo
Member
How many patience do you have? 
One pot can cover quite an area if portioned in rather small pieces. And wen it takes of, it grows like weed and grows very dense.. I have a slightly smaller tank 60 x 30 and used 1 pot to cover 1/3 of it. (front carpet).. A year later i had to pull over 4 pots out to make space because it was killing eachother. So one pot would have taken me a year to plant the whole tank with, with uprooting and good replanting strategicaly.
The closer you plant it togehter the sooner you come to the point you need to pull out again. And seeing it's propagation characteristics you will maybe pull out more then you like. Maintaining a nice healthy hairgrass carpet requires some work, more then only trimming the tops. From what i experienced, i'll do it differently th enext time, like uproot and replant sooner to not let it grow to dense into eachother.
Plants grow and aquariums are rather long term projects if not only for showcase display.. Imho it's better, easier and cheaper and healthier to work with that plant growth than work against it. If you plant to much to start with it might grow out of control sooner.
And if you want to cover the complete tank with hairgrass, still what you buy is emersed form and needs to go through transition.. Might be a lot or might be less, something you only can wait for and see, but probably some melt will kick in. For that reason also i would do it in stages and see how it performs in your parameters before putting in to much. In my tank i had some trouble to get it going, but did read journals where it took off from day one like a rocket.
One pot can cover quite an area if portioned in rather small pieces. And wen it takes of, it grows like weed and grows very dense.. I have a slightly smaller tank 60 x 30 and used 1 pot to cover 1/3 of it. (front carpet).. A year later i had to pull over 4 pots out to make space because it was killing eachother. So one pot would have taken me a year to plant the whole tank with, with uprooting and good replanting strategicaly.The closer you plant it togehter the sooner you come to the point you need to pull out again. And seeing it's propagation characteristics you will maybe pull out more then you like. Maintaining a nice healthy hairgrass carpet requires some work, more then only trimming the tops. From what i experienced, i'll do it differently th enext time, like uproot and replant sooner to not let it grow to dense into eachother.
Plants grow and aquariums are rather long term projects if not only for showcase display.. Imho it's better, easier and cheaper and healthier to work with that plant growth than work against it. If you plant to much to start with it might grow out of control sooner.
And if you want to cover the complete tank with hairgrass, still what you buy is emersed form and needs to go through transition.. Might be a lot or might be less, something you only can wait for and see, but probably some melt will kick in. For that reason also i would do it in stages and see how it performs in your parameters before putting in to much. In my tank i had some trouble to get it going, but did read journals where it took off from day one like a rocket.
