Low foreground covering plant for Sumatra biotope?

[kajaksurfa]

Hi, any proposals for a low foreground "carpeting" or at least substrate covering plant for a Sumatra (Asia) planted biotope aquaria?
My Crytocoynes grows a bit too tall to cover the substrate in some areas.

Tank data:

Lighting 10 hrs/day:
2x 36W Osram 77 Fluora new,
2x 36W Osram 830 Warm white, quite old. (Planning on changing these to Osram Skywhite 880)
2x 3W Blue Moonlight LED

Water: pH 7.2, dH 6, Waterchanges 50% twice a week.
Filtration: Fluval FX5 3500L/h
Co2: 6kg bottle: 2-3 bubbles/sek, Ferplast CO2 power reactor.
Fertilizers: Tropica Master grow 5 ml/day, Evolution Happy Plant 5ml/day. Tetra Initial sticks under the rooted plants.
Substrate: English beach gravel, there is some remains of faxe lime sand in the bottom substrate.

Inhabitants (Asian Sumatra biotope):
7 Clown loaches 4cm each,
30 Harlequin Red rasbora,
5 Flying fox,
10 Micro Galaxy rasbora.

Plants:
Java Fern, Java Moss, Cryptocoryne becketii, Cryptocoryne parva (or willisii).

Thanks , Leif from Uddevalla Sweden .

P.s how do I attach pictures to this topic?

P.s 2, I read the article about EI and believe that the fertilizer I add, only adds trace elements but not really the macro nutrients. Or maybe I dont need to bother since I dont have too much light (4x36 W T8 on surface area of 200x50 cm)?

 

[ceg4048]

Hi Leif,
Sweden is pretty cold right now I'll bet! Welcome.

A popular Asian carpet plant is Pogostemon helferi, but I believe it's origins may be more Thai/Burma (well, lets just say it was made popular in Thailand).

You forgot to say how big your tank is.

If you are having success with your fertilization method then you're probably OK. Perhaps your tap water is rich in nutrients, and, as you say, if the lighting is low enough you can get by with what you have. Dry salts are definitely cheaper though.

In the Technical Section you'll find the thread How do you post a picture

Cheers,

 

[kajaksurfa]

Thanks for your advise

I will check the Pogostemon helferi right away. Is there a plant description page in this site?

Here in Sweden it's just about freezing outside. Inside, I prefer at least 23 celcius since I am used to the Florida climate as well. Lived 4 yrs in Clearwater just North of Tampa and it was very warm and nice (sometimes too warm )

The tank is 500 liters, 2000x500x500 mm

I will try to find a retailer for the dry powder fertilizers here in Sweden.

Best Regards Leif

 

[ceg4048]

Hi Lief,
No, we don't have a dedicated plant description. What we do typically is to suggest several areas on the web. The highly regarded Tropica has a very good description and plant guide. After browsing their list you can then use the search function here for the names of the plant to read threads of people using that particular plant. You might even want to simply browse the Plants sub-forum. You might also try clicking on the links to our sponsors to see if they can ship the powders to Sweden. really though, if you have a farming industry in Scandinavia, which you do of course, then these products are as common as dirt. Go to any supplier of fertilizers, hydroponics or farm products and show them the formula for the products you want. KNO3, KH2PO4 and any trace element mix. Just be sure that you know exactly what the ingredients are and make sure you avoid products that contain ammonium or ammonia (NH4 or NH3).

The Tropica site also shows these plant vendors in Sweden. I'm sure there are more than just what is listed. Might be worth calling them:
Zooropa AB
Energiv. 2 196 37 Kungsängen 85 81 72 745

Azola Zoo, AB
Gamla Rydalsvängen 28 511 22 Kinna 32060145 Whole-saler

Imazo AB
Totsgården 534 50 Vara 512 12 760 Whole-saler

Yes, I know Clearwater. Definitely too warm in Summer.

Good luck finding the dry salts!

Cheers,

 

[kajaksurfa]

Thanks for all the useful information .

I will start looking for drysalts retailers now and I also found the info on the recommended plants at Tropica.

I also posted a new technical question, -if it is possible to measure fertilizer levels electronically, but in a new thread since I am very happy with my answers upon this thread by now.

Thanks again Leif

 

[rawr]

Crypt Parva I'm not sure if it's strictly from Sumatra but it's an option if you're willing to consider it.

 

[zooropaAB]

I like to inform that both Azola and imazo are distributers in Sweden and only sell to registerd petshops.
Zooropa is the only dealer that imports and sells direct to customer.
We always has a lot of plants in stock and regulary recive plants from Tropica.
Please feel free to contact us.

Zooropa AB
Sweden

www.zooropa.se

 

[Paulus]

maybe a bit late but here are some nice pages about pogostemon helferi

Link 1
Link 2

and a great video
pogostemon_uk.wmv