# Questions about carpeting plants



## HOWsMom (Jan 3, 2012)

A pile of questions because I know not where to start.

If I want to try my hand at growing one of those gorgeously lush looking carpets of plants in a tank, where do I start ?

Tanks are 5g, lighting is either 14 or 15 watts.
Substrate is Flourite (red).

Currently no CO2 (an obviously changeable factor), but I use Excel.

- What plants (specific names please) do I look for ?
- How do I plant them into the tank ?
- How far apart do I place them ?
- How long does it take to look so nice ?

And are there any that do well carpeting in low light situations (30g, 40 watts) ?


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## Kooka (Feb 8, 2011)

For the 5 gallon tanks it sounds like you have sufficient light to grow just about any carpeting plant out there. Some you could possibly try growing are Dwarf hairgrass, Glossostigma elatinoides (glosso), HC (Hemianthus "Cuba"), Marsiella (Baby tears), Staurogyne repens and possibly even Utricularia graminifolia. 

The only limiting factors I see you having are a lack of CO2 and regular fertilization. If you'd like to grow the plants mentioned above relatively successfully, you should make sure you have a steady supply of CO2 available (ie: a good DIY setup or pressurized), and have some sort of supplementary ferts like excel comprehensive or tablets like Flourish to add to the water column or insert into the flourite. 

If attempting to grow the above-mentioned plants I'd try starting going with the "emmersed growth method". This is by far the preferred method in starting any plant carpets as it eliminates the early onsets of algae and diatoms, cycles the substrate before water is poured in, and allows the plants to grow a stable, strong and healthy root system for better growth once immersed. I would personally recommend this method, as it eliminates many of the undesirable variables that can occur in newly establishing/cycling tanks; however, additonal patience is usually required since you have to wait 1-2 months for the plants to sufficently cover the substrate before adding any livestock. You can find more information on this by searching these forums, or going to the Barrreport.com.

As for your 30 gallon "low-light" tank, the only carpeting plants that would do well would be some cryptocorynes like crypt. "nevilli", dwarf chain swords and dwarf saggitaria. 

Hope that helps, good luck with your carpeting endeavors!


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## HOWsMom (Jan 3, 2012)

I have the Flourish (I think that's it - it's upstairs, and my hubby is sleeping, so I can't check right now) that I dose with twice a week. I forgot to put that in.

CO2, as I said, is a changeable factor - I can add a DIY, and I'm trying to get info on the small FLUVAL CO2 systems.


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## rubadub (Sep 12, 2010)

my personal opinion?
dont bother with the fluval co2 systems
u may as well build ur own paintball co2 setup
it'll cost u way less and last u much longer

but thats my 2 cents


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## Zebrapl3co (Mar 29, 2006)

I would stick with Seachem excel as a replacement of CO2. You will still need to dose the other fertz accordingly. But no CO2 is required. Adding CO2 will cause your plant to bloom, that's the last thing you need in a mano tank. You'd want it to grow slowly. If it was a big tank, yes, you'd want to add CO2 to make it bloom as that's the only way to fill up a tank.
- the above mentioned of carpet plants are good.
- go immersed and OD with Excel, that is the way to fight off early algae.
- plants are planted 1 inch in radius of each other in small batches.

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