An Easy Grass...

[miniman]

Hello

Now my tank isnt a "planted tank" as such but it is my first aquarium and I am dabbling with easy to care for real plants. So far I have anubias nana, anubias afzelii, java fern and java moss. Lots of them are quite small still but should hopefully grow! The nana is rocketing already!

Im not using Co2 or any special lighting and want plants which need minimum care. Im tempted to stay with what I have but would quite like a short grass if possible. Below area couple of images of my tank and id quite like some grass for the middle sort of area... however all the grass I could find seem to be described as quite hard to grow..

If any one has any ideas for the grass (or the tank in general!) id be very interested,Thanks!

Steve

 

[Castellop123]

...

 

[shell4375]

Hi I have dwarf hair grass in my tank, I dont have co2 and it is spreading nicely.
I bought from greenline.

 

[Daz CPFC]

Hi I have dwarf hair grass in my tank, I dont have co2 and it is spreading nicely.
I bought from greenline.

DHG i dont think will work in this tank due to the gravel being so big. I think DHG needs to be in pretty fine substrate to carpet well.

Ive noticed a big difference between having DHG in a tank with gravel (very fine) and sand. It seems the DHG much prefers and has spread much quicker in the sand substrate.

 

[Themuleous]

Dwarf sagittaira would b an option.

Sam

 

[MoreCoffee]

What lighting do you have over the tank (how many watts per gallon).
If you have low light, most of the common 'low' carpeting plants will tend to grow tall, rather than spread out over the substrate.

Dwarf sag is fine in larger tanks, but in smaller tanks it may actually grow taller than you'd want for a carpet. It depends on how low to the substrate you want it. Glosso, HC or Utricularia graminifolia are excellent low carpet plants, but may not suit low light.

You could always grow a moss carpet, these can look very effective and dont need high light or co2

Al

 

[miniman]

Thanks for the feedback and suggestions. Dwarf Sagittaria looks interesting, aquahobby.com has a comment on this plant in a low light tank in which it has survived ok.

I only have 30w in an 18uk gallon tank hence my choice of plants thus far but to be honest Im not really looking for a carpet as I am very new to this whole thing and dont quite know how id cope with a whole carpet of plants !

I just though a grass might be another type of plant for variety but I might wait a bit untill the other plants have settled before I get any more.

 

[three-fingers]

If it's just a grass plant you want and don't mind much about it carpeting, then Eleocharis ''parvula'' would be good for your tank . If you decide to switch to sand and some kind of fertilizer in the future then it probably will carpet, but its still easy to look after .