Any ideas for a lazy plant keeper .

[lucky62]

I need ground cover for my 70 gal . With some thing dense my fry may live long enough to be moved out or even remain in the tank .

Anyway I know I'm limited , My lighting is on the low end [3 tubes , I like it that way ], I went through changing tubes every 4 to 6 months , D.I.Y Co2 refract-or , now I like to keep it simple.

My tank gets some natural sunlight [ same place 10 years , different fish ], I have very little algae .


So has anyone had any luck with low light tolerant ground cover plants ? Are there any ?


I have anubias , java fern , cripts and java moss growing now , but my tank needs something else.

Any thoughts are appreciated .


When my son gets home I'll get him to post a picture .

 

[jams.alaskan]

I have seen java moss used in low level tanks as ground cover. Have you tried that?

ALASKA

 

[lucky62]

I have seen java moss used in low level tanks as ground cover. Have you tried that?

ALASKA

Thanks Jams , I do have java moss .

 

[Da_Oz]

Low light ground cover is hard to get. Most grass and such need hig light due to the fact they grow in shallow water. The java moss you have is about the best there is.

 

[Dwarfs]

Here's the tank

(What's left after paragon treatment, it kills plants)

 

[lucky62]

Low light ground cover is hard to get. Most grass and such need hig light due to the fact they grow in shallow water. The java moss you have is about the best there is.

Thanks , it's something I kind of knew , but was holding out for some hope .


Maybe someday I'll make my own hood and double the amount of tubes , til then I'll settle for what I have , hey the fish seem to like it .

 

[luxum]

I have managed to grow a carpet of pygmy chain sword at 1.8 WPG in a shallow (12") tank. If you are anywhere near those levels, give it a try. One potted plant started in the brightest spot in the tank, has completely colonized my substrate. No CO2, relatively low light levels, flourite substrate (which i think has a big impact).

 

[lucky62]

I have managed to grow a carpet of pygmy chain sword at 1.8 WPG in a shallow (12") tank. If you are anywhere near those levels, give it a try. One potted plant started in the brightest spot in the tank, has completely colonized my substrate. No CO2, relatively low light levels, flourite substrate (which i think has a big impact).

Thanks luxum , do you you think dwarf sagitaria and/or riccia fluitans would work ?

What type of lighting do you have ? watts/ type of tube or bulb .

 

[Lateral Line]

To grow as a lawn, Riccia, and as stated above, pretty much all of the carpet type plants apart from Java Moss, really do need good light. Dwarf Sagitaria, (S. subulata), will grow in lower light levels then say Pygmy Chain Sword, but it does so very slowly.

 

[luxum]

What type of lighting do you have ? watts/ type of tube or bulb .

I've got (2) 18W 24" T8 fluorescents, the brand name is Zoomed, specific type is "TropicSun." My tank is relatively shallow, only 12 inches deep (30" wide, so there is a definite hotspot in the center front of the tank where the mother plant was placed), so that may explain why the chain sword is growing so well at only 1.8 WPG.

Riccia won't work as a carpet plant except in very good light. The dwarf sagitarria may be a good bet, i was never able to find any and then the chain sword took off and i stopped looking. BTW, it looked kinda ratty for the first month or so, then really took off and is gorgeous now.

 

[lucky62]

Thanks everyone , maybe I'll get some 4000 to 5500k flurencent tubes [3] , between that and the natural sunlight the tank gets maybe I can work at little magic , I have to try .

I know I never said anything about the tank itself , It's the one in my sig .

I have 2 tanks , my son has like 10