Carpet Help

[Rorie]

I have Eleocharis parvula as my carpet plant, but it is just not living up to my expectations. All my other plants are growing fast and spreading, but this really aint! Its not getting thick, its not creating a carpet. It is spreading, but still looks like weeds!

So, is there another plant i can use as a carpet which will look dense and grow faster? And should i remove the Eleocharis and replant the new, or would it look ok to have two different carpet plants merging?

 

[PDSimon]

I'm not sure what other carpeting plants there are suitable for your tank... i imagine riccia will be, maybe HC.

Just so you know its normal for parvula to take so long, its slow growin especiallyin low light/low co2

 

[Rorie]

I'm not sure what other carpeting plants there are suitable for your tank... i imagine riccia will be, maybe HC.

Just so you know its normal for parvula to take so long, its slow growin especiallyin low light/low co2

I thought i had pretty high light/ hight CO2 though...

It is taking a REALLY long time and does not seem to be getting dense. Looks rubbish! I was thinking about buying some more to fill in the gaps and speed up the process, but it still wont look dense.

Is there something about my tank that would make it difficult to find a plant?

What is HC?

I thought riccia was supposed to be tied down to slate to work?

 

[ian]

to make a plant 'carpet', it's not really all about the light. Its about the flow around the substrate, it all your CO2/ferts are being distributed well around the substrate your carpeting plants will carpet.

 

[FishyWishie]

Inserts obligatory use Sagittaria subulata

Prob not strictly a carpet per se but I love the stuff I get mine from LastTradingPost on ebay you just buy either the 25 50 or 100 plant deal and but DWARF SAG ONLY in the paypal comments. Other places i've tried sent me Sagittaria Platyphila which is massive.

 

[Rorie]

Got good co2 circulation, good ferts and good light. My tall grass is doing great, needs cut every week!!

The grass is spreading - i can see the runners in the substrate through the glass.

What would be best to bulk it up? I can obviously add more plants to fill in the gaps, but no density! I was looking at the things that look like cress haha, but not quite a grass look i guess

 

[Rorie]

would something like THIS be a good idea to fill in the gaps seen as i want something dense? The suggestion above, the Dwarf Sag, although it looks good and looks similar to what i have, it does not look so dense How many times can i say dense in a threat haha

 

[snowflake311]

I'm not sure what other carpeting plants there are suitable for your tank... i imagine riccia will be, maybe HC.

Just so you know its normal for parvula to take so long, its slow growin especiallyin low light/low co2

I thought i had pretty high light/ hight CO2 though...

It is taking a REALLY long time and does not seem to be getting dense. Looks rubbish! I was thinking about buying some more to fill in the gaps and speed up the process, but it still wont look dense.

Is there something about my tank that would make it difficult to find a plant?

What is HC?

I thought riccia was supposed to be tied down to slate to work?

HC is Hemianthus callitrichoide aka Dwarf baby tears or Cuba. I am going to be planting some this week. Yeah Riccia is naturaly a floating plants that needs to be tied down to keep in from floating. It would work as a carpet if you tie it to a mesh of some kind. Moss can be a great capet but might be slow to grow. a flame moss carpet would look awesome.

whats your substrate? I don't care what some people say there are plants that need a rich substrate to help feed the plant. Aquatics plants use there roots too. unless it a floating plants.

 

[PDSimon]

My parvula seems to thrive of light, it dies of when it heads towards darker areas yet grows more in lighter areas... regardless of that though, it still takes ages to go, its slow growing.

There are loads of carpeting plants you just need to make sure your tank is suited!

My linhttp/www.tropica.com/plants/use/foreground.aspx

 

[Rorie]

My parvula seems to thrive of light, it dies of when it heads towards darker areas yet grows more in lighter areas... regardless of that though, it still takes ages to go, its slow growing.

There are loads of carpeting plants you just need to make sure your tank is suited!

My linhttp/www.tropica.com/plants/use/foreground.aspx

Yeh i had a look at a few grasses, but i guess its experience that will say if they will grow dense or not and how fast they will grow.

Last trading post suggested Monosolenium tenerum. Looks good. Anybody got experience of this? Is it a true carpeting plant? Will it spread and thicken out?