Aquarium grass

[michael61182]

My 55 is covered in the foreground very well with dwarf sag. Granted I have ferts and a t5 fixture. I also started with 40 plus dwarf sag plants. It took about six months

Do you have a picture?

 

[Atxpunx]

The first pic is at its setup, the second I believe is three or four months later. The trick with dwarf sag is to detach the runners from their mother after they've rooted, this allows more runner production.

 

[Atxpunx]

What about marsilea minuta? it does ok in lower lighting IME.. just not a grassy look

I second this plant. I've never had any experience with it, but all I've read is that it works great in low light. I love how it looks like glosso.

 

[jetajockey]

marsilea is good, maybe dwarf sag or pygmy chainsword if you get a better light. I suggest saving up to get a good light to go over it if you want to go planted.

 

[michael61182]

Thanks for everyones input. I didn't realize how important the light would be. I had not had any trouble with any of the few plants I have so far, except for the fish eating them, but not all of them. I have a few I bought at petsmart for my 30g, when I first started. Then, I added about 6 bamboo plants and they grew pretty well. Also, I have some hornwart (sp?) floating at the top and that has double in size in a few weeks. I'll update what I decide to do. My 125g is still cycling right now, but it has most of my plants already.

 

[aqua_chem]

M. Minuta is a slow grower even with good light and CO2.

 

[fort384]

Thanks for everyones input. I didn't realize how important the light would be. I had not had any trouble with any of the few plants I have so far, except for the fish eating them, but not all of them. I have a few I bought at petsmart for my 30g, when I first started. Then, I added about 6 bamboo plants and they grew pretty well. Also, I have some hornwart (sp?) floating at the top and that has double in size in a few weeks. I'll update what I decide to do. My 125g is still cycling right now, but it has most of my plants already.

FYI, the bamboo won't survive long term if it is submerged. It needs to grow emersed.

A lot of the plants sold at petsmart are non-aquatic, unfortunately.

If you really want to get a good selection of plants and talk to some knowledgeable folks, check out Aquatouch if you haven't been there. It is a great LFS. It is at 51 and Cactus. I lived in Phx for several years and loved that store.

I agree with most of the others that in order to get compact growth, you will unfortunately need some stronger lighting, and potentially CO2 and fertilizer supplementation. Planted tanks are a bit more complicated than fish only tanks when done right. You don't have to go crazy high tech, but a lot of frustration comes from those new to planted tanks who try to just plop some plants in and let em go to town.

If interested in reading up on fertilizing a planted tank and CO2 injection, you can check out a couple of writeups I posted to our articles section in the last few weeks:
Introduction to Fertilizing the Planted Tank - Aquarium Advice
Beginner's Guide to CO2 Injection in the Planted Tank - Aquarium Advice