Carpet plant suggestions?

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I think you'll be at low light levels. DHG likes at least moderate lighting... otherwise it will just sit there and not do much to carpet (if it doesn't just melt on you).

You can do a moss carpet. Or a dwarf sag carpet. Otherwise, consider upgrading the lights.
 
Brian_Nano12g said:
I think you'll be at low light levels. DHG likes at least moderate lighting... otherwise it will just sit there and not do much to carpet (if it doesn't just melt on you).

You can do a moss carpet. Or a dwarf sag carpet. Otherwise, consider upgrading the lights.
Click to expand...

What type of lighting would i need to get DHG?
 
Brian_Nano12g said:
I think you'll be at low light levels. DHG likes at least moderate lighting... otherwise it will just sit there and not do much to carpet (if it doesn't just melt on you).

You can do a moss carpet. Or a dwarf sag carpet. Otherwise, consider upgrading the lights.
Click to expand...
Dwarf sag carpet looks nice but none of my LFS have it :(.
 
Well for DHG, and given that your tank is 30" long and about 12" tall (minus a 2 to 3" of substrate), you'd be real good with a Finnex Fugeray 30". If budget is restrictive, you can maybe add a second t8 bulb (this I'm unsure of). Maybe even a t5. Depends on how high you want to go on lighting. Those odyssea t5ho lights are inexpensive from aquatraders..

Once you get the lighting squared away..you should add CO2 or at least a liquid carbon like excel or glut. Co2 can be achieved inexpensively by rigging up a DIY CO2 generator, while a pressurized co2 system would be preferable but obviously more expensive endeavor.
 
Brian-what about Chain Swords? I have those and started out with just a few plants and now I have a lot of nice little green plants spreading in the foreground, or is this not what the OP is looking for?
 
Brian_Nano12g said:
Well for DHG, and given that your tank is 30" long and about 12" tall (minus a 2 to 3" of substrate), you'd be real good with a Finnex Fugeray 30". If budget is restrictive, you can maybe add a second t8 bulb (this I'm unsure of). Maybe even a t5. Depends on how high you want to go on lighting. Those odyssea t5ho lights are inexpensive from aquatraders..

Once you get the lighting squared away..you should add CO2 or at least a liquid carbon like excel or glut. Co2 can be achieved inexpensively by rigging up a DIY CO2 generator, while a pressurized co2 system would be preferable but obviously more expensive endeavor.
Click to expand...

How much are those lights i couldent find them on google.
 
I don't think your expectations are realistic for your setup. I also think we are confusing the concept of 'able to grow' and 'carpeting'. A single T8 on a 20L is fairly low light. Both E. tenellus and dwarf sag are able to grow in these conditions. But they both have something important: under low light or overgrown conditions (like you would have with a carpeting case), they both will grow quite tall. I recently transplanted several that were almost 16" in length that were growing fairly close together fairly significant light (13w CFL mounted vertically 6-8" from substrate). I don't think you will have the kind of results that you are seeking. In a best case scenario, your 'carpet' will be 3-5" of ~10", making it poorly suited dimensionally to be a foreground in a tank that size.


You really do need decent light and CO2 to have a good chance at growing a carpet. It 'can be done' with less, but failures are more common than success, and the vast majority of the carpets you see were grown under high light and pressurized CO2.
 
aqua_chem said:
I don't think your expectations are realistic for your setup. I also think we are confusing the concept of 'able to grow' and 'carpeting'. A single T8 on a 20L is fairly low light. Both E. tenellus and dwarf sag are able to grow in these conditions. But they both have something important: under low light or overgrown conditions (like you would have with a carpeting case), they both will grow quite tall. I recently transplanted several that were almost 16" in length that were growing fairly close together fairly significant light (13w CFL mounted vertically 6-8" from substrate). I don't think you will have the kind of results that you are seeking. In a best case scenario, your 'carpet' will be 3-5" of ~10", making it poorly suited dimensionally to be a foreground in a tank that size.

You really do need decent light and CO2 to have a good chance at growing a carpet. It 'can be done' with less, but failures are more common than success, and the vast majority of the carpets you see were grown under high light and pressurized CO2.
Click to expand...

I made a Co2 thing from uarujoey on youtube so what type of lighting should i get?
 
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